# Pixel Gallery vs Fossify Gallery

Canonical: https://pixel-gallery.app/android/compare/fossify-gallery

Last updated: November 9, 2026

**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.

## Feature comparison

| 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 |

## Is Pixel Gallery a good Fossify Gallery alternative?

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.

## What does Fossify Gallery do better?

- **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.

## What does Pixel Gallery do better?

- **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.

## How to switch from Fossify Gallery

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.

## 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.

## Sources

- [Fossify Gallery on GitHub (README, license)](https://github.com/FossifyOrg/Gallery), accessed November 8, 2026
- [Fossify Gallery releases](https://github.com/FossifyOrg/Gallery/releases), accessed November 8, 2026
- [Fossify Gallery on Google Play](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.fossify.gallery), accessed November 8, 2026
- [Fossify Gallery on F-Droid](https://f-droid.org/en/packages/org.fossify.gallery/), accessed November 8, 2026
- [Fossify Gallery product page](https://www.fossify.org/apps/gallery/), accessed November 8, 2026