Akshay Bhalla was the former game guides editor for Screen Rant and the technology editor at MensXP. He has previously written about smartphones, apps, streaming, gadgets, and games for print, digital, and TV media outlets. When he isn’t writing about tech, he can often be found playing JRPGs, listening to music, or playing with his three dogs.
You can reach Akshay at bhallanator @ proton dot me.
Google Photos was a great idea when it first launched as a way to store memories in the cloud.
But since then, Google Photos has become another avenue to push storage subscriptionsand add AI features, and it now feels like it no longer respects your privacy.
That's when I started looking for an alternative gallery app that is the complete opposite of Google Photos.
Why I switched from Google Photos to an open source alternative
Privacy is far more important to me
Over time, I've realized I value my privacy more and prefer keeping pictures on my own NAS (Network Attached Storage) server rather than Google's.
Google Photos is still one of the most convenient gallery apps on Android, ideal for users who like to share images regularly.
But at some point, I got annoyed by Google's aggressive push to increase my cloud storage limit to extract more money from me.
If you didn't notice, I have a love-hate relationship with the app, but I finally decided to switch after finding a capable open source alternative.
Aves Gallery is a local-first gallery that is reminiscent of gallery apps from the early days of Android.
It's fast, private, doesn't require an account, and doesn't upload in the background. The app also gives me full ownership of all my images and their metadata.
After I switched, I quickly realized how intrusive Google Photos really was. With Aves, I don't see random memories popping up.
The app has no face scanning or AI features. What's neat is that there's no tracking/telemetry either, which, in my book, is a massive plus.
Compare this experience to Google, and you soon realize Google's servers have access to every private image in my life, and the UI even prioritizes cloud features.
With Aves, it feels like my images are a personal archive rather than data for the company to use.
I won't deny, though, that Google Photos has its strengths. You can use a simple prompt to find a picture of yourself on the beach from a recent trip.
Or you can use it to find a picture of a friend or your dog through the People and Pets collection.
While these features are convenient, they are also why I switched to a no-fuss gallery.
I'm not comfortable with an app that uses facial recognition to identify family and friends. It feels intrusive and downright creepy.
I do like that Google Photos backs up images automatically, but I can get the same result with other open source alternatives like Immich.
After I switched to Aves, I no longer needed Google Photos.
How Aves Gallery is a great alternative to Google Photos
A simple yet effective experience
The first concern when switching to an open source alternative is how polished the app will be. I had the same concern with Aves Gallery, but I was relieved the moment I fired up the app.
But the first thing I noticed was how at home it feels after switching from Google Photos.
Unlike Google Photos, Aves is simpler, faster, and much snappier. I can even customize the bottom tabs to folders I use the most.
For example, I can swap the bottom tab options between the usual collection favorites and albums with other albums I use more.
I can swap them with the Screenshots folder for quicker access or the Map to find images from a particular location I visited.
Switching between these albums is also smooth and much faster than any gallery app I've used before.
If you like widgets, you can add albums or photos as shortcuts to access them in one tap.
But the main feature that impressed me most was how Aves handles metadata and various formats.
The app recognizes major image formats such as JPEG/MP4, plus multi-page TIFF, SVG, and even older AVI formats. But I didn't expect it to recognize HEIF/HEIC and motion photos.
It can even detect and categorize panorama shots and 360° videos, making them easy to find.
For photography nerds, you can swipe on any picture to see detailed metadata, including storage path, camera settings, color profile, map location, resolution, and size.
I can even edit, remove, or export the metadata if needed. But the most useful feature I found was the built-in image format converter and resizer.
For work, I sometimes need to convert images to various formats, and being able to convert a JPEG to a PNG or WebP file in the app saves time.
There's one feature I'd like Aves to do better, though. When I want to rotate or flip an image, Aves Gallery hands it off to my device's default editor.
Some might prefer this, but I don't like using an external app for basic edits.
There's also the question of cloud backups. Since Aves doesn't offer this feature, you will be responsible for backing up images if you don't want to use Google Photos.
You can do back ups manually or use Syncthing, like me, to automate photo backups to your computer or NAS.
Since Aves Gallery has no cloud backup, you risk losing photos if your device is damaged or gets lost. Back up images as often as possible using a NAS, external storage, computer, or cloud services.
If you use Synology, the Synology Photos app can automatically back up images in the background to your NAS drive for free.
Aves Gallery is perfect for privacy-conscious users
De-Googling your digital footprint isn't easy on Android. But a private gallery app doesn't need all those AI features.
Sure, it adds convenience, but privacy-focused users may not be big fans of Google's recent AI integration into everything.
If you want a capable gallery app that is the complete opposite of Google Photos, give Aves a shot and see if you can make the switch, as I did.