QuickPic Gallery: How to edit photos without restrictions.

[Bern White]

Phone: Samsung Galaxy S3
Model: GT-19305
Version: 4.4.4

Hello everybody! I just set QuickPic Gallery as my default gallery, but I'm not able to make simple edits to my photos such as cutting, renaming, etc. Every time I want to cut a photo I get the following pop up:

"Due to the restrictions of your android system, non-stock apps are unable to modify files within an external SD Card. You may try moving the files from your SD Card to the internal storage using stock-app functions or other methods, and try again".

I woudn't like to move my photos every time just to crop them or rename them, I can do that with the default android gallery but there are some pros QuickPic has that the android gallery doesn't have (such as ordering by name), and that's exactly why I replaced it with QuickPic, but now I cannot even rename or crop my photos, and moving them everytime to the internal storage just to do such simple things is not practical.

Any solutions to this without the need to move them to the internal storage? I'd appreciate it!

Greetings!

 

[svim]

So there are a couple of interwoven issues tied to your problem. One is more of a subjective thing to note and the other is a technical issue Google opted to make into a complication for KitKat.

So first off note that while QuickPik is a pretty good photo management app it's now owned by Cheetah Mobile (it bought up QuickPik a couple of years ago). Cheetah Mobile provides some very useful services but it's important to keep in mind it also introduces some serious privacy issues when you install their apps. So use QuickPik but note that some server in China (Cheetah Mobile is based in Beijing.) is collecting data not necessarily relative to your photo archive but more about other data on your phone. If anything, a stopgap solution is to install a firewall app like NetGuard and use it to block the QuickPic app from any WiFi and cellular (mobile data) access.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=eu.faircode.netguard&hl=en

Regarding the KitKat issue, Google changed how app permissions work with content on external microSD cards. Only system/OEM apps have read/write access to an external card. User installed apps, in this instance QuickPik, only have read permissions to files inside its own application folder inside the Android/data directory on your external microSD card (if you use a file manager it will be something like /storage/extSdCard/Android/data/app ID name/ ). So in this particular issue you're kind of stuck. QuickPik only has the 'read' permissions for those photos in your DCIM folder on your microSD card so while it can view them for you and can't edit anything as it also needs 'write' permissions. You do either have to move them to your internal storage or to QuickPik's folder inside that Android/data folder on your microSD card. The Android Gallery app can do those editing functions the QuickPik app cannot as it's a system app.
This microSD card -- KitKat permissions problem is a daunting one. If you're going to be using other apps to do more with your microSD card you might want to think about rooting your S3, as the S3 models are relatively painless to root but still something of an intensive project if you haven't done it before.

One last thing. Maybe think about removing QuickPic and moving to the Google Photos app. Google Photos is another photo management app but it also includes a backup/sync function so your photo library can be automatically backed up and synced to your online Google account. Backups of your photos is really important in any case, plus you'll be able to access your photos even if your phone isn't with you by just using a browser and logging into your Google account.

 

[Bern White]

svim's response

Thanks for your quick reply svim. Well, I used Google Photos once but then I needed to sell my phone, so guess what? I did a factory reset and later on I saw the person who I sold my phone had all my photos. Plus Google Photos backs up every single photo even if I don't want.

Is there another option for QuickPic? The only reason I replaced it with the default android gallery app is because the default gallery is not even able to order your photos by name properly, and that's unbelievable.

PS#1: Now that you mention it, QuickPic introduces some serious privacy issues (didn't know that), and I'd like to install a similar app that doesn't invade privacy. Any recommendations?

PS#2: My phone is already rooted.

 

[svim]

Thanks for your quick reply svim. Well, I used Google Photos once but then I needed to sell my phone, so guess what? I did a factory reset and later on I saw the person who I sold my phone had all my photos. Plus Google Photos backs up every single photo even if I don't want.

That's odd, sounds like you did a Factory Reset but afterwards you used your own Google account login to do a restore. I hope you've changed your password since then. As for Google Photos backing up all your photos, that's probably an attribute to the fact that most people don't back up their data, it's more a matter of it needs to be done for them automatically. If you have a backup solution that fits your needs to only do select items, you can always just disable Google Photos' backup function by going into its Settings and turn off the 'Back up & sync' option.

As for a viable alternative to QuickPic, there are several on Google Play and maybe others will suggest their preferences. But if you like QuickPic's user interface, just keep using it, install NetGuard, and block QuickPic from any Internet access. Your phone has two ways of online connectivity, WiFi and cellular. If you block the QuickPic app from both that's all that's necessary.

 

[Hadron]

Some people have simply used the last pre-Cheetah Mobile version of the app. This post, and the thread it is part of, may help you. The thread also contains discussions of alternative apps.

 

[Bern White]

Thanks a lot guys! So the current QuickPic can make use of whatever you have on your phone?

 

[Hadron]

The current QuickPic can read your sd card and has full Internet access. Not unusual permissions, but Cheetah Mobile are not an outfit that I would trust - their business model is monetising their users' data, pure and simple. It's not as dangerous as Clean Master or CM Security, which have access to a lot more information, but I wouldn't give anything to that company.

 

[Bern White]

Good to know. I installed the previous 4.5.2 version of QuickPic (the one you post above).

Once again, thank you guys and have a nice day!