I found the best Google Photos alternative on Android after years of switching back and forth

21 Dec 2025, 13:00 by Parth Shah · Android Police

Google Photos has spent the last few years evolving from a simple gallery into a massive, AI-driven cloud service. For many of us, it’s become too much.

I tried switching to the new OneDrive app (which is gallery-focused), but it also felt slow from the start.

I spent months searching for a replacement that felt native to Android without the baggage of a tech giant.

Enter Fossify Gallery. As an open source community-led successor to one of the best Android apps, it offers something Google can’t: total privacy, excellent customization, and a simple interface that puts my photos (and not data) front and center.

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By Prarthana Gopal

The ‘Simple Gallery’ legacy

If you have been in the Android scene for a while, you probably remember the original Simple Gallery.

Simple Gallery was the gold standard for every power user. It was fast, open source, and did the job without breaking a sweat.

But then the original developer sold it to a company that filled the app with ads and trackers.

That’s where Fossify comes in. The community took the clean, open source code and used it as a foundation for Fossify.

It’s built and maintained by people who care about the same things I do: transparency, community-driven updates, and the belief that a gallery app shouldn’t be a data-harvesting machine.

Instant gallery experience

After years of using Google Photos, I had actually conditioned myself to wait. I would tap an album, and it would take a while to load the media.

I didn’t realize how much that micro-friction was ruining the experience until I opened Fossify Gallery for the first time. Because Fossify is a local-first app, there is zero connection with the cloud.

When I scroll through a folder with 5,000 high-res RAW files, there is no shuttering. I can jump from a photo taken three years ago to one taken three seconds ago instantly.

But it’s not just about scrolling speed; it’s about operational speed.

In Google Photos, if I want to quickly rename a folder or move twenty photos from one folder to another, it takes a while.

In Fossify, those actions are instantaneous. It’s a lightweight powerhouse that doesn’t hog my RAM in the background.

Going back to a cloud-powered gallery app feels like a downgrade in speed.

Customization and modern design

Over time, Google Photos has become a cluttered mess of Memories bubbles, print store advertisements, and AI-generated creations I never asked for.

Switching to Fossify Gallery felt like a breath of fresh air.

What surprised me most was how modern an open source app could actually look. Fossify supports the Material You theme.

The app’s accents and buttons automatically matched my phone’s wallpaper colors. It doesn’t look like some dated, clunky utility from 2012. It looks like a native, premium part of the Android OS.

Fossify has also covered the basics.

You can switch between different view types, play videos automatically, play with basic editing tools, animate GIFs in thumbnails, enable max brightness when viewing full-screen media, and play with dozens of customization options from the Settings menu.

Overall, Fossify is clean, intentional, and beautiful in its simplicity.

Open source and privacy

There is no shortage of third-party gallery apps on the Play Store. However, I always had to think twice before giving them access to my entire media library.

Because Fossify is open source, I know there isn’t some hidden code running in the background. It’s also packed with several privacy features.

The first thing I did was enable the App Lock. Within the Settings, you can lock the entire application behind a PIN, pattern, or biometrics.

Now, if I hand my phone to someone, I don’t have that heart-skip-a-beat moment wondering if they are going to swipe too far.

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But the privacy depth goes way beyond just a password.

Fossify gives me control over Hidden Items that actually make sense. I can hide specific folders from the main view and toggle their visibility with a single click in the menu.

Now, let’s address the elephant in the room: Backup.

Fossify is a local gallery. I started using Syncthing (another great open source tool) to automatically sync my camera folder to my home PC whenever I’m on Wi-Fi.

Alternatively, you can keep Google Photos installed just as a silent backup tool with notifications turned off, using Fossify as your actual interface.

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Posts By Irene Okpanachi

A worthy Google Photos successor

Switching away from an ecosystem as polished as Google Photos is never easy.

But as my time with Fossify Gallery has proven, what we actually need is much simpler: speed, privacy, and control.

It’s a rare example of an app that respects its users by offering a lightning-fast, ad-free experience that proves local storage is still the king of performance.

Fossify Gallery isn’t the only open source app worth exploring on Android. You can check out other capable open source apps as well.