How to Change the Image Gallery on Your Nexus 6 1

How to Change the Image Gallery on Your Nexus 6

Google’s brand new Nexus 6 smartphone has only been around for a few weeks, but with more carriers offering the smartphone and stock coming to Google Play, the device is finally in the hands of eager buyers.

Now that the Nexus 6 release is getting longer and more accessible, we’re starting to get a lot of questions about certain aspects of the device. Things like changing the keyboard, setting up your new phone, and even changing simple things like the Gallery app to view photos and videos.

With Android 5.0 Lollipop and Nexus 6 (and others), Google has removed the stock “Gallery” app that many users are familiar with for viewing photos and videos taken on their device or with the camera. Instead we now have a “Photos” app connected to Google+. It has many advantages, but if you want to replace it with something else, read on for the details.

There are certainly advantages to using the stock “Photos” app on the Nexus 6 to process all your previous and current photos and videos. For one, it automatically (if you agree) backs up all your photos and videos so you never lose them no matter what. It’s also a nice way to easily share and organize them from your phone, tablet, or even your computer.

Google+ Photos is a great app, but using it as the default and only image gallery option on the Nexus 6 isn’t ideal. At least not for me, and for many of the people we talk to on Twitter and other social media sites. We’re seeing a lot of users wanting the old Android 4.4 KitKat Gallery back or asking if they have any other options.

The beauty of Android is that everything is changeable. There are different apps for home screen, launcher, keyboard, browser, gallery, text messaging apps and more. It’s really customizable. With that, we’ll explain below how easy it is to replace “Photos” with something a little easier to use and more familiar.

Instructions

Users may be facing the same issue on their Galaxy S5, LG G3, and other smartphones if at some point you accidentally set “Photos” as the default app to view photos. Android lets you choose which app items open by default if more than one is open. You may have set Photos as the default app, or if you’re using a Nexus 6, it may be the only option out of the box.

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To get started, you’ll want to clear the default and then download something different from the Google Play Store. go Settings > apps > all, select Google+ (since Photos is a component of Google+) and tap Clear Defaults. This will make the Google+ Photos app not your default app for images and your phone will revert to the built-in gallery viewer provided by your manufacturer.

However, those with a Nexus 6 or Nexus 9 only Google Play store and download one of the many different gallery and image viewer apps available. Not all may have the same customization and tweaking options as Google+ Photos, but there are plenty of options.

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Personally, I chose to download and install the official CyanogenMod Gallery for my Nexus 6, also known as CM Gallery. This is a simple, fast and fluid image viewer that can replace the stock “Photos” app on the Nexus 6, or any smartphone and tablet for that matter. Everything is divided into folders as before and they even integrated a nice Moments feature to collect photos from life moments and much more. The grid view has mixed dimensions to give it a lively feel and works great.

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The next time you go to open a photo or view some pictures, make sure you set CM Gallery (or whatever app you download) as the default app for viewing pictures or video and you’re ready.

The next time you open a photo saved from Facebook, Gmail or any other source, it will open with CM Gallery, not with photos. From here add the icon to your home screen or anywhere you want and use CM Gallery whenever you view photos or videos.

My Roll and QuickPic are two of the most popular gallery replacement apps for Android, and both are worth checking out. QuickPic has been around for years and focuses on providing a very simple, stylish and fast image viewing experience. MyRoll, on the other hand, does things a little smarter. It rearranges photos by events, date, time, and even location if you let them. It also has the classic “gallery reel” option where all your photos are in one spot if you want. It has all the sharing features of the stock gallery, learns as you go, and can even explore old photos in your gallery.

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Gallery view is a complete reel of all your photos; moments use smart features to group images by location, time, date and more. It will even remember a photo from the same day last year and show you related photos (like birthdays or holidays) with smart discovery mode. Pretty clean.

Those looking for Gallery from Android 4.2 Jelly Bean or Android 4.4 KitKat are also in Play Store. But most of them are not compatible with Android 5.0 Lollipop, at least not yet, so the other options mentioned above should be your first choice.

There are lots of excellent photo galleries and image viewer changer apps on Play Store, so try them all and choose the one you want and it’s all set.