ente Photos
Paid Our pickEncrypted photo backup with on-device face and object search — the closest thing to Google Photos without the surveillance. Painless Takeout import.
Photos: replace Google Photos
5 private options, our pick first. Every download link goes straight to the source — F-Droid, the developer's GitHub releases (one tap into Obtainium), the Play listing you can install anonymously through Aurora Store, or the official site. None of these are affiliate links. Updated October 2026.
These Google Photos alternatives are for people who want automatic phone backup and search without handing family photos to an ad company. On Android the choice splits three ways: ente Photos for an encrypted hosted service, Immich if you run your own server, or an offline gallery like Fossify Gallery or Aves.
The trade-off is setup time and storage cost. Google's search and sharing are hard to match, and large libraries take hours to move. A private photo setup in 2026 can replace Google Photos, but plan the migration before you delete anything.
Immich
Self-hostThe self-host darling: fast, gorgeous, ML search on your own hardware.
Nextcloud Memories
Self-hostGood enough if you already run Nextcloud anyway.
Fossify Gallery
FreeA clean offline gallery to replace Google Photos as the viewer — no cloud, no account.
Aves
FreeBeautiful offline gallery with maps, tags and video. The pick if your library is big.
How to switch from Google Photos
- Request a Google Photos export from Google Takeout. Large libraries arrive as several zip files, and each photo comes with a JSON file holding its date, description and location.
- Import the Takeout files into your new service. ente Photos supports Takeout imports and reads those metadata files. Immich users can upload with its command-line tool or with community importers built for Takeout archives.
- Turn on backup in the new Android app and pick which folders to include. Camera, screenshots and messaging app folders are separate on Android, so check each one you care about.
- Compare photo counts and spot-check old albums, videos and dates. Takeout exports can be messy, so confirm the new library looks right before you go any further.
- Turn off backup in Google Photos, then uninstall or disable the app. Don't use any free-up-space option while Google is still your only complete copy.
- Set an offline gallery such as Fossify Gallery or Aves as the default viewer if you want to browse photos without opening a cloud app at all.
Photos questions
Will my Google Photos albums and dates survive the move?
Mostly, if the importer reads Takeout's JSON files. Those files hold the original dates, descriptions and locations that some tools would otherwise lose. Albums come out as folders. Edits, shared albums and face groups may not transfer cleanly, so plan to rebuild a few favorite albums by hand and check the oldest photos first.
Is self-hosting Immich worth it compared with ente?
Only if you already enjoy running a home server. Immich is fast and its machine-learning search runs on your own hardware, but you handle updates, storage and a backup of the server itself. ente is hosted, end-to-end encrypted and open source, so someone else keeps it running. Most families are better served by the hosted option.
Can I search my photos by face or object without Google?
Yes. According to ente, its face and object search runs on your device, so the server never sees what is in your photos. Immich runs similar search on your own server. Offline galleries such as Fossify Gallery and Aves don't do this kind of recognition, but you can browse by folder and date, and Aves adds maps and tags.