What Is The Best Gallery App For Android

For years, QuickPic was one of the first applications I would install on my phone, without even bothering to use the phone's default gallery app. It was small, fast, efficient, and free, but has sadly disappeared at the end of 2018. For a while, I've been trying to find a decent replacement, and some of the below apps are great candidates to become your next go-to gallery app.

We've updated this post with a few more apps, which we didn't cover in the initial post.

Simple Gallery - Photo and Video Manager & Editor

Simple Gallery is definitely my favorite of the list. It's dead-easy to use, responsive, and comes with neat features, such as photo editing, access to hidden folders, and support for various file types including RAW, SVG, GIF, panoramic and more. There's also a built-in trash that lets you recover images you mistakenly removed. The app is fully ad-free, and the pro version gives you access to even more perks, such as protecting access to the app with a PIN or fingerprint, as well as the option to create secret folders. Sadly, the developer says the free version won't be supported in the future, but given the app costs about $1, it's definitely worth your money.

Disclaimer: Even though Simple Gallery is an Android Police sponsor, that didn't influence my decision. This list was written independently and reflects my personal opinion.

Update: Sadly, Simple Gallery's free version is no longer maintained, but still works perfectly. The developers are now focusing on the pro version, which is well worth it and offers some extra features.

Camera Roll - Gallery

Camera Roll offers similar features to QuickPic with a straightforward interface. It's fast and offers some advanced features, such as editing EXIF data and creating virtual albums that combine multiple directories into one. In my usage, I found the app to be slightly less reliable than Simple Gallery when it comes to hidden folders, so I had to manually force it to check for them at launch, which made it noticeably slow to load. Besides that, it's definitely worth considering as an alternative to replace your stock gallery app.

Memoria Photo Gallery

Memoria is one of the nicest looking and most customizable photo galleries around. Not only does it look gorgeous and is easy to use, it comes with advanced features, including a temporary recycle bin, the ability to hide albums or put sensitive pictures in an encrypted vault. If sharing pictures on your TV is important to you, the app also supports Google Cast, allowing you to display them on a bigger screen. Sadly, the free app is ad-supported, and some features are exclusive to the Pro version, which costs $2.

Piktures: Gallery, Photos & Videos

Piktures is a simple yet powerful photo gallery. Like most of the other ones in this post, it lets you edit photos and play videos. It can also access your cloud photos and show them together in a single place for you, which is convenient if you back them up online. Some advanced features also include a GIF maker, as well as a secret space to hide your ~~nudes~~ sensitive photos. Lastly, the calendar and locations views are relatively unique, and a good way to look back at pictures taken on a particular day or somewhere specific.

F-Stop Gallery

F-Stop is probably the most complete one of the list. It includes the option to search through photos based on metadata, including ratings and the camera model, a map view, smart albums, and password protection. The layout is extensively customizable, and F-Stop offers a the ability to nest folders — i.e., to create subfolders, which is very convenient if you have lots of pictures on your phone. Sadly, most of these power functions are only available in the Pro version, which costs a whopping $5.

Gallery Go by Google Photos

Many of us use Google Photos for its simplicity and ability to automatically organize photos by location and even recognize faces. However, not everybody wants to have their pictures stored on the cloud, especially not when they'll be processed by algorithms to detect who's on them. Thankfully, Gallery Go offers a similar experience on your phone and works offline, which saves data and solves privacy concerns. The app can automatically organize your content into categories, namely People, Selfies, Nature, Animals, Documents, Videos, and Movies. In addition, it also comes with editing tools that will let you enhance your photos in a few clicks.

This app offers similar features to Gallery Go and has a sleek interface. It's free of ads and works offline, and comes with a built-in collage making tool. If you're looking for something that can recognize people's faces and automatically categorize photos and Gallery Go doesn't work for you, you should definitely give this app a try.

A+ Gallery - Photos & Videos

A+ Gallery is one of the most complete ones around. It offers a responsive and simple user interface, with a handful of useful features. It can automatically organize your photos based on when and where you took them, with an option to display them on a map. If you're looking for a particular color, you can even filter based on that criteria, without the need for an internet connection. There's also a built-in vault, allowing you to protect private photos with a password. A+ Gallery is also well integrated with cloud storage platforms, such as Facebook, Dropbox, and Amazon Cloud Drive, letting you sync your pictures or download albums locally.

Gallery Vault - Hide Pictures And Videos

If you want to keep your photos and videos as private as possible, Gallery Vault is worth considering. Not only does it protect your media with a password, pattern, or fingerprint, it also encrypts it, making sure only you can access it. Gallery Vault also lets you hide its app icon, making it even harder to find. There's also a built-in private browser, which is probably designed to let you save pictures from the web without storing your browsing history. Lastly, an app designed to store dark photos wouldn't be complete without a dark mode, so you're in for a treat with this one.

PhotoMap Gallery - Photos, Videos and Trips

If you travel often and want to look back at your memories, PhotoMap Gallery is the app you need. It helps you rediscover places you've visited by plotting the photos you've taken on a map. Not only does it do this with the files on your phone, it can also be linked to Dropbox, Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive, FTP/FTPS, and CIFS/SMB, allowing you to fetch media you've backed up online. Photos can also be shown in a calendar view, as well as in AR, making this app the one that will make you forget about lockdown. If you like to share your travel experiences with others, PhotoMap Gallery lets you export your trips to GPX/KML files, making them easy to send out.

About The Author

Hagop Kavafian (726 Articles Published)

Hagop is a tech-savvy guy, who's also into traveling, fitness, biking, food, and planes. He's heptalingual and has lived in 5 different countries, but has decided to settle in Paris for the time being.