Comparison

DS photo vs Piwigo

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

DS photo

Access and manage your Synology NAS photo collection from your mobile device. Organize photos into albums, create virtual albums with tags, and view them offline. Effortlessly back up photos taken on your device to your personal cloud.

Highlights
  • Browse Synology NAS photo collection
  • Organize photos into albums
  • Create virtual albums with tags
  • Timeline photo view
  • Download albums for offline access
  • Photo backup to personal cloud
Features
Read full description

*You must own a Synology NAS to run this app and be running the latest Photo Station 6.6.0 package to get the complete set of features** DS photo allows you to browse through the photo collection on your Synology NAS server on the go, as well as interact with friends using the comments in real time. Organising your photos is easy: with traditional albums, using tags to create virtual albums or with a simple tap with the timeline mode! Better yet, download albums to the iDevice to view them even when no network connection is available, and use the Photo Backup to effortlessly upload your photos taken with your iDevice onto your own personal cloud. Find all detailed features about the app on our website: www.synology.com > NAS > DSM 6.0 > Apps > Mobile Apps > Software Specs https://www.synology.com/dsm/software_spec/mobile#DSphoto

About

Piwigo

Manage your cloud-based photo gallery from your mobile device. Organize albums, edit photos and videos, upload new media with detailed metadata, and share your creations. This app complements the web-based Piwigo software for a seamless photo management experience.

Highlights
  • Browse and manage albums
  • Edit, download, and delete photos/videos
  • Upload media with metadata
  • Organize photos into albums
  • Share photos and videos
  • Set album cover images
Read full description

Piwigo for iPhone/iPad/iPod supplements the photo gallery software in the cloud Piwigo (v12.0 or higher): • Browse your albums, • Create, delete, move and rename albums, • Search, edit, download and delete photos and videos, • Copy and move photos and videos between albums, • Add and remove photos and videos from your favorites, • Set a photo as album image, • Upload photos and videos: - of modifiable size and quality, - with description, author, tags, EXIF metadata, - with or without GPS metadata. • Share albums, photos and videos. Piwigo empowers you to create your own photo gallery on the web. It includes many powerful features such as albums, tags, geolocation, many levels of customization, upload by visitors, privacy, calendar or statistics. Piwigo is free and opensource. Piwigo is also compatible with the following extensions: - Community: allows users to create albums and add photos - rotateImage: enables you to rotate images - Share Album: allows to share private albums with people who do not have an account - piwigo-two_factor: adds two-factor authentication (2FA) - piwigo-videojs: adds video support Feedback or questions ? Piwigo offers free support at https://piwigo.org/forum and we'd love to hear from you.

Screenshots

DS photo4 screens
Piwigo4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Piwigo at 69% against DS photo's 24%. Piwigo also leads on rating (4.6 vs 2.2) and update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 2 months). DS photo's advantage is iOS requirement (10.0 vs 15.5). On price, ratings volume, ads and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Piwigo holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 2.2. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 122 and 182 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 24% of DS photo's written reviews are positive against 69% of Piwigo's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

DS photo ships an update every 2 months, Piwigo every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 30, 2026 and October 23, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
DS photo versus Piwigo: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterDS photoPiwigo
PriceFreeFree
Rating2.2 (122 ratings)4.6 (182 ratings) — better
Positive reviews24.1% of reviews69.3% of reviews — better
Number of ratings122182 — better
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsEvery 3 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple TV — betteriPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS10.0 — better15.5
Further details — not scored
Size55 MB47 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperSynology Inc.Pigolabs

Customer experience

DS photo

All ratings122 ratings
Positive24.6%
Neutral10.7%
Negative64.8%
Written reviews257 reviews
Positive24.1%
Neutral18.7%
Negative57.2%

Piwigo

All ratings182 ratings
Positive90.7%
Neutral4.9%
Negative4.4%
Written reviews75 reviews
Positive69.3%
Neutral12.0%
Negative18.7%

User reviews

DS photo

From 122 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Fast photo viewing
  • 👍 Useful for backing up photos
  • 👍 Ability to access photos remotely

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Crashes and login issues
  • 🐛 Unreliable photo backup
  • 🐛 Slow performance and freezes
  • 🐛 Incompatible with newer iOS versions
  • 🐛 Conversion of photos to JPEG format

Piwigo

From 182 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Great for photo sharing control
  • 👍 Free and awesome
  • 👍 Best for self-hosted pictures
  • 👍 Sync feature is great
  • 👍 Flexible photo organization

Room to improve

  • 🐛 iPad app connection issues
  • 🐛 Uploaded photos not showing
  • 🐛 B&W images render blurry on iPad/iPhone
  • 🐛 Pictures only display momentarily
  • 🐛 Uploads have stopped

Bugs and requests

DS photo

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Crashes on startup
  • Login failures
  • Issues with geofencing and background uploads
  • Problems with uploading large files or videos

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add support for HEIC/HEIF photo format
  • Improve background upload capabilities
  • Add option to save photos/videos to camera roll
  • Enhance album management and sorting options
  • Improve slideshow and video playback functionality

Piwigo

Reported bugs

35 issues
  • iPad app connection issues
  • Uploaded photos not showing
  • B&W images render blurry on iPad/iPhone
  • Pictures only display momentarily
  • Uploads have stopped
Show 30 more
  • Severe bug: deleted photo reappears
  • Live Photos not uploaded with 'live' portion
  • .MOV files fail to upload
  • Images stuck uploading for hours
  • Auto-download toggle deactivates
  • Crashes constantly on iPad
  • Permission errors on iPad
  • App needs auto upload camera roll
  • Users cannot delete their photos
  • Images no longer load
  • Cannot download original size photo via iOS app
  • Uploads hanging after update
  • Doesn't connect to custom domains
  • Crashing since last update
  • Album images layout issues
  • Thumbnail size adjustment ineffective
  • Uploading from cloud photos problematic
  • Uploads fail or resize to tiny images
  • Interface bugs, selection issues
  • Not compatible with iOS 8
  • Freezes on password entry
  • Cannot see existing albums
  • Album creation silently fails
  • Cannot upload photos
  • App not updated, upload issues
  • Stopped allowing photo uploads
  • Cannot select multiple pics at once
  • Freezes during upload
  • Uploads freeze after first photo
  • Doesn't upload geo info from exif

Requested features

13 requests
  • Ability to browse in Photos and open in Piwigo to upload
  • Double tap to zoom
  • Auto upload camera roll
  • Search capability
  • Support for multiple accounts
Show 8 more
  • Better album image layout
  • Ability to see and add comments
  • Video support
  • Nextcloud integration
  • Download original size photo via iOS app
  • Support tag editing on upload
  • Cache photo galleries for offline viewing
  • Upload geo info from exif data

In-app purchases

None

DS photo

No in-app purchases

None

Piwigo

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is DS photo free?
DS photo is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Piwigo free?
Piwigo is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, DS photo or Piwigo?
Piwigo is rated higher. DS photo averages 2.2 out of 5 from 122 ratings, while Piwigo averages 4.6 from 182 ratings.
Do DS photo or Piwigo have ads?
Neither DS photo nor Piwigo shows ads.
Which is updated more often, DS photo or Piwigo?
DS photo ships an update every 2 months, and Piwigo every 3 weeks. Most recently, DS photo was updated on October 30, 2026 and Piwigo on October 23, 2026.

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