Pixel Gallery Android

Comparison

Pixel Gallery vs ReFra

Verdict: Pick ReFra if open source, an encrypted vault or sync with Immich or Nextcloud matter. Pick Pixel Gallery if you want Gemini Nano captions, stories, statistics, Home-View and a stable Play release.

ReFra, formerly Gallery by IacobIonut01, is an open-source Material gallery with on-device faces, smart search, an encrypted vault and self-hosted sync. Pixel Gallery is closed source with a broader feature set.

Last updated . ReFra website

Pixel Gallery vs ReFra at a glance

Pixel Gallery vs ReFra feature comparison, data as of November 8, 2026.
Capability Pixel Gallery ReFra
Photos stay on the phone Yes Pixel Gallery never uploads your photos or videos. Partly No vendor cloud; optional backup/sync to your own Immich, Nextcloud, ownCloud, WebDAV, SMB or NFS server
Works without an account Yes Yes
On-device smart search Yes SigLIP2 model, ~375 MB optional download. Yes On-device smart search (models downloaded or bundled); can also use Immich server-side search
Face grouping Yes Runs on the phone. Yes On-device face clustering with People section
Duplicate and similar cleanup Yes Partly Groups similar media; Free Up Space removes local copies already backed up; no duplicate finder documented
Encrypted metadata database Yes Yes In-app help: Room database encrypted with SQLCipher, preferences with Keystore-backed AES-256-GCM
No ads Yes Yes
No subscription Yes Free, plus an optional one-time Premium purchase. Yes Free on GitHub and F-Droid; paid one-time listing on Google Play; donations
Cloud backup No Pixel Gallery has no cloud. Backup is up to you. Yes Optional, to self-hosted servers only (Immich, Nextcloud, WebDAV, SMB, NFS…)
Open source No Yes Apache-2.0 on GitHub
Encrypted private vault Partly Blurs items behind a biometric lock; files are not encrypted. Yes
Sync with Immich, Nextcloud, SMB or NFS No Yes
Available on F-Droid No Yes
Gemini Nano captions on supported devices Yes No
Gallery in a browser on your local network Yes Home-View (Premium). Not documented
Stories and statistics Yes Not documented
Sources (5)
  1. ReFra on GitHub (README, license), accessed
  2. ReFra releases (5.x notes, build variants), accessed
  3. ReFra Gallery on Google Play, accessed
  4. ReFra on F-Droid, accessed
  5. ReFra in-app help strings (encrypted storage), accessed

These two are closer than most. ReFra, formerly Gallery by IacobIonut01, has on-device face grouping and smart search, an encrypted vault, a SQLCipher-encrypted database and optional sync with self-hosted servers. Pixel Gallery shares the on-device approach and adds more to explore and create.

What does ReFra do better?

  • Open source. Apache-2.0, on F-Droid and GitHub.
  • Encrypted vault. Private media encrypted on the phone.
  • Self-hosted sync. Immich, Nextcloud, WebDAV, SMB and NFS.
  • An offline build. A variant without network permission.
  • Captions with Gemini Nano on supported devices, plus OCR and QR detection.
  • Stories, places and statistics that turn the library into something to explore.
  • Home-View. Browse the gallery from a browser on your local network (Premium).
  • One clear release. A single Play build, without choosing between ML and offline variants.

Who should pick which?

Pick ReFra if open source, a vault or self-hosted sync are requirements. Pick Pixel Gallery for the broader feature set and a simple install from Google Play.

How to switch from ReFra

Move items out of the ReFra vault you want indexed, install Pixel Gallery and allow photo access. Both apps index on the phone, so people are grouped again and named once.

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 ReFra 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

Experiences

Gallery basics

All features What's in Premium

Pixel Gallery vs ReFra: questions

What happened to Gallery by IacobIonut01?

It was renamed ReFra. The repository is IacobIonut01/ReFra, the Play package is com.dot.gallery.gplay (paid) and com.dot.gallery is on F-Droid.

Is ReFra open source?

Yes, under Apache-2.0. Pixel Gallery is not open source.

Do both do face recognition on the phone?

Yes. ReFra and Pixel Gallery both group faces and run smart search on the device.

Other comparisons

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Free on Google Play

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

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