This guide explains how to use Lightforge Studio, a gallery app for Android 11 and later. Everything it does runs on your phone. It needs no account, and it never uploads your photos unless you send them to a server you own or to another phone yourself.
Labels in bold are the exact English text you see in the app. The app is also available in Spanish, French, Portuguese, Italian and German, and you can change the language in Settings > Language.
- Getting started and photo access
- Finding your way around
- Photos
- Selecting items
- The Create menu
- Updates
- Viewing photos and videos
- Collections
- On device folders
- Archive and Trash
- Search
- People, pets and places
- Local analysis settings
- Free up space
- Memories
- Photo editor
- Video editor
- Other creation tools
- Private album and app lock
- Transfer, backup and folder sync
- Settings
- Home screen widget and photo picker
- Recovering interrupted saves and moves
- Privacy summary
The first time you open the app, a short introduction called Getting started walks you through:
- Welcome to Lightforge Studio, followed by the main features (search, timeline zoom, editing that keeps your originals) and the creative tools.
- Choose what Lightforge Studio can see. Every permission here is optional:
- Photos & videos for your timeline, albums and search.
- Photo locations for the Places map. Allow photos and videos first.
- All files access to see and manage every folder, including hidden ones. This appears only in builds that include advanced storage mode (see Storage access).
- Notifications to show the progress of long exports and backups.
- Smarter, still private introduces the optional on-device analysis: people, objects and text, pets, and semantic search.
- Built in the open, with links to the source code and licenses.
You can tap Skip at any time. To run the introduction again, open Settings > About Lightforge Studio > Getting started.
- Full access: the whole library appears.
- Selected items only (Android 14 and later): only the photos and videos you picked appear. Photos shows a Limited access banner. Tap Manage to change your selection.
- No access: Photos asks you to Allow photo and video access. Tap Choose access, or Open settings if Android no longer shows the prompt.
The app checks access again every time you return to it, so changes you make in Android settings apply right away. If you turn location access off, photo locations are hidden and removed from the app's data.
While the first scan runs, you see Preparing your library. Photos that are already indexed stay usable. When the scan finishes, you see Library ready.
On phones, the bottom bar has three tabs:
| Tab | What it holds |
|---|---|
| Photos | Your timeline. |
| Collections | Albums, favorites, people, memories, tools and more. |
| Search | Search and suggested searches. |
The Photos top bar also has Create, Updates and More options (with Settings and On device). On tablets and unfolded foldables, a navigation rail on the side holds Create, Updates and Settings.
You can choose which screen the app opens on in Settings > File operations > Start screen: Photos, Albums (Collections) or Folders (On device).
- Zoom the grid: pinch to switch between bigger and smaller thumbnails. You can also use Change grid density.
- Jump to a date: drag the timeline scrubber on the edge of the screen, or tap its date to open Go to date.
- Highlights: a row at the top shows highlights such as photos from previous years and Selfies.
- More options menu:
- Filter: All, Photos, Videos, Animated, RAW.
- Sort: Newest first, Oldest first, Recently modified, Name, Largest first.
- Group by: Day, Month, Year or No grouping.
- Show hidden items for now, available when advanced storage mode is on.
- Photo stacks: groups of near-identical shots appear as a single tile. Tap it to open the stack.
- Background work: a status card at the top shows work in progress, such as Updating search in the background… or Recognizing individual pets in the background…, with the photos done, the total and an estimated time left. After you tap Got it, a smaller card stays in the same place so the grid never jumps; when nothing is running it shows Library up to date and the number of items. Analysis slows down when the phone gets warm and pauses only when it gets hot or to save battery, and the card says why (Paused · device is warm, Paused to save battery). You can hide the card with Settings > Local analysis > Show status on Photos.
Long-press a thumbnail to start selecting, then tap more items. Tap a date header to select the whole day. The selection bar offers:
- Add to album, Share, Favorite, Move to trash, Delete permanently, Select all.
- Create a memory, Make a memory video, Create stack, Add to Documents, Create GIF, Collage, and creating a PDF.
- Move to archive.
- Move to folder and Copy to folder.
- Hide by name, which renames files with a leading dot. This requires advanced storage mode.
Limits:
- You can share up to 500 items at a time.
- Large batches are processed in chunks of up to 500 items.
- Unless you allowed Manage media without confirmation, Android asks you to confirm each batch that trashes, deletes or edits media.
Tap Create in the Photos top bar or the navigation rail. Most creation tools use the photos you selected first.
| Section | Entry | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Organize | Create album | Creates a new album; the name can be up to 200 characters. |
| Create a memory | Saves 1 to 120 selected photos as a memory, which you can review and reorder first. | |
| From your photos | Make a memory video | Turns 1 to 120 photos into a 720p MP4 slideshow with optional local music. |
| Create GIF | Animates 2 to 60 photos. | |
| Collage | Combines 2 to 4 photos in a layout. | |
| PDF Studio | Lays out photos, receipts and documents as a PDF. | |
| More | Publications to recover | Finishes saves that were interrupted (see section 23). |
Updates lists recent local activity, for example when local analysis finishes (Local analysis completed) or needs attention. Video exports in progress also appear in the top bar. Tap the progress indicator to open the Video exports queue. If there is no activity, the screen says No recent local activity.
Tap any item to open it in full screen.
- Swipe sideways to move between items.
- Pinch to zoom, and double-tap to zoom in on a spot.
- Swipe down to close, and swipe up to open Details.
- Optionally, rotate a photo with two fingers, change brightness by swiping on photos or videos, and change the volume by swiping on videos.
- On a video, double-tap the left or right third of the screen to skip back or forward; each extra tap adds to the jump, and the total is shown. Double-tap the center to zoom. A two-finger tap plays or pauses.
- On a video, press and hold the left side to rewind fast, the center for AI slow motion (see Slow motion) and the right side to fast forward. While holding, slide up or in the direction the video runs to go faster, and down or the other way to slow down; the current speed is shown on screen.
You can turn each gesture on or off and set its limits in Settings > Viewer gestures. The Hold on video and Double tap on video cards choose what each side of the screen does, or Nothing.
The top and bottom bars offer:
- Favorite, Share, Edit, Move to trash and Details.
- Under More options:
- Share without location and Print.
- Rename, Copy to folder, Move to folder, Set as, Open with and Repair capture date.
- Move to private album and Move to archive.
Details shows:
- The file name, size, dimensions, date and folder.
- Camera data, which loads when you tap Load camera metadata.
- The location and the nearest place name. The name is looked up offline with a built-in list of cities.
- For videos, the details of each video and audio stream, such as codec, frame rate, bit depth and HDR metadata.
- Detected text found in the photo.
Some RAW photos keep the full sensor image behind a crop set by the camera. For these, Details shows a Virtual crop notice. When you share such a photo, you can choose Share cropped JPEG or Share original.
Long-press text in a photo to select it. You can then Copy, Translate, Share, Search web, open a link, write an email, call a number or open an address in a map.
- Videos play with play, pause, mute and loop controls.
- Settings > Video playback controls autoplay, starting muted, looping, remembering the position, maximum brightness and the scrubbing style (Legacy seek bar or Filmstrip).
- If the phone cannot decode a video in hardware, the app uses a software decoder and tells you.
Press and hold the center of a video to play that moment in AI slow motion. The app generates extra frames in between the real ones; while it prepares them, you see Preparing AI slow motion…. While holding, slide sideways to move through the clip. With Shuttle (the default), the distance from where you started sets the direction and speed, and going back to the start pauses; with Scrub, the frame follows your finger. Choose the style in Settings > Viewer gestures > Slow motion slide. When you let go, you can Save slow-mo clip as a new video or Dismiss slow-mo clip.
Settings > Video playback > Frame interpolation chooses the hardware that generates the frames:
- Automatic: the DSP when it is available, otherwise the GPU.
- GPU: the fastest previews, but uses more battery.
- DSP (HVX): uses less battery. Only phones with a supported DSP offer it.
On foldables with an outer screen that can stay on while the phone is open, such as the razr fold, the viewer offers two extra ways to show a photo or video:
- Show on outer screen mirrors the current item to the outer screen, so the person in front of you sees it while you keep browsing. The inner screen shows Showing on outer screen; tap Stop to end it.
- Face to face splits the inner screen into two copies facing opposite directions, for two people on either side of a table. Zooming one copy zooms both. Switch split direction changes the split, and Exit face to face ends it.
Leaving the viewer always stops sharing. If the outer screen cannot be used, the app says Couldn’t show on the outer screen.
Samsung and Google motion photos show a Motion Photo action. In the motion photo screen you can:
- Play the motion with Play motion.
- Pick a frame and tap Set key frame, or tap Restore original cover. Changing the cover does not change the original file and can be undone.
- Save frame as JPEG or Save clip as MP4 as new files.
The Collections tab collects:
- Your albums (with Create album) and Device folders.
- Favorites, plus Dogs and Cats collections when pet collections are on.
- Moments, with See all memories, and Memory controls.
- People.
- Smart albums, Photo stacks and Documents.
- Private album, PDF Studio and Collage.
- Free up space.
- Archive and Trash.
- Local analysis and privacy.
Tap Manage collections to reorder or hide shortcuts. Hiding a shortcut never hides folders or deletes files.
Open an album to:
- Filter it by All, Photos or Videos.
- Sort it by date, name or size.
- Rename album, Choose cover or Delete album.
Deleting an album removes only the album; your photos stay. Albums are virtual, so adding a photo to one does not move the file.
Smart albums fill themselves using rules: a topic, a person, a year and Favorites only. A photo must match every rule. Tap Preview matches before you Save album, and exclude individual photos if needed. Topics and people come from local analysis, while the year and favorites rules always work.
Stacks group near-identical shots so you can keep the best one.
- Suggested stacks come from local similarity analysis. You can also select 2 to 100 photos and tap Create stack.
- Inside a stack you can Compare photos, Choose as cover, Separate selected photo or Unstack all photos.
- Each photo can belong to only one saved stack.
Documents lists photos where local analysis found text.
- Sort them into Receipts, Tickets, Notes or Other documents.
- Search the recognized text, Copy text, archive a photo or Prepare PDF. A PDF can use up to 24 photos in page order.
- Automatic archive can move matching documents out of Photos. Review the matches before you turn it on. You can pause it or Undo last batch and pause.
On device (in the Photos More options menu, or set as the start screen) is a file-explorer view of the folders that hold media. You can:
- Browse folders, go Up one level, Type a path, Search folders and Search in this folder.
- Use Sort and view to sort folders by name, number of items, size or newest item, show them as a list, and sort or filter the files inside.
- Turn on Include subfolders, or Merge single-folder chains to collapse folders that contain only one subfolder into one row.
- From each folder's menu:
- Pin to top.
- Exclude from library: the folder disappears from Photos, albums and search. Use Include in library to bring it back.
- Add to album…, Choose cover…, Add to home screen or Properties.
These actions need advanced storage mode and All files access. Without it, the app tells you All files access is not granted.
- New folder, Rename, Move to… and Copy to… for folders.
- Hide and Unhide, which add or remove a
.nomediafile. - Delete for folders. The app counts what is inside first. This cannot be undone, and nothing goes to Trash.
- Show hidden items for now.
- Hide by name for single files.
A folder hidden by another app with its own .nomedia file cannot be unhidden here. A folder that holds items from Trash is not deleted.
- Archive: tap Move to archive to take items out of Photos. They stay in albums and search. Open Collections > Archive and tap Unarchive to bring them back.
- Trash: items you move to trash use Android's trash. They stay until the expiration date that Android sets; each item shows when it will be deleted. You can Restore an item, Delete permanently, or Empty trash.
Open the Search tab and type in People, places, or things, or use Voice search. Suggestions are grouped into:
- People and pets (Me, People, Cats, Dogs).
- Places: Coast, Mountain, City and Rain search your photos. Tapping Places opens the offline map.
- Content types (Screenshots, Video, Camera, Documents).
- Topics (Landscapes, Food).
Searches include:
- Keywords: file names and other indexed information always work.
- What is in a photo and text in photos: turn on On-device analysis with Enable. You can also turn on Also recognize people. Until the analysis finishes, results may be incomplete.
- Semantic search finds photos by meaning. It needs a model that you download in Settings (see section 13). Without one, the app says Semantic search unavailable, showing keyword results.
To erase everything the analysis stored, tap Delete derived data. Your photos are never changed.
- Open Collections > People and tap Enable People and Me.
- Faces are found and grouped on the phone. Analysis can be paused and resumed, and you can tap Analyze all photos.
Open a person to:
- Rename or Hide them.
- Merge into… another person.
- Remove faces into a new person.
- Tap Set as Me so that Me shows your own photos.
Delete People data removes all face data without touching your photos.
- Dogs and Cats collections come from photo content labels. They never claim to recognize an individual pet. You can hide them in Settings > Local analysis > Pets.
- Individual pets (Settings > Local analysis) recognizes individual cats and dogs:
- Download models (58 MB), or use Import verified model ZIP.
- Tap Enable pet recognition, then Analyze local photos. The analysis keeps running in the background, also after you leave the screen.
- The app suggests groups of photos that seem to show the same pet. It never creates a pet on its own: review the groups yourself: Merge selected groups, Split selected photos, Find similar groups and Undo last edit.
Offline places opens from Search > Places or from Settings > Backup and restore. It shows your photos on a map that runs entirely on the phone.
- The app does not include a map. Tap Import regional package to add one in PMTiles or MBTiles format.
- An optional Detailed world download is available, but it is very large (about 138 GB) and needs Wi-Fi, charging and enough storage.
- Only photos with GPS data that you allowed through Photo locations appear. Filter them by year.
- The map needs OpenGL ES 3.0. Without it, you can still manage map packages.
Open Settings > Local analysis:
- Use local analysis is the master switch for people and faces, photo content and text, and pet collections.
- Minimum battery for full analysis: when unplugged, full analysis runs only while the app is open and the battery is at or above this level. Charging always allows it. When the phone is warm, analysis runs at about half speed; it pauses only when the phone is hot and resumes once it has cooled down.
- Download models on mobile data is off by default, so model downloads wait for Wi-Fi.
- Show status on Photos shows indexing and analysis progress cards at the top of Photos.
- Each analysis shows its progress as photos done out of the photos it applies to, what is left and an estimated time, or All photos analyzed when it is finished.
- Analysis features:
- People and faces.
- Photo content and text.
- Free up space analysis (duplicates and blurry photos).
- Face analysis: Enable local face detection, Pause, Analyze full library, Delete all local-analysis data.
- Pets: Show dog and cat collections, Hide dog results, Hide cat results, Restore pet labels.
- Semantic search:
- Turn on Use semantic search, then Download and Use a model. The app marks models as Recommended, Supported or Incompatible for your phone.
- Before a new model becomes active, the app builds its index (Building index).
- Delete removes a model, and Delete all downloaded models removes them all. Deleting the active model turns off semantic search.
- Individual pets (in the Pets section) shows its status and opens pet recognition. If pet collections are off, the section explains why and offers to turn them on.
Open Collections > Free up space to review:
- Exact duplicates: Keep one and tap Move copies to trash.
- Large videos (100 MB or more).
- Screenshots.
- Blurry photos.
Duplicate and blurry detection needs Free up space analysis. If it is off, tap Turn on analysis. Nothing is deleted without your confirmation; items go to Trash first.
- Moments in Collections are memories grouped by time and place. Tap See all memories to filter All, Saved or Suggested.
- In a memory you can:
- Edit the title.
- Reorder photos and Set as cover.
- Choose Participants.
- Delete the memory. Deleting a memory removes only the memory.
- Create a memory (Create menu or selection) saves a hand-picked memory of up to 120 photos.
- Make a memory video creates a 720p MP4 with a set time per photo and an optional Local music track. The video is saved to
Movies/Lightforge/Memories. - Memory controls hides date ranges (Hide a date range) or people (Hide a person) from all memories. You can add up to 200 exclusions.
Open a photo and tap Edit. Tabs:
- Automatic: Enhance and Dynamic looks.
- Filters:
- Built-in looks: Natural, Vivid, Mono, Warm, Film, Noir and more, with an Intensity slider.
- My filters, where Create from photo saves a look of your own.
- Crop: aspect ratios, Straighten (with Auto), Rotate, Flip and Perspective.
- Adjust: Light, Color and Effects controls, plus Color mix by hue.
- Actions:
- Object eraser · Experimental:
- Brush over the object and tap Apply.
- Without a model, the eraser fills with nearby colors (Basic quality).
- For better results, Download the AI model once (about 14 MB). It runs on the phone.
- Subject cut-out · Experimental: tap the subject to preview the cut-out, then Save cut-out to save it as a PNG with a transparent background. The current version keeps pixels close in color to the point you tap.
- Object eraser · Experimental:
- Camera RAW (RAW files only):
- Exposure, white balance, highlight recovery, noise reduction, sharpening, and lens and chromatic aberration correction.
- Camera framing or Full sensor.
- Export: JPEG · sRGB · 8-bit, or TIFF · sRGB · 16-bit for RAW. TIFF does not support crop, rotate, flip or straighten.
- More: Open with sends the photo to another app.
You can Undo and Redo, and Search tools finds a tool by name.
Save copy always creates a new file and leaves the original unchanged. Some copies lose HDR or container metadata, and the app tells you when that happens.
Open a video and tap Edit. You can:
- Trim: drag the handles to set the start and end.
- Speed:
- Change the Playback speed.
- Mark In and Out to create Slow-motion segments, each with its own speed and audio (Preserve pitch, Slow pitch or Muted).
- Interpolate frames generates in-between frames for smooth slow motion. Exporting takes longer.
- Music:
- Choose local track, adjust the Music volume, or mute the original audio.
- Color:
- Looks, Light and color controls.
- Advanced color: input Profile, log Wheels and color Bands.
- Import .cube LUT.
- Hold to compare shows the original.
- LOG footage is detected or chosen by profile, including:
- Apple Log.
- Sony S-Log2 and S-Log3, Canon Log 2 and 3, Panasonic V-Log.
- DJI D-Log, Fujifilm F-Log and F-Log2, Nikon N-Log.
- Blackmagic Film Gen 5, ARRI LogC3 and LogC4, RED Log3G10, and OpenCine Log 2.
- Transform and Crop: crop, straighten, Rotate 90° and Flip.
- Draw:
- Pen, highlighter, blur, mosaic, shapes, arrows and speech bubbles.
- Each layer has a Visible interval and can be Fixed, follow Keyframes, or track an object automatically.
- Output settings:
- Format and codec (Auto, H.264 or HEVC), quality and bitrate, resolution and frame rate. The app never upscales and never adds frames.
- Aspect ratio: Stretch, Crop or Pad.
- Audio: keep or remove.
- Dynamic range: SDR · Rec.709, HDR · HLG or HDR10 · PQ. HDR needs a hardware HEVC Main10 encoder; on phones without one, HDR is unavailable and you are asked to choose SDR.
Save copy queues the export. You can keep using the app while it runs, follow its progress in the notification or the Video exports queue, and Cancel it. If the phone cannot use the chosen settings, the app adjusts them and tells you.
- Collage:
- Select 2 to 4 photos, choose a Layout (grid, stack, strip or polaroid), and adjust each photo's zoom and position.
- Save a copy saves a PNG.
- Create GIF:
- Use 2 to 60 photos. Set the Time per frame or the Frame rate, and reorder or remove frames.
- The GIF is 512 × 512 pixels with 256 colors, silent and repeating.
- PDF Studio:
- Opens from Create, Collections or Documents.
- Create projects from templates, place photos on pages (up to 24 elements per page, up to 100 pages), and add text.
- Import images or PDFs, then export all or some pages at the image quality you choose.
- Projects are saved on the phone.
Open Collections > Private album.
- The first time, read Private album setup and tap I understand. Items you add are encrypted with a key protected by your screen lock. If you uninstall the app, they cannot be recovered, so export anything important first.
- Unlock the album with biometrics or your screen lock.
- Add items with Choose photos and videos (up to 500 at a time), or use Move to private album in the viewer. After adding them, choose Keep originals or Delete originals.
Inside the album:
- Items open in a protected viewer, and screenshots are blocked.
- Export a copy puts an unencrypted copy back in your gallery.
- Encrypted backup saves a password-protected copy of the album. The password needs at least 12 characters and is not saved. Restore encrypted backup brings it back.
- Protect keys with device authentication makes the encryption keys usable only after you authenticate. Removing or resetting your screen lock can then make the album permanently unreadable.
In Settings > Security:
- Lock Lightforge Studio asks for biometrics or your device credential when you open the app.
- Relock timeout: 0, 1, 5 or 15 minutes.
- Authenticate destructive actions asks you to authenticate before deleting.
- Protect hidden items with app lock appears only with advanced storage mode. It asks you to unlock before hidden items or the hidden-folder list appear.
Both locks need a screen lock, PIN or biometrics on the phone. If you remove your screen lock, the app offers Turn off app lock.
All of these are in Settings > Backup and restore.
Sends original photos and videos directly to another Android phone on the same local network, over an encrypted TLS connection.
- On the receiving phone, tap Start receiving. It shows a Pairing QR code that expires after 5 minutes and admits one device.
- On the sending phone, tap Pair with receiving device. Paste the code or use Read QR from image.
- Approve the sender on the receiver.
- Tap Send selected originals. Remove location from transfer copies is optional; it re-encodes the copies.
- The receiver reviews the files before they are imported.
Nothing is deleted, and existing files are never silently replaced. You can Revoke device at any time.
Backs up selected originals to your own SFTP server or SMB share as one verified backup archive.
- Add server: enter the host, port, username, folder and password or SSH key (for SMB, also the share and an optional domain).
- Test connection, then Confirm server identity by comparing its SSH fingerprint.
- Select originals, optionally Include supported organization, then Prepare backup for review and Confirm remote backup.
To get files back, open Browse remote backups and tap Download and verify. Restoring creates new copies through the local restore. Private albums and edit recipes are not included. If Android asks, allow local network access. See remote backup flow.
Saves the exact bytes of selected photos, videos and documents to the phone or a USB drive.
- Select original files (up to 10,000), optionally Include linked organization, and tap Create and verify backup.
- Open and verify backup checks a backup before anything is restored.
- Restore copies goes into a new
Lightforge-restoredfolder. Restore to Gallery with organization creates new copies. Existing files are never overwritten. - Backup tasks keep running when you leave the screen. You can pause, resume or cancel them.
The private album is not included, and this is not a full library backup.
Copies one local folder that you choose to your own SFTP or SMB server. It is separate from backup: files stay as individual files in a folder created for the task.
- Tap New folder task, Choose local source folder, and pick a server profile (shared with Own server backup). An SFTP server must already be trusted.
- Choose Additive: keep all versions or Mirror this task's managed files.
- Scan and preview, then Review changes and Apply reviewed changes.
Existing files on the server are never overwritten or deleted. Conflicts get an alternate name. Mirror moves only files that this task created into a recoverable quarantine; Restore from quarantine brings them back. See folder sync flow.
- Export settings and favorites saves them to a file.
- Import settings and favorites opens a review screen where you choose which categories to apply.
- Restore default settings resets settings without changing photos, albums or favorites.
Open Settings from the Photos More options menu or the navigation rail.
Library and viewing
- Library:
- Sort, ascending order, media filter and group by.
- Folder selection: All except disabled or Only selected folders, with a switch for each folder.
- Video playback: scrubbing style, Frame interpolation, autoplay, muted start, loop, remember position and maximum brightness.
- Viewer gestures:
- Photo gestures and Video gestures.
- Zoom limits and Double-tap skip seconds.
- Hold on video: the action for each side, Fast forward and rewind speed (1.5× to 4×), Slow motion slide, Audio while fast forwarding and Slide to change speed.
- Double tap on video: the action for each side and Two-finger tap to play or pause.
- Thumbnails:
- Crop to fill, animate GIF and WebP, show video duration, show file type and mark favorites.
- Grid columns: automatic or a fixed number.
Privacy and management
- File operations:
- Start screen.
- Share without location by default.
- Preserve modified time when possible.
- Skip Lightforge Studio delete confirmation.
- Security: see App lock.
- Warnings: Show all warnings again.
- Backup and restore: see section 20.
- Storage access (only in builds with advanced storage mode):
- Manage media without confirmation lets the app move to trash, delete and edit without asking each time. It uses Android's Manage media permission, on Android 12 and later.
- Use advanced storage mode uses All files access to:
- Show items in folders hidden with
.nomedia. - Hide and unhide folders and files.
- Add folders that Android does not scan (Included folders).
- Move and rename files instantly.
- Create, rename, move, copy and delete folders.
- Show items in folders hidden with
- Options include Show hidden items and Delete folders left empty.
- Hidden by Lightforge lists what the app hid, so you can Unhide it. Turning the mode off offers to unhide everything.
Appearance
- Theme:
- Material You, which uses your wallpaper colors on Android 12 and later.
- Neutral, Rounded, Crisp, Warm or Minimalist Black.
- Theme mode: Follow system, Light or Dark.
- Pure black (AMOLED).
Language
- System default, English, Español, Français, Português, Italiano or Deutsch.
Smart features
- Local analysis: see section 13.
About
- About Lightforge Studio: version, source code, the app license, third-party licenses and Getting started.
- Widget: add the Lightforge Studio widget from your launcher. It shows a rotating photo from your gallery.
- Folder shortcuts: in On device, a folder's Add to home screen creates a shortcut to that folder.
- Photo picker: when another app asks you to choose photos or videos, Lightforge Studio can serve as the picker. If app lock is on, you unlock it first.
The app writes files in steps it can check, so an interrupted save is never lost silently:
- Publications to recover (in Create > More) lists collages, GIFs and motion photo exports that were interrupted. Review each one, then Complete publication, Remove pending file or Forget record (keep files).
- Recover memory save appears when saving a memory was interrupted. Choose Open memory, Retry save or Dismiss recovery.
- Interrupted moves: a move to a folder keeps the copy and deletes the original only after both files are verified. If a move stops halfway, a card such as Move awaiting completion lets you retry, restore folder access or end tracking. An Interrupted Move copy can be retried or deleted.
- Export recovery in the private album lists exports to your gallery that were left unfinished.
- Restore recovery in Local file backup checks Gallery restores that were interrupted.
- Collage and GIF screens include Check export and Check saved GIF. The video editor keeps your draft if access to the source video is lost.
- No account, ads, analytics or tracking. Search, faces, pets, text recognition and semantic search run on the phone, and their data never leaves it.
- The app connects to the network only when you ask it to:
- Downloading a model or a map package.
- Backing up to or syncing with your own server.
- Transferring to another phone on your local network.
- Analysis is opt-in and can be paused. Delete all local-analysis data removes faces, people, labels, recognized text and consent.
- Photo locations are used only after you allow Photo locations. Share without location and Share without location by default remove location data from shared copies.
- Edits are saved as copies. Changing or deleting originals goes through Android's confirmation unless you allowed Manage media without confirmation.
- See the privacy policy for the full statement.