The trip moment
Three of us shot the same statue. I want the best one. I see photos from everyone else, sure — but I want to delete what I don't need from my gallery without affecting them. Not message someone "is it OK if I clean up your duplicates?". Not have my cleanup somehow ripple back and erase her version too. Just curate my own view, while still receiving every new shot anyone takes.
Most sync apps don't draw that line. The shared folder is one folder, one delete button, one shared fate.
What goes wrong with one shared folder
- Reciprocal deletes. I clean up my duplicates → her originals disappear from her phone too.
- One bad sync, all phones empty. Someone's app reconciles wrong, and every phone in the family follows.
- No room for individual curation. I want my gallery tidy. She wants every shot kept "just in case." We can't both have what we want from one folder.
- Quota surprises. A 15 GB free tier fills up fast when three people are shooting all weekend, and no one is tracking who is using what.
The pattern: each person owns their folder, others subscribe
Every family member already has a Google account with 15 GB free. So:
- You own your folder. Your camera roll syncs to your own cloud — your photos, your quota, your account.
- You share that folder (read access) with the rest of the family.
- Each family member adds your folder as a download-only rule in SyncGallery. They receive your photos. They never write back to your cloud.
- You do the same for theirs. A separate download-only rule per person whose photos you want to see.
Result: everyone sees everyone's photos. No one can damage anyone else's library. No one is paying for shared storage.
What SyncGallery does that makes this work
1. Direction is set per rule
When you create a sync rule in SyncGallery, you pick its direction. The option labelled "Just download from Cloud" is the one you'll use for every family member's folder you subscribe to — it pulls cloud → phone and never the other way. Your own rule for your own folder runs two-way as normal. Three rules, one device, three independent boundaries.
2. Local deletes don't propagate upstream
On a download-only rule, deleting a photo on your phone removes it from your gallery — and that's the end of the line. SyncGallery does not push that delete back to her cloud. Her phone stays untouched. Her cloud stays untouched.
3. Two re-download switches per rule
When you set up a rule, two checkboxes control how aggressive SyncGallery is about pulling files back on subsequent syncs.
"Re-download from cloud if file was deleted on device" — You deleted a photo from your phone, but it's still in her cloud (which you can't change). On the next sync, should SyncGallery bring it back? Off: no. Your local deletion sticks; the rule remembers it and won't re-download that photo. On: yes. The next run re-downloads it and your gallery ends up matching her cloud again.
"Re-download from cloud if file was modified on device" — You edited a photo on your phone; the cloud version is still the original. On the next sync, should SyncGallery overwrite your edit with the cloud version? Off: no. Your local edit is preserved. On: yes. The cloud copy replaces your local one.
The combined effect is two modes per rule: leave both off for "curate my own view", turn both on for "always mirror her folder." You can mix them, per rule, per person.
4. A per-rule view shows everything that rule brought in
A rule can cover one folder or many — including sub-folders. For each rule, SyncGallery has a dedicated filter view that shows every photo and video in that rule's scope, regardless of where the files actually live on your phone. It's the rule-scoped equivalent of an "All Media" view: tap Anna's rule, see only what Anna's rule has brought in, all in one list. Tap Mark's rule, same thing for his photos. That keeps ownership obvious and makes it easy to scope a cleanup to one person at a time.
Pool the photos. Keep your own view.
Build a family cloud archive from the best shots
Once everyone has been on the trip and the dust has settled, you've curated your own gallery — kept the keepers, deleted the duplicates. Your phone holds the version of the trip you want to remember.
From there, you can promote that curated set into a single family cloud archive: create one more SyncGallery rule pointing at a new shared cloud folder (any one of your accounts, or a dedicated archive account), and upload your selection. The other family members can do the same. The archive ends up holding the best shots from each person's curation — without forcing anyone to share their full library.
Or simpler: pick one family member as archivist. Their phone runs download-only rules from everyone, they curate the family-wide best-of, then upload to a single archive folder they own.
Set up your first family rule in minutes
Install SyncGallery, point a download-only rule at a family member's shared cloud folder, and watch their photos arrive — without ever putting their library at risk.
Get it on Google PlayFrequently asked questions
Do family members need SyncGallery on their phone too?
No. SyncGallery is for the phones where you want granular control over sync — the rest of the family can keep using their regular cloud apps (the Google Drive or OneDrive client) for their own backups. All you need is for them to share their folder with you the normal way, and send you the share URL. Paste that URL into SyncGallery and a sync rule is set up — your phone receives their photos, theirs stays on their regular setup.
If I delete a photo someone shared, will they know?
No. The delete happens entirely on your phone. SyncGallery does not call back to their cloud or notify them. Their library is unaffected.
Can I see who took which photo?
Yes. A rule can cover one folder or many folders (including sub-folders), and for each rule SyncGallery has a dedicated filter view that shows every photo and video in the rule's scope regardless of where the files actually live. It's the rule-scoped equivalent of an "All Media" view: tap "Anna's rule" and you see only what Anna's rule has brought in, all in one list.
Screenshots and labels in this page reflect the SyncGallery app at the time of writing. The exact wording of UI elements may evolve in future versions.