Pixel Gallery Android

Comparison

Pixel Gallery vs Fossify Gallery

Verdict: Pick Fossify Gallery if open source and a light, simple app come first. Pick Pixel Gallery if you also want face grouping, search by what a photo shows and cleanup, still without uploading anything.

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.

Last updated . Fossify Gallery website

Pixel Gallery vs Fossify Gallery at a glance

Pixel Gallery vs Fossify Gallery feature comparison, data as of November 8, 2026.
Capability Pixel Gallery Fossify Gallery
Photos stay on the phone Yes Pixel Gallery never uploads your photos or videos. Yes No cloud library or sync; Play data safety says no data collected
Works without an account Yes Yes
On-device smart search Yes SigLIP2 model, ~375 MB optional download. No No content-based search advertised
Face grouping Yes Runs on the phone. No Not offered
Duplicate and similar cleanup Yes No No duplicate or similar-photo finder advertised
Encrypted metadata database Yes Not documented
No ads Yes Yes Listing: "No ads, no unnecessary permissions"
No subscription Yes Free, plus an optional one-time Premium purchase. Yes Free; optional donations
Cloud backup No Pixel Gallery has no cloud. Backup is up to you. No
Open source No Yes GPL-3.0 on GitHub
Available on F-Droid No Yes
Remove EXIF data (GPS, camera) when sharing No Yes
Per-item locks with PIN, pattern or fingerprint Partly Biometric app and collection locks, plus a vault that blurs sensitive media. Yes
Map and places Yes No
Stories and memories Yes No
Video editor Yes No
Sources (5)
  1. Fossify Gallery on GitHub (README, license), accessed
  2. Fossify Gallery releases, accessed
  3. Fossify Gallery on Google Play, accessed
  4. Fossify Gallery on F-Droid, accessed
  5. Fossify Gallery product page, accessed

Yes, if you like Fossify’s principles but miss the smart features of cloud galleries. Both keep your library on the phone and show no ads. Pixel Gallery adds what Fossify deliberately leaves out: face grouping, semantic search, text recognition, cleanup, stories and statistics, all computed on the device.

  • Open source. GPL-3.0, on F-Droid and IzzyOnDroid. Pixel Gallery is proprietary.
  • Lightness. No background indexing and no models to download.
  • Privacy tools. EXIF removal and per-item locks with PIN, pattern or fingerprint.
  • Formats. A long list that includes JPEG XL, AVIF and SVG.
  • On-device AI. People, search by what a photo shows, OCR and QR detection, captions with Gemini Nano on supported devices.
  • Cleanup. Duplicate, similar and low-quality groups with swipe review.
  • Exploring. Map and places, stories, statistics and a video editor.
  • An encrypted index. The metadata database is encrypted on the phone.

Who should pick which?

Pick Fossify Gallery if open source is a requirement or you want the lightest possible gallery. Pick Pixel Gallery if you want your library to be searchable and organized for you while staying on the phone.

Install Pixel Gallery and allow photo access; your folders show up as they are. Folders hidden with a .nomedia file stay hidden from every gallery until you unhide them in Fossify.

What makes Pixel Gallery different

  • On-device AI

    Faces, semantic search, text recognition and captions run on the phone. Gemini Nano captions on supported devices.

  • Never uploads your photos

    Pixel Gallery never uploads your photos or videos. No account, no cloud library.

  • Encrypted metadata database

    The index of faces, places, text and embeddings is encrypted on the device.

  • No ads, no subscription

    Free to use with no ads. Premium is a one-time purchase.

Beyond the table

18 more things Pixel Gallery does

The table sticks to where Pixel Gallery and Fossify Gallery differ most. This is the rest of the app, all on the phone. Features marked Premium are part of the one-time purchase.

On-device AI

Search & discover

Organize

Create & edit

Insights

Sharing

Experiences

Gallery basics

All features What's in Premium

Pixel Gallery vs Fossify Gallery: questions

Is there a Fossify Gallery alternative with face recognition?

Yes. Pixel Gallery groups faces, searches by content and finds duplicates, all on the phone and without ads. It is not open source, which is the main thing Fossify has that it does not.

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. Pixel Gallery indexes your library in the background and the optional search model is about 375 MB. Fossify does far less and is correspondingly smaller.

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Free on Google Play

Requires Android 13 or newer. No account. Optional one-time Premium upgrade.

Get it on Google Play Details & requirements