QuickPic bought by Cheetah Mobile

This sucks, but I can't be surprised. QuickPic was really too good to be true for a near-perfect app that was also free. Fortunately, unless they are retroactively nerfed, all of its versions are available on APK Mirror.

Damn. Will snag the last clean APK. Thanks for the link.

Re-signed QuickPic APK

The good folks on XDA took the 4.5.2 APK (the one that was current when the acquisition news came out) and re-signed it with a different key. That means your installation of it won't show up in the PlayStore and thus can't be accidently updated.

You'll have to uninstall the version you have installed, but QuickPic doesn't take long to set up at all.

Additionally, that post I linked to has been updated since I last checked it to add:

quote:

---

UPDATE (2015-09-12): an older version of QuickPic has been found (v3.4.9.1) which is before all the cloud integration (and server callbacks) were implemented. In fact, it does not request any Internet permissions at all. If this interests you, see the bottom of this post for the original Play Store APK and also the re-signed (neutered) APK.

---

This is relevant to my interests

quote:

---

Re-signed QuickPic APK

The good folks on XDA took the 4.5.2 APK (the one that was current when the acquisition news came out) and re-signed it with a different key. That means your installation of it won't show up in the PlayStore and thus can't be accidently updated.

You'll have to uninstall the version you have installed, but QuickPic doesn't take long to set up at all.

Additionally, that post I linked to has been updated since I last checked it to add:

quote:

---

UPDATE (2015-09-12): an older version of QuickPic has been found (v3.4.9.1) which is before all the cloud integration (and server callbacks) were implemented. In fact, it does not request any Internet permissions at all. If this interests you, see the bottom of this post for the original Play Store APK and also the re-signed (neutered) APK.

---

---

How do you install it from there? I've only gotten apps from the Play Store.

The jargon for what you are going to do is 'sideloading' the app, which means you aren't getting it from google via the play store, you are going to download it like any other file and then install it.

In order to do this, open your Settings app, click into the Security.options and check the box for "Unknown Sources: Allow installation of apps from unknown sources".. Download the 'neutered' Quickpic APK from the link I posted and open the file on your phone, and it will install it just like any other app from the Play Store.

Just googled for an image, it'll look somewhat like this on your phone:



If you get an error that it could not be installed, it's likely because of you didn't uninstall the 'official' QuickPic app, so do that first.

Thanks, will do once I get home! I love our building here at work... no reception unless you're outdoors or within about 5' of an exterior wall.

What's the hubbub about this app that makes it better than anything else? I downloaded the apk and it so far just looks like one of the Google picture apps.

quote:

---

What's the hubbub about this app that makes it better than anything else? I downloaded the apk and it so far just looks like one of the Google picture apps.

---

I guess it all does seem a bit silly, but theres good reason for it.

1) The stock Android photo gallery (the open source one in AOSP) has sucked forever. Totally neglected, undeveloped, underwhelming, and feature-poor.

2) Most enthusiasts/fanboys that have looked into replacing the stock apps like their launcher, keyboard, etc with 3rd party alternatives have been using QuickPic for years

3) ...because its always been lightweight, at around 1 megabyte in size, and that used to be a big deal simply because running out of space for apps was a problem...when flash memory wasnt as cheap and phones had tiny /data partitions that would mean hacky workarounds like Apps2SD.

4) ...regardless, the lightweight nature of it gives it very responsive performance

5) ...it does its job as a photo gallery replacement and does it elegantly, with straightforward options on how to view, editing tools, sharing to other apps, and password protected folders

6) ...it adheres to google's Material Design standards. Its pretty.

7) ...and its always been FREE!

So nerds like us loved it of course, and was always one of the must-have apps to install on a new device. It was really too good to last forever, and can't blame the developer for taking a payday. Not like anyone else has a say but him, but I really wish he had an exit strategy for monetization that did not involve selling out to Cheetah Mobile. Cheetah Mobile makes android apps that are about as useful as the Ask.com Toolbar. They are the McAfee of android. Their products are ****, no one needs them, they exist on pure marketing instead of actually being helpful/useful to users.All that garbage that your parents install on their computers that you have to go back and uninstall over the holidays while visiting? Thats the type of garbage they make.

He could have charged 5 bucks for it if he wanted to, but he went another way. So, oh well. Thus, the exodus because no one wants to deal with the crap and bloat and nickel&diming that will inevitably ruin what was once a great, beloved app.

So...thats the hubbub.

What's wrong with the Google Photos app?

quote:

---

What's wrong with the Google Photos app?

---

This one that was released within the past couple of months?

See here, this is from August: Google+ v6.1 Begins Removal Of Photos Functionality And Prepares For Android M's Permission Model

Previously, having google services handle your photos required the use of Google+, because they wanted to throw this 'social layer' upon all their services and shoehorn everything into one big mess. Even youtube. ugh. And I'm not even talking about Picasa. Poor picasa.

But to answer your question, there is nothing wrong with it depending on your needs. It does cool stuff like the Assistant that automagically makes gifs, collages, 'stories' from your photos, has cloud backup, just basically a ton of gadgets and gizmos crammed under the hood...which makes for a big footprint, here they are side-by-side.



QuickPic has been around since the Play Store was the Android Market. So, its one we know well. I hopped into the wayback machine and found this Lifehacker article from 2011 about it. QuickPic is a Fast, Free Gallery Replacement for Android. It's just light, clean, free, and now unfortunately end-of-lifed as far as i'm concerned. I have both installed, they are very different apps IMO. Sometimes I just want to quickly pull up pictures on my device, maybe do a crop edit, and share it on texags. Other times, I want the theatrics that Google Photos brings.

I guess it's one of those had to be there type apps. Maybe I'll find some life changing feature but it really just seems like it's the stock app, or maybe the stock app made itself to look like this one.

i'm just intentionally being melodramatic Nanling Zheng (the developer) didn't cure cancer, he made a nifty way for me to look at pictures of my dog. life goes on

never heard of the app (sorry take my nerd card away). Downloading now.