Samsung should bring Google Photos integration to its Gallery app

People often complain about duplicate apps on Samsung phones and tablets. If you don’t know already, Galaxy devices come with apps from both Google and Samsung for the same tasks. However, the ones from Samsung are generally more feature-rich.

For example, Samsung’s web browser runs smoother than Google Chrome and has more customization features. The same is true for Samsung Calendar and Samsung Wallet, which have more features than Google Calendar and Google Pay/Google Wallet.

Google Photos integration in Gallery apps should be a no-brainer for Android devices

Samsung’s Gallery app, too, is a lot more functional than Google Photos. However, we think it misses out on a crucial feature that should be present on all Android devices.

That feature is Google Photos integration. Samsung’s Gallery app can sync images and videos with Microsoft OneDrive, but we think Google Photos integration is more important given how Android is tightly integrated with Google services.

It was recently reported that OnePlus, OPPO, Realme, and Xiaomi now support Google Photos in their stock Gallery apps. On OnePlus, OPPO, and Realme phones running Android 14, the stock Photos app can back up images and videos from the phone to Google Photos, show existing backed up photos and videos, and sync any edits made to Google Photos.

Xiaomi’s stock Gallery app has had Google Photos backup support since 2022. Initially, it didn’t work both ways, but that changed a few weeks ago with the launch of the Xiaomi 14 Ultra when the Chinese OEM announced that an update to its Gallery app would bring two-way integration, an update that seems to have gone live recently.

Such tight integration is what Samsung’s Gallery app needs, given how Samsung sells a lot more Android phones and tablets outside of China than its Chinese rivals. Moreover, Samsung’s My Files file manager app already works with both Google Drive and OneDrive, so there’s no reason for the company to not have integration options for Google Photos in the Gallery app.