Sync Photo vs Piwigo
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Sync Photo
This app allows you to download and view images from your SmugMug account directly on your iOS device. It offers fast, efficient synchronization of selected galleries for local viewing, with options for high-resolution downloads and EXIF data display.
- Download SmugMug photos to iOS
- Local viewing of galleries
- High-resolution downloads
- EXIF data display
- Automatic photo rotation
- Zoom to fill screen
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Sync Photo downloads images from your SmugMug account to your IOS device so that the images can be viewed locally. Once you login to that account from SyncPhoto, it is a fast efficient way to copy selected galleries from your SmugMug account to your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch. Photos can be quickly viewed much like a photo roll. There is no delay waiting for each photo to download since the photos have been downloaded during the synchronize step. Photos can be downloaded at higher resolutions to allow greater zooming-in on an image. Larger images are slower to flip from one to the next however. Image EXIF data such as exposure and ISO can be displayed per image. Photos can be automatically rotated to match the screen aspect ratio ensuring that they fill the screen to the fullest extent. Photos can also be zoomed to fill the screen so that there is no blank border area showing across the bottom or side of a photo. The home page view can show a list of top level folders ( Categories ) or a list of all Galleries downloaded. The app accesses a user's account on SmugMug.com which is a service. Content is provided by the user in the form of photographs that the user stores on the site. SyncPhoto does not have any ability to store photos on smugmug, it can only read/view/download photos from a users account. That account is typically paid for by the user. The cost of plans detailed on the smugmug site: https://www.smugmug.com/plans Sync Photo is not affiliated with or endorsed by SmugMug, Inc.
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.
- 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
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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
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Piwigo at 4.6 against Sync Photo's 2.7. Piwigo also leads on review sentiment (69% vs 40%) and ratings volume (182 vs 3). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Piwigo holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 2.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Piwigo has 182 ratings behind it against 3, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 40% of Sync Photo's written reviews are positive against 69% of Piwigo's.
Sync Photo ships an update every 3 months, Piwigo every 3 weeks. Both last shipped on November 1, 2026.
| Parameter | Sync Photo | Piwigo |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 2.7 (3 ratings) | 4.6 (182 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 39.5% of reviews | 69.3% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 3 | 182 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months | Every 3 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.6 | 15.5 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 7 MB | 47 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | River Rock Logic | Pigolabs |
Customer experience
Sync Photo
Piwigo
Bugs and requests
Sync Photo
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
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
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- 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
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- 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
Sync Photo
No in-app purchases
Piwigo
No in-app purchases









