Samsung Gallery switches photo sync to Google storage

Samsung has officially detailed that its Gallery app will use Google storage for cloud sync, a change rolling out to select Galaxy phones and tablets running One UI 9. The company says the rollout will expand in phases and may not be available in some markets. This switch follows the end of direct OneDrive sync on September 30 and was first reported in September.

Gallery sync uses your existing Google storage and does not add any extra allocation. That means users get the same 15 GB of free storage shared across Gmail, Google Drive, and Google Photos, with additional space available through Google One subscriptions. How much Gallery can store there depends on how much of that shared 15 GB is already used.

At launch, Samsung notes the Gallery app will only show items that are synced through the app after you enable sync, so an existing Google Photos library will not appear automatically in Gallery. Samsung's wording leaves open the possibility this behavior could change in future updates. Files that were synced to OneDrive before the cutoff remain accessible through Microsoft's OneDrive app or website.

Samsung is also adding a Free up space feature that removes synced originals from a device while leaving thumbnails in Gallery. Thumbnails are lower resolution previews that allow quicker browsing while the original full file is kept in cloud storage. On a new Galaxy device, turning on sync when the same Samsung and Google accounts are connected will show previews of the library, and users can download an original file when they need it.