Samsung Users Alert: Time to Find a New Cloud Service for Your Photos!

If you’re using OneDrive to back up your Samsung smartphone’s photos and videos to the cloud, you’ll soon need to switch to Samsung Cloud.

In 2020, Samsung announced the discontinuation of Samsung Cloud support for the Gallery Sync and My Files backup feature. As a result, users could no longer automatically sync their photos, videos, and documents with the cloud storage platform, which was replaced by Microsoft’s OneDrive. A few years later, Samsung seems to be reversing this decision. Support for OneDrive is expected to be phased out and Samsung Cloud is likely to make a comeback.

While examining the code of One UI 8.5, Samsung’s upcoming major software update, NirmalSri found a notification stating “after April 11, 2026, the Gallery app will no longer support synchronization with OneDrive”. By next spring, users will need to adjust their habits and use Samsung Cloud instead of OneDrive.

Switching from OneDrive to Samsung Cloud for gallery synchronization

Samsung has not yet officially released any information regarding this change. Therefore, it is unclear exactly how this transition will occur. The standalone OneDrive app will continue to operate on Samsung smartphones. However, the native cloud synchronization option integrated within the Gallery app will no longer function with OneDrive. This may require users to go through additional configuration steps if they wish to keep using OneDrive, potentially leading to a compromised experience.

Samsung Cloud was sidelined a few years ago but continued to be used to back up certain items, such as smartphone settings, messages, and call logs. It makes sense for the brand to rely on its own infrastructure for photos and videos as well, although it is somewhat puzzling why they opted to shift to OneDrive for nearly five years.

It is possible that Samsung is preparing a subscription service for its software ecosystem, similar to what Google and Apple have done, which would provide access to cloud storage space and certain advanced AI features. However, this is merely speculation. For those who prefer not to switch to Samsung Cloud, an alternative would be to set up synchronization with Google Photos or another similar cloud storage service.