Images on the microSD Card also Appears on the Gallery App (Android)

Is this an Android 14 or Samsung issue? I’ve been using the Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 FE 10.9″ for about a year now. And I like its portability; it’s not humongous and heavy unlike the iPad Pro 12.9″ (4th Gen) so I use it often.

With the S-Pen, I often write on the Notes app of Tab S9 FE instead on iPad. I have a spare SanDisk Ultra microSD card (128 GB). I first used on a retro game console (Anbernic RG35XX). I put the microSD card on the Tab S9 FE. It serves as a separate storage for images that I’ll review from time to time.

To my surprise, I also found the images on the Gallery app. Entirely different from Apple file management.

I used My Files app to access both the internal and expandable storage. I learned that it is better to use the native app of Samsung. It is more reliable than downloading third-party apps for both my Tab S9 FE and Galaxy A54 5G.

OK back to redundancy. Why do I need to have two copies of images in the microSD card and Gallery?

Is this a bug (or a feature, maybe) that only appears in devices with Android or exclusive in Samsung devices?

Since the disappointing discovery day, I stopped using the microSD card and I haven’t removed it. Maybe, I can still find a solution on the Internet like adding a file (.nomedia) to folders.

Otherwise, I’ll use the microSD card on my Anbernic RG35XX again. I can use ThinkPad T490 with Windows 11 (24H2) to install Garlic OS on the card instead of using the stock OS. It was hard to find a tutorial to do it on Mac.

This bug (or feature for others) will keep me in the Apple ecosystem for now.

I want to try other Android devices like Nothing (buy online in Canada) and Google Pixel. If the Gallery app remains cluttered with images from the expandable storage, I prefer having a huge internal storage. I would want it to start at 256 GB.

Apart from this drawback, I think Samsung offers affordable and reliable devices for entertainment and productivity. But will my devices get stuck on Android 14 forever?

What features do you like on your Android device that is better than Apple?