Samsung Gallery officially adds Google Photos backup, but not for all Galaxy users

Samsung has officially launched Google Photos integration in its Gallery app with backup services, and it’s also now widely rolled out for Galaxy devices. Samsung Gallery started rolling out support for Google Photos backup in September, but it wasn’t widely available at the time. As of this week, though, Samsung is officially announcing the feature as it is now available broadly to Galaxy users. “Gallery Sync” in the Samsung Gallery app replaces the previous Microsoft OneDrive integration with Google Photos, letting users sign in with their Google account of choice and use the free 15GB or paid Google One storage to back up photos and videos. This allows the Samsung Gallery app to show media backed up from another Galaxy device, but it doesn’t integrate your full Google Photos library. At this point, Google Photos backup via Samsung Gallery should be broadly available to Galaxy owners. We’re seeing Samsung’s pop-up (pictured above) about the feature on our Galaxy Z Fold 8, with the feature fully functional beyond that. You can also access setup via Menu > Settings > “Sync photos and videos” in the Samsung Gallery app. Samsung requires your device to be running One UI 9 (Android 17) to access this feature, though it says that support will be “expanding to additional Galaxy devices in phases.” For the time being, though, that means the feature is a bit limited for users, as the One UI 9 rollout is still in progress. Once media has been backed up to Google Photos, Samsung Gallery also now has a “free up space” button that can delete the local copies of your photos and videos to open up storage on your phone. More on Samsung: Samsung Galaxy S27 series camera specs leak, and they’re disappointing Paid Galaxy AI plan leaks for $5/month, but will you pay? Samsung bets that you’ll either buy a Galaxy S27 Pro or Ultra next year Follow Ben: Twitter/X, Threads, Bluesky, and Instagram FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.