Keep your OneDrive photos in your Android gallery without filling your phone

Your OneDrive photos are still there

Samsung Gallery's direct sync with OneDrive ended on September 30, 2026. If you previously freed up space on your phone, some of the photos you browsed in Samsung Gallery may only have full copies in OneDrive now.

The change does not delete those originals. Microsoft says they remain available in OneDrive, even though they no longer appear through the old Samsung Gallery integration. You can read the official announcement and continue viewing them in the OneDrive app.

If you'd like to browse them in an Android gallery again, SyncGallery 2.3 gives you another option: connect your existing OneDrive account, bring selected folders into SyncGallery, and keep smaller local copies with compression.

This doesn't reconnect Samsung Gallery to OneDrive. You'll browse in SyncGallery, with control over which folders come onto each device and how much detail you keep offline.

First, check what you already have

Open OneDrive and check that you can see your photos and videos in the account you plan to connect. Find the actual folder holding them, and pick a small subfolder for your first try. There's no need to move your whole library to another cloud.

On each device, open Settings > Advanced > Compression settings in SyncGallery. Look at the storage estimate and try different quality settings. This helps you judge the media already on that device; it isn't a complete estimate of a OneDrive library the app hasn't scanned yet.

If your phone is already nearly full, back up and compress suitable media that's on it before adding more from OneDrive. Keep another backup of important originals, too: a smaller phone copy isn't a second full-quality backup.

You'll need Premium or higher for compression. It supports JPEG photos and MP4 videos, including .m4v files. HEIC, PNG, MOV and other unsupported formats stay unchanged, so a library with lots of those files will need more local space.

Set up a small OneDrive folder first

For an existing cloud library, a download-only rule is a useful starting point. It brings files onto your device without uploading local edits or deletions back to OneDrive.

1. Open Rules, tap +, and choose Advanced setup. This exposes the direction settings for your own account without needing a public sharing link.
2. Set Synchronization Type to Just download from Cloud. For a separate local collection, choose Download to Defined Folder or Album(s) Only.
3. Choose OneDrive and sign in with the Microsoft account containing your photos, or select an account you've already connected.
4. Select your small existing OneDrive folder and an empty folder on your device, such as a new folder under Pictures. Use Select another location when a step suggests creating a folder instead of choosing the one you already have.
5. Check which file types and subfolders are included. For the first run, keep the selection small enough to browse and compare afterward.
6. At Save space on this device?, turn on Compress local files, keep originals in the cloud. Read the explanation and choose the quality you want. In a saved rule, these controls are under Media Compression.
7. Give the rule a name you'll recognize. Check Review Your Sync Rule, then tap Scan.
8. When the scan finishes, tap Review. Check the source, destination and planned downloads. Select the operations you want, tap Execute, and confirm.

Follow the work on the Tasks tab. Once some files are ready, browse them in the gallery and try a few videos before adding the rest of your collection.

The rule setup guide and compression tutorial explain the individual controls in more detail.

Choose what you want available offline

There isn't one quality setting that suits every library. Start with how you actually use the device.

For everyday browsing, try Compressed media. You keep smaller photos and playable videos on the device, while OneDrive keeps the originals. Lower image size or video quality saves more local space; higher quality keeps more detail. Browse a few familiar photos and videos to decide what looks good to you.

For the smallest local collection, try Thumbnails only. You'll have previews to browse, but need access to the original for the full photo or video. This is useful when space matters more than having everything available offline.

Set up your tablet separately. Its larger screen may benefit from higher-quality local copies. Both devices can use the same OneDrive originals while keeping different local quality settings. Choose Custom quality for this rule if you want that rule to differ from the app-wide settings.

Settings can change the balance between local storage and fetching originals. They don't set a fixed data allowance or guarantee a particular number of megabytes saved.

What about downloads and mobile data?

The first sync still transfers data. The amount depends on your files, quality settings and whether a usable smaller preview is available from the provider. Some files need their originals downloaded to produce a smaller copy, especially videos kept as playable compressed media. Don't assume that a small final library means an equally small initial download.

Use Wi-Fi and keep the device charging for a large first sync. Leave some free space for files being processed. If you have a lot of videos, work through the library a folder at a time.

Later, browsing local compressed copies can work offline. Opening a full original, editing a compressed photo, or choosing the original when sharing can trigger a download. With thumbnails, expect to fetch originals more often when you want to view the full media.

An original you've fetched can stay on the device for a while before being compressed again. The recent-file settings in Compression settings let you adjust that balance. Keeping recently used originals longer uses more storage but can avoid fetching the same file again so soon.

Add the rest at your own pace

Once you're happy with the first folder, set up more folders with compression enabled and review each initial scan. Check the available space on your phone and tablet separately.

The download-only rule in this guide does not back up new camera photos. For those, create a separate backup rule for your camera folder. Or, if you want edits and new files to travel both ways, create a Two-way sync with cloud rule and review its behavior before using it on your main library. The OneDrive setup tutorial covers that option.

You can also choose automatic syncing in Settings. Until you enable it, start rules from the Rules tab when you want them to run.

A few details worth keeping in mind

• Other apps that read the local files see the smaller versions too. In SyncGallery, you can fetch an original when you need it.
• Turning compression off doesn't automatically restore everything. Use the restore controls in Compression settings when you want full copies back, and allow enough storage for them.
• Keep your OneDrive originals and another backup. If you uninstall SyncGallery, the smaller local files remain; the cloud originals are still in OneDrive.
• If you later choose two-way sync, review its deletion settings. You don't have to make deleting a phone copy delete the cloud original.

Get SyncGallery on Google Play and try one small folder first. You can keep using the OneDrive storage you already have and decide how much of that library belongs on each device.