Hadlee Simons / Android Authority
Photo storage is hugely important to everyone, but it’s not something we actively think about. For Android smartphone users, it’s largely thanks to Google Photos, which has made the background saving of our smartphone shots as seamless as capturing them. Don’t get me wrong; Photos has flaws. This is especially true for those with terabytes of images, privacy concerns, or are on the de-Google bandwagon, but is there a viable Google Photos alternative?
I’m not so sure that there is. I dipped in and out of this topic several times over the years, but more recently, I’ve taken a keen interest in seeing which options are available to consumers and which ultimately make sense for my needs. Here are my findings.
What should a Google Photos alternative offer?
Robert Triggs / Android Authority
Google Photos is more than just one app. It’s the culmination of many features, processes, and serverside support wrapped in a usable UI cocoon. However, I must reduce it to its constituent parts to determine what exactly I consider a Google Photos alternative. That said, an alternative should at least:
- Offer cloud storage or off-device storage
- Include a seamless background photo sync feature from my phone to whichever storage system it employs
- Offer an Android app or a way to access these photos on or from my phone
Photos offers much more than this brief list, but these three points underlie its base experience. If a service doesn’t tick these boxes, it isn’t worth using over Google’s existing product.
Which Google Photos alternatives are out there?
So, let’s get into the contenders. In theory, Google Photos is not alone in the image backup world. Here are some services and solutions I tested or considered on my journey to find a viable alternative.
Amazon Photos
Andy Walker / Android Authority
Amazon Photos perhaps comes closest to knocking Google Photos off its perch. It’s especially great if you already have a Prime subscription, and I’ll detail why in a moment.
The app is readily available for Android and offers a sensible, swift UI without clutter. Like its Google equivalent, Amazon Photos allows automatic background photo sync with Amazon’s servers and includes a rich search feature that filters for image capture date, upload date, favorites, video, and more. If I were to recommend any Google Photos alternative, Amazon Photos would be the one.