5 easy ways to bulk-organize Android photos and videos

It’s easy to lose track of a single media file when it’s buried under a pile of screenshots, memes, and random photos from your camera roll. With today’s high-quality smartphone cameras, snapping away is almost irresistible. But without a solid system for organizing your images, things quickly get messy.

That’s where tools like Google Photos come in. Even if you’re not fully bought into the Google ecosystem, its photo management features stand out. Built-in gallery apps from phone manufacturers also offer solid tools—like duplicate detection, face grouping, location tagging, and smart albums—that help you keep things organized.

Here’s how these features can help turn your chaotic gallery into something that actually works for you.

1- Create smart albums

Albums in photo apps today are more intelligent and responsive than ever. With smart search features, you can find images using keywords, dates, or even visual elements within the photo. These tools can recognize objects, scenes, locations, and even text. They also automatically scan for faces.

Once a person is identified, you can create an album for them and set it to automatically include any new photos they appear in—no need for manual sorting. The album updates quietly in the background. Similar features are also available in built-in gallery apps like Samsung’s, offering users flexibility in how they manage and organize their media.

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Turn on face grouping in Google Photos

1. Open Google Photos.
2. Tap your account picture in the upper-right corner.
3. Select Photos settings.

• 4. Go to Preferences > Group similar faces.
• 5. Tap the Face groups toggle button.

It may take a while for Photos to identify and group faces. Check back to manage people or enter the Collections menu. You will see a tab labeled People.

Create albums in Google Photos

1. Tap + at the top of the app.
2. Select Album.
3. Give your album a title and description.
4. Choose to auto-add photos of people and objects or select media files yourself.
5. If you choose to create an auto-updating album, turn on notifications. Check the provided box when selecting people to do it.

Organize images and videos with Google Photos’ search bar

1. Tap Search in the lower-right corner.
2. Enter a keyword into the search bar at the top of the app. For this tutorial, we use Food.
3. Long press images or videos to select them.
4. Tap + in the upper-right corner.

• 5. Select Album.
• 6. Give your album a name and description.
• 7. Tap the check mark in the upper-left corner to save the changes.

Create auto-updating albums in Samsung Gallery

1. Open Samsung Gallery.
2. Tap Albums at the bottom of the app.
3. Tap + and select Auto-updating album. You can also select Album to create a standard version.
4. Give the album a name. Then tap Create.
5. Select people to include in the album. Then tap Done.

2- Stack photos in Google Photos

Both Google Photos and Samsung Gallery use a stacking feature to group similar photos taken in quick succession. Without it, snapping multiple shots at once can quickly clutter your gallery. With stacking enabled, those photos appear as a single thumbnail, marked by overlapping squares to indicate there’s more inside. Tapping the stack opens up the rest of the images.

From there, you can delete duplicates, archive the extras, or organize them into albums. In Google Photos, stacking requires backups to be turned on. Once that’s set, you can follow the steps below to enable the feature.

Stack images in Google Photos

1. In the Photos menu, tap the three-dot icon in the upper-right corner.
2. Tap the Stack similar photos toggle button.

Return to your photos and tap the images with tiny squares to expand and manage your stack.

Photos recommends top picks in your stacks. They are images Google thinks are the best versions of the group. They’re the sharpest ones with the best lighting, the least blur, and the clearest subject. Take your time to review them all and choose the ones you prefer.

Stack photos in Samsung Gallery

1. Tap the three-dot icon in the upper-right corner.
2. Select Group similar images. Gallery analyzes your images and arranges them.
3. Tap any images with tiny squares to view and manage your stacks.

3- Hide sensitive content from public view

Not everything private has to be dramatic or scandalous—sometimes you just don’t want others seeing certain photos, and that’s reason enough to keep them hidden. It’s easy to accidentally reveal something while handing your phone to someone, even with the best intentions. Fortunately, Android offers several built-in options to keep your content private, depending on your device.

Google Photos includes a Locked Folder feature that secures selected photos and videos behind your screen lock. Samsung’s Gallery app takes it further with Secure Folder, using hardware-level encryption. On Pixel devices, Private Space allows you to create a separate user environment, including a private instance of Google Photos. You can also quickly hide clutter like memes and GIFs with a single tap.

Here’s how to set it up:

1. In the Photos menu, tap the three-dot icon in the upper-right corner.
2. Select Hide clutter from other apps.