The Samsung Gallery app is the default photo gallery and media player application that comes pre-installed on Samsung Galaxy smartphones and tablets. Samsung Gallery provides users with the ability to view, organize, edit, and share photos and videos conveniently in one place.
Some key features of the Samsung Gallery app include:
- Viewing photos and videos by album, location, date, etc.
- Editing photos with filters, cropping, rotating, etc.
- Organizing photos into customizable albums and stories.
- Sharing media to social apps or contacts.
- Syncing with cloud storage services like OneDrive.
Overall, the Samsung Gallery aims to provide Galaxy device owners with a seamless media management experience right out of the box. It integrates tightly with the native camera app and offers intuitive controls optimized for Samsung devices.
Trash vs. Recently Deleted
There is an important difference between the trash and recently deleted sections of the Samsung Gallery app. When photos are deleted from the gallery, they are moved to the “Recently Deleted” section, which acts as a temporary recycle bin. Photos in this section remain recoverable for up to 30 days.
According to a Quora article, the trash is where items are “permanently deleted” with no way to recover them, unlike the recently deleted section where deleted items can still be restored (Source). So the trash refers to items that are gone for good.
In summary, the main difference is that recently deleted files can be recovered for a period of time, while the trash contains items that have been permanently deleted and can no longer be restored.
Finding the Trash in Samsung Gallery
The trash folder in Samsung Gallery is called “Recycle Bin”. To access it, open the Gallery app and tap on the three-dot menu icon in the top right corner. Select “Recycle Bin” from the menu options (source).
The Recycle Bin will show all the photos and videos you’ve recently deleted. They remain there for up to 15 days before being permanently deleted. This gives you a chance to restore anything you may have deleted by accident.
Moving Photos to Trash
One of the key features of the Samsung Gallery app is the ability to move photos to the Trash folder instead of permanently deleting them right away. This provides a safety net in case you accidentally delete a photo you want to keep.
To move photos to the Trash in the Samsung Gallery app:
- Open the Gallery app and navigate to the photo or group of photos you want to move to the Trash.
- Long press on the photo(s) to select them. A checkbox will appear on each selected photo.
- Tap the three-dot menu icon in the top right corner and select “Move to Trash” from the menu.
- Confirm by tapping “Move” on the popup dialog.
The selected photos will now be moved to the Trash folder within the Gallery app. You can access the Trash by tapping on the three-line “hamburger” menu icon in the top left corner of the Gallery app and selecting Trash.
To recover the photos from the Trash later, just long press on them and select “Restore” from the menu. Photos in the Trash folder will be permanently deleted after 30 days.[1]
Recovering Deleted Photos
Samsung Gallery has a handy feature called the Recycle Bin or Trash that lets you recover deleted photos. When you delete a photo in the Gallery app, it is moved to the Trash instead of being permanently erased. The Recycle Bin keeps your deleted photos for up to 30 days before removing them permanently.
To recover deleted photos from the Trash in Samsung Gallery:
- Open the Gallery app and tap on the “Menu” icon in the top left.
- Select “Recycle Bin” or “Trash”. This will show all your recently deleted photos.
- Tap “Edit” and select the photos you want to restore.
- Tap “Recover” to move the photos back to your camera roll.
The Recycle Bin makes it easy to rescue photos that you deleted by accident. Just remember that the photos are only kept temporarily before being permanently erased, so recover them within 30 days.
Permanently Deleting Photos
If you want to permanently delete photos from the Gallery app trash so they can’t be recovered, follow these steps:
Open the Gallery app and tap on the hamburger menu in the upper left corner. Select “Trash.”
This will open the trash folder showing all recently deleted photos. Tap “Select” in the upper right corner.
Tap on each photo you want to permanently delete so they become selected. Once you’ve selected all the photos you want to delete, tap the trash icon in the bottom right corner.
A confirmation popup will appear. Tap “Delete” to permanently remove the photos from your device. According to Samsung, once photos are deleted from the trash they cannot be recovered.
Alternatively, you can tap the 3-dot menu in the upper right corner of the trash folder and choose “Empty trash” to delete all contents permanently.
Remember that emptying the trash permanently removes all deleted photos and videos, so only do this if you are certain.
Trash Size Limit
The Samsung Gallery app does have a limit on the size of the trash folder. According to Samsung’s support page, files over 1GB in size will not be moved to the trash when deleted and will be immediately and permanently deleted from the device.
This is likely done to prevent the trash folder from taking up too much storage space on the phone. With photo and video file sizes increasing with newer phone cameras, 1GB files are not uncommon. If all deleted files were moved to trash regardless of size, the trash could quickly eat up a lot of storage.
So in summary, any file 1GB or smaller will go to the trash when deleted for recovery if desired. But larger files over 1GB will be permanently deleted right away and not placed in the trash folder at all.
Automatically Emptying Trash
By default, the trash bin in Samsung Gallery will automatically empty itself and permanently delete files after 30 days. This helps free up storage space by removing old deleted photos and videos over time.
According to a post on the Samsung Community forums, the trash bin is supposed to automatically delete files after 30 days [1]. However, some users have reported the trash not emptying itself even after a month [2]. This appears to be a bug in some cases.
If the trash is not automatically emptying itself after 30 days, try restarting your device or clearing the app data/cache for the Gallery app. You can also manually empty the trash if needed.
Alternative Gallery Apps
While the Samsung Gallery app is a strong default gallery option on Samsung devices, there are several other great Android gallery apps to consider that also have trash functionality:
Simple Gallery is a popular open source gallery app praised for its clean interface, customization options, and built-in trash feature that lets you recover deleted photos (source). Simple Gallery also allows you to hide private photos and videos behind a passcode.
Piktures is another highly-rated Android gallery app that includes an easy-to-use trash can for recovering deleted photos. Piktures stands out for its intuitive gesture controls, multiple view modes, and automatic organization features (source).
F-Stop Gallery is an ad-free gallery app with robust photo editing tools and the ability to sort photos by location. Its trash feature enables restoring accidentally deleted photos, and it provides secure private folder options (source).
Overall, while Samsung Gallery meets most users’ needs, alternatives like Simple Gallery, Piktures, and F-Stop Gallery provide comparable or advanced functionality including trash recovery.
Conclusion
Samsung’s Gallery app includes a trash feature to help recover deleted photos. The trash acts like a temporary holding place before permanent deletion. Users can manually move photos to the trash or they will be automatically sent there after deletion.
Deleted items remain in the trash for 15 days by default before being permanently erased. This provides a safety net in case photos were accidentally deleted. Users can recover photos from the trash during this window. The trash also has a storage limit, so it’s a good idea to periodically empty it.
Overall, the trash feature is a useful tool for managing photos in the Samsung Gallery app. It helps avoid permanently losing images by mistake. While similar trash functionality exists in other gallery apps, Samsung’s implementation is intuitive and helpful for their Android users.