# Pixel Gallery vs ReFra

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

Last updated: November 9, 2026

**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.

## Feature comparison

| 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 |

## Is Pixel Gallery a good ReFra alternative?

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.

## What does Pixel Gallery do better?

- **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.

## 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.

## Sources

- [ReFra on GitHub (README, license)](https://github.com/IacobIonut01/ReFra), accessed November 8, 2026
- [ReFra releases (5.x notes, build variants)](https://github.com/IacobIonut01/ReFra/releases), accessed November 8, 2026
- [ReFra Gallery on Google Play](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.dot.gallery.gplay), accessed November 8, 2026
- [ReFra on F-Droid](https://f-droid.org/packages/com.dot.gallery/), accessed November 8, 2026
- [ReFra in-app help strings (encrypted storage)](https://github.com/IacobIonut01/ReFra/blob/main/app/feature/help/src/commonMain/composeResources/values/strings.xml), accessed November 8, 2026