Samsung Galaxy S4: How to Fix Can't Remove Picasa Album from Gallery App in Android 4.4 Kitkat

If you notice, there some sync options available under your Google account and all of them are enabled by default. One of sync options available is an option to sync with your Picasa web albums. When this option is enabled, then your Picasa albums will be displayed in the Gallery app and they will be labelled with Picasa icon .

See also: How to Activate Google Account in the Samsung Galaxy S4

A couple days ago, an insider sent me an email and told me that he want to remove Picasa albums from Gallery app because it slowed down his phone whenever he opened Gallery app, unfortunately he can't remove the albums because when he was selecting an album he wasn't given an option to delete it. FYI, given Picasa albums come from another source, then to remove it you need to disable sync process between your phone and Picasa web albums and then clear the Gallery app data.


How to completely remove Picasa album from Gallery app?
Generally, there are two methods available that you can use to remove Picasa album, through the Settings menu or through the Gallery app.


Method #1: Via Settings menu
  1. Go to Settings.
  2. Tap Accounts tab.
  3. Tap Google.
  4. Under Accounts section, tap your Google account.
  5. Scroll to the very bottom and then clear the checkbox next to Sync Picasa Web Albums.
  6. Tap the Back button twice to go back to the Settings menu and then tap More tab.
  7. Tap Application manager.
  8. Swipe the screen to the right until you see All tab.
  9. Scroll down to find Gallery, then tap it.
  10. Tap Clear cache button and then tap Clear data button (it won't erase any photo you save in your phone, it just repopulates them and revert back the Gallery app to the default settings).
  11. Now, the Picasa web albums should be removed from your Gallery app.


Method #2: Via Gallery app
  1. Open Gallery app.
  2. Tap the Menu key then select Settings.
  3. Under Accounts section, tap your Google account.
  4. Scroll to the very bottom and then clear the checkbox next to Sync Picasa Web Albums.
  5. Now, go to Settings by swiping down the top of the screen then tap Settings icon.
  6. Tap More tab.
  7. Tap Application manager.
  8. Swipe the screen to the right until you see All tab.
  9. Scroll down to find Gallery, then tap it.
  10. Tap Clear cache button and then tap Clear data button (it won't erase any photo you save in your phone, it just repopulates them and revert back the Gallery app to the default settings).
  11. Now, the Picasa web albums should be removed from your Gallery app.

I personally like to use sync features to backup my pictures but I don't like to display albums from another sources(including with Picasa web albums) because sync process--especially if it contains lot of pictures--sometimes makes the phone slower or even crash when opening Gallery app. So, if this problem also occurs on your phone, you can use these steps to completely remove Picasa albums from your Gallery app.

7 comments:

  1. Alas, there are no checkboxes to uncheck. All the web advice says to uncheck. I guess Google was so clever they updated their system to prevent us from having the phone the way we want to when Google wants something different.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi RJM,
      Thanks for coming.
      FYI, the model number of my Samsung Galaxy S4 is GT-I9500.
      When it runs with Android 4.4.2 Kitkat or Android 5.0.1 Lollipop, I still have checkboxes within a Google account that let me select which options I want to sync with my phone, e.g: Sync Calendar, Sync Contacts, Sync Picasa Web Albums, etc.

      Delete
  2. Will this erase my gallery pictures that are stored on my sd card?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No, it won't.
      But, if you're worried, you can backup your photos first to your PC or remove your SD card from your phone before doing clear cache and data for the Gallery app.

      Delete
  3. I thought you said it wouldn't delete any pictures saved to my phone! It deleted a ton of private photos I had hidden!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thank you!! Worked like a charm

    ReplyDelete
  5. there is no checkbox for uncheck. . only the thing is there tbat if we are clicking on sync picasa web albums then it is getting synced by the time..

    ReplyDelete

Hi the insiders,
Thanks for coming and I hope you can get something useful here.
Before submitting your comment to ask about an issue, please make sure to provide information as much as possible (at least write your model number and Android version) and describe the problem clearly.
Also, since all comments will be moderated, all comments with irrelevant links(if any) or contain with offensive/harsh word will be deleted.
The last, if you have a question and can't find the relevant article, please feel free to reach me through the Contact us page. I'll be more than happy to reply the email and answer the question :)