How move photos from "Photos" app to"Gallery" app

[Bob Onysko]

I have many photos in my Photos app and would like to move some of them to my Gallery app (Samsung Galaxy S9+). The reason is that I want to place some of those photos on Instagram and Instagram only looks in my Gallery app. Thank you........

 

[LOveWerks]

I have many photos in my Photos app and would like to move some of them to my Gallery app (Samsung Galaxy S9+). The reason is that I want to place some of those photos on Instagram and Instagram only looks in my Gallery app. Thank you........

Bob, I went through this yesterday on a refurbished TCL A775 running Nougat 7.1.1;

I named/appended the images with .jpg, and sent them to Google Drive. Then, I downloaded the images back to my phone, and the conversion apparently worked - for since they're .png photos - while they look nice - they are data harbingers indeed (try Scrambled Exif from F-Droid, if you like your phone data to NOT be shared online by a .png image).

Magically, they appeared in Gallery. One of my Android mates said that if you convert your images to .jpg, they will save in the Gallery much easier.

However, it appears that if you change what you append at the end of an image file before sending them to Google Drive, then, downloading the photos back to your S series, this should place the files in your Downloads clipboard - and - your Gallery.

If they didn't make it to your Gallery, then go to your Downloads folder, and select all of the images, and share them with your Gallery. Multiple icons/apps will be displayed; just select Gallery.

I hope this helps you, Bob.

LW

 

[Hadron]

Look in your gallery app's settings. I don't have a Samsung so can't check it's options, but every gallery app I've used in a decade with android can find images wherever they are on the phone. So the obvious question is whether your Samsung gallery app has at some point been told not to look for images in some folders, and whether you can undo this (remove the restriction or tell it to look everywhere).

The thing to understand is that it's not a question of moving images from one app to another. The images never move. All that a gallery app of any sort is is an image viewer, something that you use to look at images stored on your phone. It doesn't own the images, it doesn't change where they are stored, it just shows you images in the directories it is allowed to look in.

 

[Bob Onysko]

Bob, I went through this yesterday on a refurbished TCL A775 running Nougat 7.1.1;

I named/appended the images with .jpg, and sent them to Google Drive. Then, I downloaded the images back to my phone, and the conversion apparently worked - for since they're .png photos - while they look nice - they are data harbingers indeed (try Scrambled Exif from F-Droid, if you like your phone data to NOT be shared online by a .png image).

Magically, they appeared in Gallery. One of my Android mates said that if you convert your images to .jpg, they will save in the Gallery much easier.

However, it appears that if you change what you append at the end of an image file before sending them to Google Drive, then, downloading the photos back to your S series, this should place the files in your Downloads clipboard - and - your Gallery.

If they didn't make it to your Gallery, then go to your Downloads folder, and select all of the images, and share them with your Gallery. Multiple icons/apps will be displayed; just select Gallery.

I hope this helps you, Bob.

LW

Thank you for your reply. However, I'm not technically savvy enough to know what to do based on your instructions. I checked some of the photos I want to make visible in Gallery - and they have the JPG extension. But I don't know how to download them from Google Drive as you explained. Maybe if you could tell me exactly how to do that, I could get started. My Photos ARE on Google Drive.

 

[Bob Onysko]

Look in your gallery app's settings. I don't have a Samsung so can't check it's options, but every gallery app I've used in a decade with android can find images wherever they are on the phone. So the obvious question is whether your Samsung gallery app has at some point been told not to look for images in some folders, and whether you can undo this (remove the restriction or tell it to look everywhere).

The thing to understand is that it's not a question of moving images from one app to another. The images never move. All that a gallery app of any sort is is an image viewer, something that you use to look at images stored on your phone. It doesn't own the images, it doesn't change where they are stored, it just shows you images in the directories it is allowed to look in.

I checked the Gallery app and found no way to find images elsewhere on my phone. I understand that there's only one copy of each image on my phone - but, on Instagram, I can only post images from my Gallery.

 

[svim]

Instead of intentionally manipulating your photos by renaming them (don't do this as an experiment, do it specifically to accomplish an intended purpose) or splitting up/moving your photos to different locations (divided between internal storage, microSD card, and remotely to online storage services), your safest, most reliable way to maintain your photo library is to just let them get saved into your phone as is, and then use the photo manager app, like the Gallery app, to display them for you. Once you start haphazardly dividing your photo library, you then risk losing track of some of them, duplicating images with the same name and with altered names, and creating a situation where some are backed up properly and some are not. Don't intentionally make things more complicated than you need to.

-- Don't worry about where your photos get stored, just let your photos get saved to the default folders where your various apps are set to store them. Depending on your phone model and Android version the default folders will be something like DCIM (Digital Camera IMages) or Photos, or Downloads. Some apps are outliers that save photos into their own Downloads folder so that can create a stumbling block, but generally you just need to focus on your chosen photo manager app being able to detect and index those default photo storage folders. Your Camera app will typically use the dcim or Photos folder as its default, a web browser app or text messaging app will often use the Downloads folder as its default, but again that's all just actions that take place automatically in the background. Just focus on the photo manager app as that's generally your interface with your photo library.
-- Double-check your Gallery app's Settings menu to see what options you have to add folders for the app to auto-detect.
-- You might want to skip using the Gallery app as your default photo manager and instead switch to the Google Photos app. On its front end it's a decent photo manager but an important back end feature is it will automatically backup and sync your entire photo library into your online Google account. That itself is an important aspect you need to be aware of. Having your photos automatically backed up is a really important feature, and once you have that implemented you can then access all your photos either on your phone or using a computer/laptop web browser by logging into your account at https://photos.google.com
If you do prefer Gallery's user interface instead of Google Photo's user interface, you can still keep using the Gallery app as your default photo manager while having Google Photos run in the background to do its automatic backup.
(Note that some people complain that the Google Photos app doesn't actually automatically backup your photos and you need to have the app on screen to do this but that's more a matter of people's expectations that things need to be instantaneous. If you have to have the backups done immediately on-the-fly than yes, you need to have the app on screen but otherwise the auto backups will be done accordingly determined by whatever scheduling routine has been set up by the app developers.)
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.apps.photos&hl=en_US
-- A really good alternative to the Gallery app is the Simple Gallery Pro app:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.simplemobiletools.gallery.pro&hl=en_US
It has an extensive number of options in its Settings menu so you have a lot of options to alter the user interface to your liking, along with plenty of different back end settings on what folders to index, what file types to detect/ignore, a lot of other tweaking options at a granular level. The Gallery app is good for basic usage, Simple Gallery Pro is better if you want to take the time to set up your photo manager so its optimized for your personal needs.

 

[tommo47]

Hi @Bob Onysko,

To download from Drive go into Drive, locate your images, longpress one of them, then tap any others you want to download, then tap the 3 dot menu top right and tap 'Download'. The images will be downloaded to your device.




Hope this helps.

 

[Dannydet]

I don't know who suggested Google drive in this thread, but the op mentioned the photos app.... Google photos.
Open photos app, and download to device.
Done.....

I have many photos in my Photos app and would like to move some of them to my Gallery app (Samsung Galaxy S9+). The reason is that I want to place some of those photos on Instagram and Instagram only looks in my Gallery app. Thank you........

 

[MoodyBlues]

I checked the Gallery app and found no way to find images elsewhere on my phone. I understand that there's only one copy of each image on my phone - but, on Instagram, I can only post images from my Gallery.

In addition to some excellent points made by @svim and @Hadron, I want to point out the use of the word/name 'Gallery' in your posts, and how it may be muddying the waters.

Gallery, as a generic term, just means a collection of images.

Then there are gallery apps--some of which may actually be named 'Gallery.'

And then there's the 'Gallery' you're seeing when using Instagram. IG can't know which gallery app you use. So let's say that yours is actually called Gallery. That doesn't mean it's the same 'Gallery' IG is looking in.

I know from certain apps I use that when I initiate uploading an image, they display a list of locations to pick images from, including 'Gallery.' But I have no app by that name. Opening it reveals that it's simply a collection of all the images on my device.

So, for clarity, I'd like to know a couple of things. Is your gallery app actually named Gallery? (Mine isn't--it's called F-Stop Pro, and no app I use that uploads images ever lists it as a location.) Did you install it, or did it come with your Samsung?

When you're attempting to upload images to IG, what happens when you select the 'Gallery' location it shows you? Are all your images there? Only certain ones? None?

I also want to reiterate that moving images around and, especially, changing their names, can be a very bad, very dangerous idea. I *am* very tech-savvy, so it's not an issue for me, but I can see all sorts of potential problems for someone who's not really sure what they're doing.

Finally, simply changing a file's name from 'image.png' to 'image.jpg' doesn't make it magically visible! Its ability to be 'seen' by an app depends on that app's ability to interpret various file types.

When I'm creating an image [using a graphics program], I have control over which image type to save it as. The different types, e.g., JPEG, GIF, PNG, etc., have their own specifications, characteristics, quality, and more. To actually convert an image from one type to another is not as simple as changing its name. That must be done using a graphics program, image editor, image converter, etc. You may still be able to view an image whose name you changed to a different type, but you won't gain the specific attributes that kind of file should have.

 

[tommo47]

@Dannydet

The OP did....

But I don't know how to download them from Google Drive as you explained. Maybe if you could tell me exactly how to do that, I could get started. My Photos ARE on Google Drive.

 

[Dannydet]

OK my bad. I read his very first post...

 

[Trom]

Thank you for your reply. However, I'm not technically savvy enough to know what to do based on your instructions. I checked some of the photos I want to make visible in Gallery - and they have the JPG extension. But I don't know how to download them from Google Drive as you explained. Maybe if you could tell me exactly how to do that, I could get started. My Photos ARE on Google Drive.

Can you not view the image, and then "share" to Instagram? You don't really need to fire up Instagram first.

 

[Hadron]

^this. I just tried and Instagram definitely shows amongst my sharing options. If adding from within Instagram isn't working, this will probably be the simplest solution.

That said, I think there's a misunderstanding in the original question. I just tried hitting the "+" button in the Instagram app and what it shows is not the gallery app. The label says "Gallery", but you are still in Instagram. "Gallery" is just the label Instagram have given to the view when it's showing you all of the images it can find on your device jumbled together: if you click on that word (notice there is a little down arrow next to it) you get a list of all of the separate folders, and you can choose to just look in one of those. So that label "Gallery" does not mean that Instagram is "looking in the Samsung Gallery app", and if Instagram isn't showing you the images you want then the problem is with the Instagram app and nothing else. But do see whether you can see the folder you are after in the list and try selecting that, since it may be easier to find the images you are after than going through their default jumbled-together view. Or just start from your other app and hit "share", and don't bother with Insta's shoddy image selector page.

 

[Bob Onysko]

Instead of intentionally manipulating your photos by renaming them (don't do this as an experiment, do it specifically to accomplish an intended purpose) or splitting up/moving your photos to different locations (divided between internal storage, microSD card, and remotely to online storage services), your safest, most reliable way to maintain your photo library is to just let them get saved into your phone as is, and then use the photo manager app, like the Gallery app, to display them for you. Once you start haphazardly dividing your photo library, you then risk losing track of some of them, duplicating images with the same name and with altered names, and creating a situation where some are backed up properly and some are not. Don't intentionally make things more complicated than you need to.

-- Don't worry about where your photos get stored, just let your photos get saved to the default folders where your various apps are set to store them. Depending on your phone model and Android version the default folders will be something like DCIM (Digital Camera IMages) or Photos, or Downloads. Some apps are outliers that save photos into their own Downloads folder so that can create a stumbling block, but generally you just need to focus on your chosen photo manager app being able to detect and index those default photo storage folders. Your Camera app will typically use the dcim or Photos folder as its default, a web browser app or text messaging app will often use the Downloads folder as its default, but again that's all just actions that take place automatically in the background. Just focus on the photo manager app as that's generally your interface with your photo library.
-- Double-check your Gallery app's Settings menu to see what options you have to add folders for the app to auto-detect.
-- You might want to skip using the Gallery app as your default photo manager and instead switch to the Google Photos app. On its front end it's a decent photo manager but an important back end feature is it will automatically backup and sync your entire photo library into your online Google account. That itself is an important aspect you need to be aware of. Having your photos automatically backed up is a really important feature, and once you have that implemented you can then access all your photos either on your phone or using a computer/laptop web browser by logging into your account at https://photos.google.com
If you do prefer Gallery's user interface instead of Google Photo's user interface, you can still keep using the Gallery app as your default photo manager while having Google Photos run in the background to do its automatic backup.
(Note that some people complain that the Google Photos app doesn't actually automatically backup your photos and you need to have the app on screen to do this but that's more a matter of people's expectations that things need to be instantaneous. If you have to have the backups done immediately on-the-fly than yes, you need to have the app on screen but otherwise the auto backups will be done accordingly determined by whatever scheduling routine has been set up by the app developers.)
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.apps.photos&hl=en_US
-- A really good alternative to the Gallery app is the Simple Gallery Pro app:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.simplemobiletools.gallery.pro&hl=en_US
It has an extensive number of options in its Settings menu so you have a lot of options to alter the user interface to your liking, along with plenty of different back end settings on what folders to index, what file types to detect/ignore, a lot of other tweaking options at a granular level. The Gallery app is good for basic usage, Simple Gallery Pro is better if you want to take the time to set up your photo manager so its optimized for your personal needs.

OK, if I understand correctly, I should use the Simple Gallery Pro app to do what I want to do. Is that correct? Thank you..........

 

[Bob Onysko]

^this. I just tried and Instagram definitely shows amongst my sharing options. If adding from within Instagram isn't working, this will probably be the simplest solution.

That said, I think there's a misunderstanding in the original question. I just tried hitting the "+" button in the Instagram app and what it shows is not the gallery app. The label says "Gallery", but you are still in Instagram. "Gallery" is just the label Instagram have given to the view when it's showing you all of the images it can find on your device jumbled together: if you click on that word (notice there is a little down arrow next to it) you get a list of all of the separate folders, and you can choose to just look in one of those. So that label "Gallery" does not mean that Instagram is "looking in the Samsung Gallery app", and if Instagram isn't showing you the images you want then the problem is with the Instagram app and nothing else. But do see whether you can see the folder you are after in the list and try selecting that, since it may be easier to find the images you are after than going through their default jumbled-together view. Or just start from your other app and hit "share", and don't bother with Insta's shoddy image selector page.

And I thought that meant the Gallery app. I'll try that. Thank you.

 

[MoodyBlues]

Well, @Hadron beat me to it.

I forgot I had an Instagram account; I had never installed its Android app, so I did that now. Then, when prompted to add a pic to my profile, everything became crystal clear!

As I said in this post: IG doesn't know which gallery app you use; 'gallery' is a generic term for a collection of images; IG's "Gallery" that you're seeing may coincidentally have the same name as your gallery app, but is likely displaying all the images on the device. Yep.

This is what I see when initiating uploading an image using the Instagram app:

See the word 'Gallery' at the top? That's not the name of your gallery app coincidentally named Gallery--it's a generic word for collection of images. As you can see, it automatically displays various images from my device.

Note the drop-down menu indicator right after the word Gallery, the little, black, down arrow; press it:

You're now able to choose images from any of the locations listed--which will be different from mine.

Mystery solved!