Comparison
Pixel Gallery vs Fossify Gallery
Fossify Gallery is the minimal, open-source successor to Simple Gallery. Pixel Gallery keeps the no-cloud principle and adds an on-device AI pipeline on top.
Data as of March 1, 2026. Fossify Gallery website
| Capability | Pixel Gallery | Fossify Gallery |
|---|---|---|
| No cloud required | Yes | Yes |
| No ads | Yes | Yes |
| Open source | No | Yes |
| Available on F-Droid | No | Yes |
| Face grouping | Yes | No |
| Natural-language search | Yes | No |
| Auto labels and captions | Yes | No |
| Text recognition | Yes | No |
| Map view | Yes | No |
| Memories and stories | Yes | No |
| Duplicate cleanup | Yes | No |
| Statistics | Yes | No |
| Hidden and locked media | Yes | Yes |
| Biometric app lock | Yes | Yes |
| Photo editor | Yes | Yes |
| Video editor | Yes | Partial |
| EXIF stripping on share Pixel Gallery's editor has a preserve-metadata export toggle, not a dedicated stripper. | No | Yes |
| Dynamic color (Material You) | Yes | Yes |
| Home screen widgets | Yes | No |
| Pricing Fossify: free. Pixel Gallery: free with one-time Premium. | Yes | Yes |
Respect where it is due
Fossify Gallery is what many people wanted when Simple Gallery changed hands: a clean, local, open-source gallery with no tracking. If that is the full list of requirements, Fossify is the right answer and this page will not talk you out of it.
What Pixel Gallery adds
The same no-cloud rule, plus a multi-step on-device AI pipeline: face grouping, labels, text recognition, captions on supported devices, semantic search with an optional model, a map built from photo GPS tags, memories, cleanup of duplicates and bursts, statistics, and two widgets. None of it needs an account or an upload.
What Fossify has that Pixel Gallery does not
- Open source and F-Droid distribution, which matters for auditability and trust.
- A dedicated EXIF-stripping option when sharing. Pixel Gallery offers a preserve-metadata toggle on editor exports instead.
- A smaller footprint. No background indexing, no large model.
Who should pick which
Choose Fossify if open source is a requirement or you want a gallery that does nothing in the background. Choose Pixel Gallery if you want people, search, memories and cleanup without the cloud, and are comfortable with a proprietary app that documents exactly what it connects to on its Privacy first page.
Questions
Why is Pixel Gallery not open source?
It is a proprietary app today. That is a real difference for people who choose software on that basis, and this page does not pretend otherwise.
Is Pixel Gallery as light as Fossify?
No. The AI pipeline indexes your library in the background and the optional search model is about 375 MB. Fossify does far less and is correspondingly smaller.
Features mentioned
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On-device AI
Your phone is the AI. Not someone else’s server.
Learn more -
People
Faces grouped on your phone. Names stay with you.
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Cleanup
Duplicates, bursts and blurry shots, reviewed by you.
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Search & Discover
Full-text search plus browsing by label, color, camera and code.
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Free on Google Play
Requires Android 13 or newer. No account. Optional one-time Premium upgrade.