
One of the best pieces of self-hosted software ever to exist.
Edit: This is Immich! for the folks who don’t know.
Hmm. While I applaud Immich for existing at all, it kind of feels developed with not me as a user in mind. I have Terabytes of pictures I have taken over the couple of decades of my adult life. They are all neatly organized in folders on my NAS. There is no easy way to just tell Immich “oy, that folder structure? Turn it into albums” I am never going to manually put my 400k+ images into albums. And the folder view in the Android app is behind too many clicks to make it any fun using it.
I guess I have to wrangle with the CLI or something to turn my folders into albums.
But… why??? People use existing file structures. Make it easy for those to integrate into your app.
Nothing of the sort on the roadmap either. Unless integrating folder structures into Immich albums gets more user friendly, I am reluctant to support the devs.
I’ll probably do it anyway because as I said, I’m glad the project exists.
Thanks.
Yeah, ideally something like Immich is just some metadata pointing at existing files. An album should be some combination of synced directories (i.e. new files added outside Immich should be detected and added, if selected) and individual files.
That doesn’t sound that complex. Maybe I’ll look into Immich and see about adding that. I don’t currently use it, but I don’t have an image solution, so I’ll give it a shot.
I dont get the “server” vs “individual” support levels? Im an individual and I have a server…but presumably everyone buying immich has a server? Otherwise it’s pointless? Or is it expected that I buy a server package, plus an individual package for each and every user?
I know it’s OSS and so any and all donations are voluntary - just the naming here confuses me.
Server is meant for all users of a single server.
So, you could buy 1-3 individual licenses or the server license for 4+ users.
It is just Donation Tiers I think. Maybe the per user thing only hides the “Buy Immich” button for only that specific user.
I really want to use (and support) this, but my case would be the server running on a windows pc with great hardware for all the ML/AI stuff and SSD database storage, but all my media on a NAS. (I’m a flight sim addict, Linux isn’t an option or I’d do it in a heartbeat) Last time I tried, I got the server running in docker pretty easily, but could not for the life of me get my media connected. Any chance that process has improved?
FWIW you’re probably looking for https://docs.immich.app/guides/remote-machine-learning namely removing the demanding tasks from the NAS.
I know it’s not really adding anything to the conversation but I can’t not say thank you that’s dope.
Ooh, that’s really cool
I’m running it on in docker and I’ve connected it to my NAS mounted as a network drive. I set it up a few months ago, do it’s better since then.
Don’t even worry about the hardware, I’ve got it set up on a raspberry Pi 5. It’ll take a while to do all the classification on your existing library, but new photos get classified fast enough. You’re unlikely to need to do a smart search immediately after you’ve taken the pic.
For clarity, I’m not on Windows (obv, raspberry Pi), and I’m not using docker directly; I’m running HAOS on my pi, and I’m using the immich add-on. I know it uses docker, but I can’t tell you the exact command to run.
That’s amazing. I have a Pi 4 currently running home assistant and pihole. Sounds like my pi family might be growing soon. Had no idea the 5 could run those features. Appreciate you
If it weren’t Docker-dependant, I’d imagine this would be a good FreedomBox app.
Sounds more like a Freedombox problem for not supporting one of the best ways to run sevrer software ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Seriously everyone pushes Immich so hard I’m a little suspicious of it now :D
Shhhh! No one can no we are all being played by the immich overlords.
The fediverse is small and the Immich dev is one of our own, not surprising that it’s super popular
It’s crazy good for something FREE. Like infinitely better than any major crop google apple etc because you KEEP your photos. Anything you upload to the cloud is being mined by them.
The only thing I tell people is that you need a cloud backup.
I have an automated nightly worker that zips all my photos encrypts them with a 32 character password and then uploads it to a bulk storage facility.
I do something similar using restic to encrypt, deduplicate, and backup my photos to backblaze every now and then. Out of curiosity, any particular reason you choose zip over something like restic?
I use restic too, just said zip since more people might understand it easier
Ah, got you!
and then uploads it to a bulk storage facility.
Any suggestions and estimate pricing?
I use backblaze, $6/TB/mo. i set it up with restic backups to get my storage usage so low, that I’ve used it for 4 months and haven’t paid yet.
I use backblaze it’s like $3 a month or something
Agree, backblaze has been great
It’s just that good
I found it a couple of months ago without hearing about it before. I was in an ideal place for a Google Photos replacement.
There’s a couple of rough edges but it is, indeed, best-of-class.
Yeah :) Maybe give lychee a try :) it’s minimalist and does one thing, but it does it well !!!
One thing I don’t get, if someone could explain it to me, is what’s the point of immich over e.g. Nextcloud? Immich is just for photo and video, right? Why not just have a cloud file drive instead? To me, I feel like it’s a waste to have both, since I use Nextcloud to both sync my PC and as a secondary backup, in which case I’d have two copies of my photos on my home server if I wanted to use Immich as well. Am I missing something or is it for people with different workflows?
Nextcloud is like Google drive, immich is like Google photos.
You’d typically prefer to look at your photo albums in Google photos instead of Google drive.
im like maybe one of few people who barely take photos. its great because i dont need to worry about the costs of cloud storage
I mostly set it up for a few major albums like my wedding album. Other than that it’s like 90% dog pictures lmao
I am a supporter and ordered the retro demo disk. Itll be here soon :)
So wait, we hate FUTO but love Immich?
I don’t hate FUTO, but I distrust them.
On one hand, their operation is creepy and suspicious.
The extent of the FUTO “grant program”, at least in the case of musl libc, involved ignoring musl’s established process for institutional sponsors, quietly sending a modest one-time donation to one maintainer, and then plastering the logo of a well-respected open source project on a list of “grant recipients” on their home page. Rich eventually posted on Mastodon to clarify that the use of the musl name and logo here was unauthorized.
On the other, I like the idea of licenses that allow unrestricted private use and modification but forbid commercial exploitation. Those two situations are not equivalent. I realize this is an unpopular opinion in many FOSS circles, but we are already being exploited to death by the rich and powerful and they must not be entitled to the value of our collective free and voluntary labor. If we ever realize a society in which wealth and power is effectively capped for such entities, then I would change my tune. Until then, fuck them. Our collective software is for the collective, not for wealth hoarders and despots.
Immich is actually open source.
I find it wild in this day and age how questions like (“why do WE hate” such and such) are being asked in the first place, then answered through one person’s opinion piece mindlessly linked from all angles. Please, for gawd sake, stop listening to random fedditors/redditors about what opinions you should adopt!
IMHO (<- there’s a novel approach), the criticisms of FUTO are just as biased and political as FUTO themselves, and everyone should be sceptical of bias from all sides. Apparently, focusing on ‘privacy, decentralization, and right to repair’ - is being too political, and they’re not allowed to have a philosophical take on what they imagine successful open source to be. (Incidentally, I’m not necessarily on FUTOs side, just pissed off at the nature of social media to obviate the need of critical thinking and make everything black or white.)
I mean sure but… did you read the piece linked? It backs up it’s claims. Not gonna sit here and act like I verified every single thing linked in the piece but I checked a good handful and it seems pretty straightforward. FUTO is pretty sketchy at the very least, and there’s good reason to consider them a fascist org
Yes I read it when it first came out, and again after a recent update. It’s very opinionated and I remain unconvinced the criticisms amounts to very much. At the least, certainly not to the point where words like nazi and fascist should be thrown around!
For example, I dislike Yarin’s and Lunduke’s politics but I did at least watched Yarin’s interview. (Did you? It was boring, and entirely tech-oriented, nothing controversial at all.) But… trial by association I guess. And anyway, it’s not the article itself I have a problem with - it’s the borrowing of second-hand opinions as if they should be your own. Sometimes, it’s prudent to reserve judgement (until ‘verifying every single thing’), or criticise specific ideas, without leaping to ad hominem per consortium.
As far as I can tell the worst thing they did was call their source available license open source, which isn’t even that bad.
My read is that FUTO as a software movement is totally fine, it does what it claims on the tin. The people behind FUTO are a different story, and the main person bankrolling it seems to have friends with odd views (I think they’re blown out of proportion, but they’re still concerning).
You’ll never find a perfect movement. Here’s what FUTO seems to prioritize:
- local first alternatives to big tech
- source availability, but in a way big tech can’t use but home users can
- profitability for devs without coercion or feature gates
That sounds pretty good to me! I’d prefer it to be FOSS, but allowing me to distribute modifications for non-commercial use is probably good enough for most things.
I probably disagree with their founder politically, and I’d run FUTO differently, but I think their software is good and I could maintain it myself if needed, and at the end of the day, that’s what matters to me.
FUTO doesn’t seem interested in getting involved in politics, they’re merely musing philosophically, and their products aren’t profitable, so it doesn’t really matter to me what their political positions are.
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Software can’t be fascist, it’s just software. The makers or users can be fascist though. If that statement was true, Lemmy would be tankie.
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No, that’s not fascist. Facial recognition software can be used for a variety of reasons, like unlocking a phone or laptop, gaining access to secure areas, or home automation stuff.
It’s only fascist if used by a government to oppress minorities. The software itself cannot be fascist, but it can be used by fascists.
Hahah you mean like Lemmy itself?
- replace ‘fascist’ with ‘tankie’
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the criticisms of FUTO are just as biased and political as FUTO themselves,
oh so you’re STUPID stupid
Fantastic rebuttal kindergartener, you convinced everyone.
The duality of man.
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What is it and what does it do?
Immich: Image Backup* solution — like Google Photos or Ente Photos but self-hosted.
*Backup in the sense of uploading your photos to a server you own. You should backup the database as well as your library with 3-2-1 method.
What 2 different media types are you using for the “2” part?
Spinning and flash.


FLASH! AAAAAAAA
The world needs those two gifs combined so we can more easily (and awesomely!) answer this question in the future.
Why does it need to be two types? Can’t I have 2 spinning?
You put them in a safe. Safe falls down, spinning is gone.
You put them in a safe and forget about them for some time. Flash is gone, spinning still has data.
Good point!
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Short: It is a second Hardrive using borg that backs up the primary Hardrive.
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Long: My Backup strategy:-
Databases and other imp files:
For databases the backup happens every night that gets saved on the server itself. Then when my laptop connects either to the home network or to the Internet, the backup zip files on my server syncs to my laptop via syncthing. Then my laptop’s data is backed up to OneDrive (encrypted) — this includes the immich database backups. I usually keep 7 days worth of backup files just incase some get corrupted and I can just go back to the previous day.
Library
Since my Immich Library is big, daily borg backups are not possible for 200 gigs. So I have scheduled them every Sunday morning when I rarely use the server. The hardrive is exclusively used only for Immich. That hardrive is then backed up to another hardrive using borg and also to my OneDrive using rclone. (All encrypted). So 3 copies of the data, 2 on 2 different hardives (1 is primary) and 1 offsite.
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From the logo, it looks like immich
Immich! Photo management: https://immich.app/
Immich
Google photo self hosted alternative
As someone who only used the stock synology app and has always wanted to try something else, what features and things does this do better? I am close to trying it out just to see. Im sure it will solve my 1 big issue where I can’t control the location of photos that default to my application storage, which is pretty small, instead of my actual storage array.
Does everything Google photos does. Their app looks/feels exactly Google’s app, including sharing links. Assuming you’re running it on reasonably powerful hardware, it does all the same face recognition and ML based search that Google photos does.
You don’t even need reasonably powerful hardware, I do it on my raspberry Pi 5. It just takes a little longer, which isn’t usually a problem except for the first time you import your library.
Does it have an Android app that will automatically back up photos and videos that I take? Is there a way to do it without exposing a bunch of stuff from my home network?
Yes, and yes.
Their Android app feels like an exact clone of the Google Photos Android app.
To access it remotely, you can use Tailscale like someone else mentioned. But you need to have Tailscale installed on everyone’s phones.
You can also use a Cloudflare Tunnel to allow it to be accessed over the Internet without exposing anything from your home network directly to the Internet.
The latter is useful when I want to share a secret link to a photo album after hanging out with people so everybody can upload the photos they took to one place (something I used to do a lot with Google Photos)
I’ve tried Immich, but found my plain SMB shares already did 80% of what
immich could doI wanted. The remaining 20% I could do easily with my favorite photo/video viewers (looping, filtering, tagging, location data).I also hate how it’s only a web portal for desktop. There’s no native desktop app, and no seamless integration with file browsers, video players, etc.
Maybe I look at it again in a few years
You can setup external libraries with it. So you, say, upload your photos and videos to your SMB Share, point that SMB Share as external Library in Immich and you will get the benefits of Immich while you can browse your Share normally as you would. I mean yes this is a workaround but it works.
Buying my copy soon!
using it for some months now and it’s pretty much perfect already. never looked back to Google photos.
Thanks for the reminder, done as well :)














