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Products & Applications

Google Photos and Gallery differ on cloud backup and editing tools

Google offers a simpler Gallery app alongside Google Photos. The two differ mainly in cloud backup and editing tools, with users able to keep both.

AI News Feed · 2026-10-07 05:47

Google Photos can automatically back up images to the cloud; Gallery cannot. To turn on automatic backup in Photos, users tap their avatar at the top right corner of the screen and then Backup, where the option can be toggled on. The profile area also shows how much cloud storage space can be freed. Old personal Google accounts come with 15GB of free storage, while new accounts created on or after March 9, 2026 come with 5GB by default; users can unlock 10GB more by verifying a valid phone number. Storage is shared across Google services including Gmail, Drive, WhatsApp and Photos. More space requires a Google One subscription, at $2 per month for 100GB or $3 for 200GB.

Buying extra storage is described as probably the quickest way to avoid running out of space on a phone. In Photos, tapping the profile image also shows a 'Free up space on this device' option. That deletes items from the device that are already safely backed up to the cloud in the user's chosen quality. If images are manually moved to Trash in both Photos and Gallery, they will also be permanently removed from the cloud backup and from all devices where the app is installed after 30 days.

If users do not mind regularly and manually backing up their device and deleting images from the phone, they can simply use Gallery. An external storage drive that plugs into the phone's USB-C port can be used to save photos instead of relying on cloud backup.

Google Photos has more comprehensive editing tools than Gallery. Gallery offers Rotate, Crop and a handful of filters. Photos provides a wider range of tools, including AI enhancements. Users can adjust brightness, contrast, tone, highlights and shadows. They can add blurring effects, sharpen images and move certain elements to other parts of the image. They can also doodle on the image, add text and highlights, and use a one-tap tool that automatically smooths skin texture and reduces under-eye shadows.

For users who regularly edit images, Photos may be the better app unless they already have a trusted editing app. Gallery is good enough for occasional cropping. Both apps allow images to be shared to social media or sent by email or messaging apps, so sharing does not have to factor into the choice.