I think a better alternative would be to find a way to integrate Proton Drive with local storage like Samsung Gallery does with OneDrive. I think the Google Photos/Drive distinction is meaningless and Photos should have been a sub-feature of Drive to begin with. Others may disagree.

Metadata is actually really useful. I search my pictures by location constantly. The problem with metadata is when Google/whoever scrapes it for selling. Proton has zero-knowledge, so I have 0 problem with my metadata being intact. I would prefer it did.

I second this, I remember reading that the Proton Drive app was planned to simply get more photo features as time went on, but for me as a professional photographer I would rather have a dedicated app. I feel like casual photographers would be more likely to switch and engage as well if there was a dedicated app

I think a better choice would be finer control for image backups with the current Drive app. If I can define a folder the photos and videos go in, and then actually choose which photos get backed up instead of backing up everything, that would be perfect! Especially since we would be limited by the same storage capacity limit either way.

I Like that Proton Drive has photos & Storage in one app. We dont need an app for every Single Feature.

Even a companion app for the new photos/albums update in Proton drive. Customise and control what photos are synced with proton drive directly. (Frequency and also allow filters for not including certain tagged images or screenshots etc.)

Cleans up the clunky way of syncing with something much simpler to implement but giving users control over their data. Doesn't force users to use the service if they don't want to, and can also offer a great entry service for prospective users.

Would be a great step towards a unifying experience for people who use various ecosystems.

Same like Ente Photos

Proton Photos:

A Gallery-based application, designed for the management and consumption of media, which are stored on the Proton Drive.

Have 2 options, one to choose to download the media in a compressed quality and the other in the original quality, a solution to avoid excessive storage consumption. And when you are connected to the internet, temporarily download the media in original quality.

Automatic upload of media, but keeping the original structure of the folder.

Option to create more than one "General Gallery", to separate media/albums from work and family media, in case you wanted to access media in public and don't want to expose your professional life to other people. Basically don't display certain albums in a "General Gallery", and display and another.

Choose whether offline media in original or compressed quality can be displayed in other apps or continue only in Proton Photos.

Choose whether to download the media, or just consume it online via the internet.

Advanced editing options, with the option to upload a new edited version of the file or as a new file to Drive.

Would love this. Is it not possible for proton to work together with open source app like immich or photoprism or as mentioned below Ente photos? In its current state photos in proton drive is not useful for me as it is lacking to much functions.

Separate Photos from Proton Drive, creating a standalone service called Proton Photos, with its own respective apps.

Proton can say how serious they are about people leaving Google all they want, but if they aren't going to release an actual Google Photos alternative, then all they're doing is keeping people on Googles infrastructure and in many cases keeping them from switching to Proton's.

It's a complete joke that there is no "Proton Photos" app. This should be priority No. 1. Proton Drive is NOT a suitable alternative. It's not even a reasonable option.

USER STORY: As a Proton Visonary user, I'd like to have a Photos App (similar to Google Photos) that houses all of our photos (with the option to turn off metadata filtering/searching) so that we can manage our library of photos (to tag by face, location, or other metadata).

..or at least make it easier to view photos on a shared Proton Drive link, instead of having to click the 3 dots and then chose preview.

I would very much like this as I've freed myself from Google Photos but still tend to have to go to where they are stored on my SDcard to see everything.

Top CRITICAL, This is was keep me stucked in the Google world.
But removing meta data is an absolutely terrible Idea, metadata is a "Must have" to keep for me.

Yes, maybe you can switch metadata on and off

It would be useful to have an application for Windows, because every time I go to the site and download photos to my Windows disk!

Absolutely critical! Using Proton Drive for photos is absolutely terrible without having to scroll through thousands of photos and mind you the terrible latency of loading thumbnails.

This would be cool, but there are other apps which do effectively the same thing. GrapheneOS comes with their own privacy respecting gallery app and there are a handful on the F-Droid store.

Came here to vote for a Proton Photos app. Though I think removing meta data should be an option. Just looking for an alternative to mainstream options that I could bundle with my existing Proton subscription. I'm currently testing Ente but a Proton Photos app would be lovely.