I tried Google’s secret gallery app. This is how it turns Google images

Google images are undoubtedly one of Google’s best apps/services. It is my choice of photo library, and houses 10+ years of photos, videos and random screens I have collected after over a decade of use. Along with some pretty good foot editing tools, it’s one of the Google apps I don’t know what I would do without.

However, it is not the only photo library app in Google’s portfolio.

As many people discovered this week, Google has its very own alternative to photos. It’s called Google Gallery, and it’s a much other app compared to Google images. Instead of viewing the entire Google Photos Library, the Gallery app shows only photos stored locally on your phone. It also has much more limited editing tools, no AI integrations and no cloud sync.

Google Gallery is objectively a far subordinate app compared to Google images. So what is the big deal then? I installed a gallery on my Android phone to find out, and after just a few minutes using it, I found a great advantage over Google images.

From a design point of view, Google Gallery is solid. It is divided into two pages: pictures and folders. The former shows a reverse chronological list of your photos, while the latter group everything with their respective folder (camera, screens, downloads, etc.). That’s exactly what you can expect, and it works well.

There is also an optional dark theme, some basic editing tools (filters and crops), an automatic image amplifier, and … it’s about it. It’s far less to distract you than what you find on Google images, and if that’s what you’re looking for, Google Gallery has you covered.

As much as I like the simplified design, my favorite thing with the Gallery app is that the basic is the opposite of Google images.

The Google Photos app is fantastic to look back on memories and browse my years-long library. That said, it is not ideal for finding files on devices. It is technically possible via the collection page in the app, but even then you can only see pictures after the folders they are in.

Because the Gallery app works completely offline and doesn’t connect to your Google account, you only See files stored locally on your phone. As such, everything you see in the main images tab is all things that take up precious internal storage space. And holy moly, i have a lot of pictures on my OnePlus 13.

Since I use Google images as my only and only Gallery -AppThat’s what I spend my time cleaning up and organizing. I delete photos/screens regularly I don’t want to have saved, which keeps my cloud library nice and tidy. However, the same does not happen with my offline files. I can find them on Google images if I want, but since they are hidden behind a few layers on different sides, they are out of sight and out of mind.

Within minutes, Google Gallery made me aware of all the garbage files stored on OnePlus 13 more than Google images ever did. Between screens, downloaded files and stored images from Telegram, there is a lot of garbage on my phone that is better to be deleted. And thanks to the Google Gallery, it was easier to find that it was easier than ever.

Is Google Gallery A replacement for Google Photos?? Not even a little. However, as a companion to Pictures, the Gallery app has a lot to offer. If it’s been a while since you’ve considered your phone’s storage and you think photos take a good deal of it, Google Gallery is a great way to see what’s on your phone. And even if you don’t have to delete things, it’s just a nice, easy way to see your photos on devices-specially if you are without or have a weak internet connection.

Is there any reason not to use Google Gallery? A couple of them come to mind. First, Focus Go is another offline gallery app that serves the same general purpose as the Google Gallery. I haven’t used it but colleague Rita did it and she called Focus go the free photo gallery app she has always wanted. It is worth checking out if you are interested in this type of application.

The other reason is that there is nothing that tells what the future has for the Google Gallery. It is in a good place today and works fucking about what it is, but it also seems like an app that will only be in line when Google has its next roll -out of unwanted products.

Google Gallery was first released in 2019 as “Gallery Go”, back when Google still invested in the Android Go initiative. The latest Go -edition the Android update was when Google released Android 14 GO in 2023, and it is clear that Google has grown less and less interested in the entire “GO” project in recent years. It’s not to say that the Gallery app will disappear tomorrow, but I won’t be surprised if Google will get rid of it over the next year or two.

Still, if you like what you see with the Google Gallery and want to try it, you have. The app is free to download, hardly takes up any space, and is a great way to manage the phone’s local photo storage. Just maybe not get too related to it.