Allow your device’s default gallery app to access Google Photos

When Photos backup is on, Photos backs up the photos from your gallery app. The account that is connected to your device’s default gallery app is your Photos backup account. To change the connected account, you need to change the Photos backup account:

1. On your Android device, open the Google Photos app .
2. Sign in to your Google Account.
3. At the top, tap your Profile picture or Initial.
4. Tap Photos settings Backup.
5. Under “Account & Storage,” tap your Profile picture or Initial.
6. Select the Google Account you want to back up to.

When Photos backup is off, your connected Google Account is the active Photos account at the time you turned gallery access on. To change the connected account:

1. On your Android device, open the Google Photos app .
2. Sign in to your Google Account.
3. At the top, tap your Profile picture or Initial.
4. Tap Photos settings Apps & devices Google Photos access.
5. Tap your device’s default gallery app name.
6. Tap your connected Google Account.
7. Select the Google Account you want to be the connected account.

Learn how to back up photos and videos.

When you delete or restore photos from photos.google.com or another device, it may not sync with the default gallery app on the original device. To fix this, go to the Photos app and resolve out-of-sync issues:

1. On your Android device, open the Google Photos app .
2. Sign into your Google Account.
3. At the top, tap your Profile picture or Initial.
4. Tap Review out-of-sync changes.
5. Follow the on-screen steps.

If you edit the photo on photos.google.com or a different device, changes may not sync to the original device. To fix this, go to the Photos app and resolve out-of-sync issues:

1. On your Android device, open the Google Photos app .
2. Sign into your Google Account.
3. At the top, tap your Profile picture or Initial.
4. Tap Review out-of-sync changes.
5. Follow the on-screen steps.

When you edit a photo in your device’s default gallery app, the Photos app might keep the old cloud copy. For special photo types like portraits, the device default gallery app might save your edits over the existing photo.

Learn how to edit your photos.

When you move a backed-up photo to a private or hidden album in the device default gallery app, the gallery app deletes all local copies of the file. It also tries to remove the cloud copy in Photos.

If the cloud copy couldn't be deleted from the Google Account, you get a message from the device default gallery app. To remove the photo manually from your Google Account:

1. On your Android device, open the Google Photos app .
2. Sign in to your Google Account.
3. Touch and hold a photo or video you want to move to the trash.
   • Tip: You can select multiple items.
4. Tap Trash Move to trash.

Tip: If you delete a photo or video that’s backed up in Google Photos, it stays in your trash for 60 days. Learn how to empty your trash.

When there are multiple copies of the same photo on your device, your device’s default gallery app displays all local copies in the all photos tab. The Photos app only displays one copy.

When you delete a photo in the Photos app, Photos asks permission to remove all local copies from your device. If you delete a photo from the device default gallery app, it may simply delete the selected local and cloud file and keep the other copies.

Learn how to delete photos and videos.

Important: Albums in your device’s default gallery app aren't the same as albums in your Photos app.

If you renamed an album in your device’s default gallery app and you can’t find it in the Photos app, you may find the previous album name in your device folders.

If you delete Google Photos or clear Google Photos app data, your device default gallery app will no longer have access to the Google Photos app. If you didn’t previously resolve out-of-sync issues caused by editing, deleting, or restoring photos from photos.google.com or another device, Photos might reupload the original device files after you clear your Google Photos app data.

Learn how to manage your storage.

1. Find lost photos and videos.
2. If you think that your photos were lost during the transfer from your device's default gallery app to Google Photos, contact your gallery app’s support team.
3. Check if your device’s default gallery app and the Photos app are still connected. Learn how to turn default gallery access on or off.
4. Check whether backup is on. Also check your backup account. Learn more about backing up photos and videos.