The answer in the thread (which is quite hard to find) is to use the Google Photos app without an account.

The app has some very nice features that are locked behind account access though.

I checked on my phone. I don't have Google Photos so maybe I uninstalled it or the phone came without it. It's a Samsung so it has Samsung Gallery but I'm not logged in into a Samsung account. Photos are local. I installed Aves Gallery [1] and that's my main photo app. Backups are through Syncthing which of course is not a mass market app, but I'm a software developer and being able to use niche alternatives is one of our privileges.

[1] https://github.com/deckerst/aves

I have a similar question: how do I stop Google photos asking me to update every time I open it?

"You're missing out

Update your Google photos app for the newest features"

... I have zero interest in updating. I'm not missing out on anything... other than being able to browse my photos without this annoying message getting in the way.

So... What's the modern equivalent of gallery.apk ? Looking for just a simple image viewer that shows the "collections" view by default and preferably is GPL and does not attempt any sort of internet connection.

One benefit of having a Samsung, you can uninstall google photos and still be able to use your camera.

I wonder why google locked it..

This is another argument that we need more phone OS options, not just Android and iPhone. (Graphene isn't really a proper option yet).

For pixel owners: the Google photos app cannot be uninstalled, but you can disable it using adb.

Use the website and block the popup with uBlock Origin. Using websites will always have better UX than apps, despite what devs will tell you, even on mobile devices.

solution: self host immich