Samsung’s Gallery App is Getting New Google Photos Sync Feature

Samsung is about to replace the OneDrive integration in its Gallery Android app with a new Google Photos integration. After Microsoft confirmed that OneDrive photo backup in Samsung’s Gallery app will be discontinued after September 30, 2026, the new cloud sync feature with Google Photos is already rolling out to some Galaxy users, as reported by 9to5Google.

To enable the new Google Photos integration in the Samsung Gallery app, Galaxy users will need to download updates for the Gallery Cloud Sync, Samsung Cloud, and Samsung Gallery apps. These updates appear to be rolling out gradually on Galaxy phones running Android 13 or newer.

Google explains on a support page that the new Google Photos integration with Samsung’s Gallery app doesn’t work with personal Google accounts supervised by a parent, as well as Google Workspace accounts. Once enabled, Galaxy users will be able to back up their main camera roll to Google Photos, as well as specific albums and local device folders like Downloads or Screenshots.

The integration between Samsung Gallery and Google Photos comes with some caveats, however: When Google Photos backup is on in the Samsung Gallery app, edited photos will appear as separate items in the Google Photos app. Moreover, Samsung-synced photos will not appear in all Google Photos features such as Memories and Live albums.

Earlier this year, Samsung discontinued its own Messages app for Android in favor of Google Messages, which supports end-to-end encryption for RCS messages. For now, however, the Samsung Gallery app will continue to coexist with the Google Photos app on Galaxy devices. Samsung also continues to develop its own web browser for Android (and now Windows) as an alternative to the pre-installed Google Chrome.