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SOFTWARE · SOLUTION
Lava Mobile Gallery app
An offline Android gallery app for photos and videos, with albums, search, a password-locked encrypted hidden album, a nine-tool photo editor and a video editor.
A fast, private, fully offline gallery: browse, organise, hide and edit photos and videos without anything leaving the phone.
production-grade application
9
Photo editor tools
AES-256-GCM
Hidden album encryption
Android 5.0+
Runs on
None
Network access needed
CASE ANALYSIS
Project Overview
Challenge
The brief was a gallery that feels quick on everyday Android phones while doing much more than browse: albums, favourites, search, a safe place for private photos, and real editing for both photos and videos. It had to work across Android versions from 5.0 to the newer media-permission model, keep large libraries scrolling smoothly, and never depend on a network connection.
Approach
We built a native Android app in Kotlin. Media is indexed from MediaStore into a local Room database and loaded through Paging 3, so grids stay smooth on large libraries, and albums are re-synced with the file system. Edits on Android 11 and later go through the system write-request flow, and Android 13 media permissions are handled. Private items move into a hidden album behind a password, with security questions for recovery, and the files themselves are encrypted with AES-256-GCM. The photo editor and video editor run on-device, with custom GL shaders for video effects.
Outcome
The result is a complete gallery and editing app that runs entirely on the device: no account, no uploads and no internet permission. Users get organisation, private storage and editing tools in one app, without their photos leaving the phone.
CAPABILITIES
Key Features
Core capabilities built into the product to solve real user problems.
Photos, Videos & Albums
Separate photo, video and album views with sorting by date, name and size, add-to-album, favourites and a full-screen viewer with pinch zoom and video playback.
Encrypted Hidden Album
Private photos and videos move into a password-protected album with security-question recovery; the files are encrypted on the device with AES-256-GCM.
Nine-Tool Photo Editor
Crop, filters, adjust, text, draw, eraser, stickers, shapes and background, all on-device.
Video Editor with Undo
Trim, crop, audio, preset filters and nine adjustment controls such as brightness, contrast, warmth and vignette, with undo and redo.
Search, Tags & Trash
Search by title, album or a personal tag, a trash folder for recovering deleted items, and a view of duplicate copies.
Details, Share & More
EXIF details, rename, set as wallpaper, print and share to other apps from any photo.
STACK ARCHITECTURE
Technology Stack
Platform
- Android
- Kotlin
- Android Views + ViewBinding
- Navigation, ViewPager2
Data
- MediaStore
- Room
- Paging 3
Media
- Glide
- Media3 / ExoPlayer
- GPUImage
- OpenCV
- uCrop
Security
- AndroidX Security (EncryptedFile)
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