I nearly ditched Samsung Gallery for Google Photos till I discovered this

I’ve at all times most popular Samsung Gallery over Google Photos. But with the information of OneDrive integration ending on September 30, it appeared like Samsung Gallery was about to be left and not using a backup answer. That was a dealbreaker for me, and I used to be able to ditch it for that precise motive.

But then Samsung dropped a shock Google account integration into the Gallery app, and it was sufficient to make me rethink the entire choice.

Samsung Gallery’s OneDrive integration goes away

Gallery’s dropping its backup buddy

Automatic cloud backup is non-negotiable for me in a gallery app. For years, Samsung Gallery let me again up my pictures and movies straight to OneDrive, so I by no means had to consider storage or fear about dropping every thing if I misplaced my telephone.

But with the information of Samsung Gallery’s OneDrive integration ending on September 30, I needed to search for an alternate. To be truthful, you possibly can nonetheless again up pictures and movies to OneDrive, simply not by means of Samsung Gallery. You’d have to open the OneDrive app in your Galaxy telephone and allow digital camera backup there as an alternative. So, should you’re already paying for Microsoft 365, OneDrive is technically still on the table.

The drawback is that it’s not as seamless as earlier than. You’re now counting on OneDrive to again up pictures and movies individually, which suggests when you delete one thing from native storage, you possibly can’t view it inside Samsung Gallery anymore. So sure, regardless that OneDrive continues to be an choice, I wasn’t ready to keep it up.

Samsung Gallery can now backup on to Google Photos

Switching apps isn’t mandatory

Just as I used to be on the point of decide to Google Photos, Samsung dropped the information I didn’t see coming. Samsung Gallery can now sync directly to a Google account, which meant switching apps wasn’t actually mandatory for me in spite of everything.

Setting it up can be easy. All it’s important to do is open the Gallery settings menu, faucet Sync pictures and movies, and hyperlink your Google account from there. You can then specify which albums to sync, whether or not you need syncing to occur on cell information or whereas roaming.

This function is at present rolling out, so should you don’t see it, you possibly can attempt two issues. First, head to Gallery settings > About Gallery to test for pending updates. This function is obtainable on Samsung Gallery model 15.9.01.7 and later. Next, head to Settings > Apps > Gallery Cloud Sync > App particulars in retailer and test for pending updates. If a more recent model is obtainable, set up it, and it’s best to see the Google account backup choice after that. If not, you possibly can both look forward to the replace to reach or sideload the APK straight.

Once you’ve backed up your pictures and movies by means of Samsung Gallery, they’ll present up in Google Photos. Those will depend in the direction of your Google account storage, so be sure you have sufficient free storage there. Google offers 15GB of free storage to get you began, however should you want extra, you possibly can pay $1.99/month for 100GB, $2.99 for 200GB, and $9.99/month for 2TB.

After that, the sync works just about as you’d anticipate. Deleting a photograph from Google Photos robotically removes it from Samsung Gallery, and vice versa. If you progress a photograph to your Private Album, it’s robotically deleted from Google Photos. If you progress it to Secure Folder, although, you have to delete it manually from the cloud.

Moving current information from OneDrive to my Google account wasn’t seamless

I want there was a simple manner

Setting up Google account sync in Samsung Gallery is straightforward sufficient, however the true problem is shifting all the prevailing pictures and movies from OneDrive to Google Photos. There’s no one-click choice that takes care of this.

This wasn’t an issue for pictures and movies that have been already accessible regionally on my Galaxy telephone. But for these I had backed up months in the past, I needed to obtain them manually and add all of them into Google Photos. This was tedious, however fortunately, I solely had 50GB of pictures backed up, so it didn’t take lengthy.

Using Google Photos nonetheless has a number of benefits

Samsung Gallery with the ability to sync on to a Google account feels like nice information should you’re already deep into Google’s ecosystem. But there are a few catches.

The first is that the pictures and movies you again up by means of Samsung Gallery are actually solely there within the cloud for viewing and sharing. Google Photos does not use them for options like Memories, Live Albums, or Search. That final one generally is a dealbreaker for lots of people, as a result of Search is genuinely probably the greatest issues Google Photos does.

If you need all of that, you should use Google Photos for backups straight, which is not actually a foul deal both. Google Photos has gotten a lot better through the years, and it comes with a number of issues Gallery simply does not supply, just like the storage saver high quality choice, extra superior search, AI-powered enhancing instruments, and simpler shared albums.