With how many megapixels the best Android phones are packing in their main camera sensors, it’s no surprise that so many users rely on cloud storage to manage their photo library. A single 200MP image can take up dozens of megabytes of space, which can add up quickly if you take lots of photos. Cloud media providers like Google Photos provide a convenient way to back up your photo library, are available on multiple platforms, and offer loads of nifty photo management and photo editing features.
However, Google Photos in particular still lacks some basic features like being able to mirror an image. It also won’t get some of the new AI editing features that OEMs are adding to their own gallery apps. That’s forced some users to have to choose between sticking with one gallery app and missing out on some features or using two gallery apps to manage and edit their photo library. If you own a recent device from OnePlus, OPPO, Realme, or Xiaomi, though, you may not have to pick and choose between the stock gallery app and Google Photos anymore.
OxygenOS and ColorOS pick up new Google Photos integration
With the release of OxygenOS 14/ColorOS 14 based on Android 14, the stock gallery app on OnePlus, OPPO, and Realme devices (simply called “Photos”) now has full integration with Google Photos. If you open up the OOS/COS Photos app and then go to settings, you’ll see a Backup to “Google Photos” page where a Backup toggle resides. Tapping this takes you to the Google Photos app, which asks you whether you want to give the OOS/COS Photos app access to Google Photos. This not only enables backing up your photos and videos to Google Photos, which is something you can already do if you open the main Google Photos app, but also enables showing your entire Google Photos library in the OOS/COS Photos app.
Google Photos integration in the stock gallery app in OxygenOS 14/ColorOS 14 on OnePlus, OPPO, and Realme devices.
You can seamlessly view photos and videos backed up to Google Photos from within the OOS/COS Photos app. Any photo hosted on Google Photos that you open in the OOS/COS Photos app is automatically saved locally to a folder called “Restored,” while any video that you open is streamed to the device but can be locally saved by tapping the download button in the toolbar. Any edits you make are also seamlessly synced back to Google Photos, so you don’t have to worry about reviewing any “out of sync” items in Google Photos after editing a photo in the OOS/COS Photos app. Unfortunately, albums aren’t synced between the two, so any albums you create in the stock OOS/COS Photos app won’t appear in the Google Photos app and vice versa.
Xiaomi’s Gallery app gets full two-way sync
This integration with Google Photos also works exactly the same way in the stock gallery app on Xiaomi devices, by the way. The Xiaomi Gallery app has supported backing up photos and videos to Google Photos since late 2022, which is when the company decided to shut down its own cloud photo backup service. However, the app did not support full, two-way synchronization with Google Photos at the time.
Fast forward to the global launch of the Xiaomi 14 Ultra at MWC last month, and Xiaomi announced that they would roll out an update to the Gallery app that adds full integration with Google Photos. This update started rolling out this month and brings the Gallery app to version 3.6.2.10-global. On my Xiaomi 13T Pro, I was able to enter the Gallery app’s settings and enable Google Photos integration by tapping the banner shown below. Afterward, my entire Google Photos library appeared in the Gallery app.
Google Photos integration in the stock gallery app on Xiaomi devices.
According to a support page, currently only Xiaomi, OPPO, OnePlus, and Realme devices offer gallery apps that can access Google Photos. The support page also mentions a bunch of other caveats about the feature, such as how edits made on the Google Photos website may not sync with the original device or how duplicates may appear in the stock gallery app if multiple copies exist on the device. Given these caveats, it makes sense that Google lets you turn off this integration at any time. To do so, you just need to go to settings in Google Photos, tap on Apps & devices, and then tap Google Photos access at the bottom to open the page where you can revoke access.
Managing which apps can access your Google Photos library.
While it’s nice that the gallery app on OnePlus, OPPO, Realme, and Xiaomi devices offers such tight integration with Google Photos, it’s a shame that these caveats exist. However, for the average user who mainly views, edits, and shares photos right from their smartphone, this integration may eliminate the need to frequently switch between two different gallery apps.
