# Pixel Gallery vs F-Stop Gallery

Canonical: https://pixel-gallery.app/android/compare/f-stop-gallery

Last updated: November 9, 2026

**Verdict:** Pick F-Stop if you tag and rate photos by hand and want XMP that Lightroom can read. Pick Pixel Gallery if you want faces, search by content and cleanup done for you, with no ads.

F-Stop Gallery is a long-running manual organizer: tags, star ratings, smart albums and XMP metadata. Pixel Gallery organizes automatically with on-device AI.

## Feature comparison

| Capability | Pixel Gallery | F-Stop Gallery |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Photos stay on the phone | Yes (Pixel Gallery never uploads your photos or videos.) | Yes (Listing and site describe a local organizer only; no cloud library or upload feature mentioned) |
| Works without an account | Yes | Yes (No account mentioned; the Pro key is a separate app checked on the device) |
| On-device smart search | Yes (SigLIP2 model, ~375 MB optional download.) | No (Searches by tags, ratings and some EXIF data; free version shows only 10 results) |
| Face grouping | Yes (Runs on the phone.) | No (Not mentioned in the Play listings or on fstopapp.com) |
| Duplicate and similar cleanup | Yes | No (No duplicate or similar-photo finder documented) |
| Encrypted metadata database | Yes | Not documented |
| No ads | Yes | No (Free app carries "Contains ads"; the Pro key unlocks all features) |
| No subscription | Yes (Free, plus an optional one-time Premium purchase.) | Yes (Free with ads and in-app purchases; full features via a one-time paid Pro key app) |
| Cloud backup | No (Pixel Gallery has no cloud. Backup is up to you.) | No (Not offered per listings and website) |
| Open source | No | No (Proprietary; no public source code found) |
| Tags and ratings written to files (XMP) | No | Yes (With the paid Pro key.) |
| Rule-based smart albums | No | Yes (With the paid Pro key.) |
| Private photos behind a password | Partly (Blurs items behind a biometric lock; files are not encrypted.) | Yes |
| Photo and video editor | Yes | No (Edits metadata, not images.) |
| Automatic organization (faces, content search) | Yes | No |

## Is Pixel Gallery a good F-Stop Gallery alternative?

It depends on how you like to organize. F-Stop is built for manual work: tags, star ratings, rule-based smart albums and XMP that desktop tools can read. Pixel Gallery organizes automatically: faces, search by what a photo shows and cleanup, computed on the phone.

## What does F-Stop Gallery do better?

- **Manual organization.** Tags, ratings, nested folders and albums, smart albums.
- **Interoperability.** Tags and ratings as XMP, readable by Lightroom.
- **Batch metadata.** Renaming and editing titles and captions in bulk.

## What does Pixel Gallery do better?

- **Automatic organization.** People, semantic search, text and QR recognition.
- **No ads.** F-Stop's free version shows ads until you buy the Pro key.
- **Editing and creating.** Photo and video editors, collages and stories.
- **Cleanup.** Duplicates, similar shots and low-quality photos with swipe review.

## Who should pick which?

Pick F-Stop if you curate by hand and want your tags to travel to desktop software. Pick Pixel Gallery if you want the library organized for you.

## How to switch from F-Stop Gallery

Install Pixel Gallery and allow photo access. Your files and folders appear as they are; XMP tags stay in your files for other tools.

## Questions

**Is F-Stop Gallery still maintained?**
Yes. The free app was updated in October 2026 and the Pro key in August 2026.

**Is the F-Stop Pro key worth it?**
If you rely on tags, ratings, smart albums and XMP, yes: those features need it, and it also removes ads. If you want automatic organization instead, Pixel Gallery does that for free.

**Is there an F-Stop alternative with face recognition?**
Yes. Pixel Gallery groups faces and searches by content on the phone, with no ads.

## Sources

- [F-Stop Gallery on Google Play](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.fstop.photo), accessed November 8, 2026
- [F-Stop Pro key on Google Play](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.fstop.photo.key), accessed November 8, 2026
- [F-Stop data safety on Google Play](https://play.google.com/store/apps/datasafety?id=com.fstop.photo), accessed November 8, 2026
- [F-Stop official site](https://www.fstopapp.com/), accessed November 8, 2026
- [F-Stop privacy policy](https://www.fstopapp.com/privacy/), accessed November 8, 2026