Gallery mode
Ente Photos can be used as a gallery app on your phone without creating an account. This is called gallery mode. It gives you a private, on-device photo gallery with smart features like face recognition and natural language search, all without uploading anything to the cloud.
Availability: Gallery mode is available on the Ente Photos mobile app (iOS and Android).
Getting started
- Download Ente Photos from the App Store or Google Play
- On the welcome screen, tap Continue without account
- Grant Ente access to your photo library when prompted
- Your device photos appear in the gallery, organized by date
Ente scans your device for photos and videos and groups them by their native album or folder (Camera, Screenshots, WhatsApp Images, etc.). These appear in the Albums tab as device folders you can browse.
Feature comparison: gallery mode vs signed-in mode
| Feature | Gallery mode | Signed-in mode |
|---|---|---|
| Browse device photos and videos | Yes | Yes |
| Device folder browsing (Camera, Screenshots, etc.) | Yes | Yes |
| Full-screen photo and video viewer | Yes | Yes |
| Face recognition (on-device) | Yes | Yes |
| Magic search / natural language search (on-device) | Yes | Yes |
| Map view (requires location data in photos) | Yes | Yes |
| Memories | Yes | Yes |
| App lock | Yes | Yes |
| Theme and appearance settings | Yes | Yes |
| Cloud backup and sync | -- | Yes |
| Cross-device sync | -- | Yes |
| Ente albums (create, organize) | -- | Yes |
| Favorites | -- | Yes |
| Uncategorized album | -- | Yes |
| Archive and Hide | -- | Yes |
| Sharing and collaborative albums | -- | Yes |
| Public links and embed | -- | Yes |
| Comments and likes | -- | Yes |
| Rituals | -- | Yes |
| Free up device space | -- | Yes |
| Storage plan management | -- | Yes |
| Cross-device ML sync (face names, etc.) | -- | Yes |
| Home widgets (albums, people) | -- | Yes |
What works in gallery mode
Gallery and viewing -- The full photo and video viewer works, including pinch-to-zoom, swiping between photos, and sharing to other apps. Photos appear in the home timeline sorted by date and in the Albums tab grouped by device folder.
On-device ML -- Face recognition and magic search (natural language search) run entirely on your device. Enable these from the banner that appears on the Search tab or from Settings > Machine learning. Processing happens locally and no data leaves your phone.
Search and discovery -- The Search tab shows people (faces), device albums, and location-based results. In gallery mode, the albums section shows device folders instead of Ente cloud albums.
Map -- View photos on a map if they contain location metadata. Enable from Settings > Map.
What requires an account
Cloud features -- Backup, cross-device sync, sharing, collaborative albums, public links, and embed all require an Ente account.
Organization features -- Ente albums, Favorites, Uncategorized, Archive, and Hide are cloud-based and require an account.
Interactions -- Comments, likes, and rituals require an account.
Signing up from gallery mode
Create an Ente account at any time without losing your local data.
From the home gallery -- A "Get started" banner appears at the top of the timeline. Tap it to begin sign-up.
From the Albums tab -- An "Enable backup" prompt appears in the albums section.
From Settings -- A sign-in card appears at the top of the Settings page.
After signing up:
- Device folders become available for backup selection
- ML indexes built in gallery mode are preserved
- All cloud features (sharing, cross-device sync, etc.) become available
- The Sharing tab shows shared albums instead of the gallery mode placeholder
Going back
If you entered gallery mode from the welcome screen and haven't signed up, pressing the back button on the home screen returns you to the welcome screen where you can create an account or sign in.