Hello everyone!

I’m currently looking to self host some photos to get my girlfriend off of Google Photos. I’m wondering what has been good in your experience.

I never thought about self-hosting the before but a LTT video (I’m sorry) popped up in my feed and I got curious.

I looked into Ente.io and PhotoSync so far but unsure if there are any better options. Also saw that LibrePhotos exist but I haven’t looked into it yet.

What are you using? Have you had any issues? Missing features etc.?

  • Yoruio@lemmy.ca
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    5 months ago

    +1 to immich

    However, because of the fast dev cycle, it has a lot of breaking changes, and needs regular maintenance (most notably for me, postgres docker changes. Especially if you are not giving it it’s own postgres instance and using their provided docker compose.)

    You could stay pegged to a single version, but the mobile app also doesn’t have full backwards compatibility with server versions, which results in a slew of other problems (how do I do a fresh install of an older app version on a new device?)

    But if you are willing to keep up and perform semi-regular maintenance, immich is great, and the rapid dev cycle means more new features faster!

    • MangoPenguin@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      5 months ago

      Luckily all of the changes so far have been super easy and quick, they’re very good about posting detailed info on what to change.

    • Epzillon@lemmy.mlOP
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      5 months ago

      Thank you! I will try Immich our and see how it feels, if it’s just quick fixes it shouldn’t be an issue. But if it’s too much I might just try out Ente 🙏

    • Skeezix@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      Can you make immich so that when you click on the map, you get a grid of relevant photos rather than full size swipe?

      Can you make immich not show the stupid white lines around every country?

    • Evil_Shrubbery@lemm.ee
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      5 months ago

      This is a fair description.

      My parents like it, once every so often I update their docker and apps (on the same day). Its not always straight forward (I just mean you have to visit their github), but ez enough.

      Unfortunately my next choice (afaik) would be NextCloud … aaaand let’s leave it at that.

    • pe1uca@lemmy.pe1uca.dev
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      5 months ago

      how do I do a fresh install of an older app version on a new device?

      You can directly use the files from the github repo, just look for the release your server is on and install that apk.

    • DontNoodles@discuss.tchncs.de
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      5 months ago

      I’m scared to these ‘breaking changes’ even though I’m not exactly a self hosting newbie. That’s because I don’t have a proper 3-2-1 backup and I’m afraid I might lose my photos or settings. I’ve been exploring of setting up immich through a homeserver management tool like runtipi that allows taking backups separately that can be reverted to, in case something goes wrong. Anyone aware of any negatives about that?

  • AbidanYre@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    Everyone seems to love immich, but I found the rapid development cycle combined with the version incompatibilities annoying.

    Ente is seeming like a nice alternative so far and will hopefully be lower maintenance.

    • jws_shadotak@sh.itjust.works
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      5 months ago

      I think Immich has grown out of the most difficult upgrades now. Most changes now are just removing lines from the stack.

      • AbidanYre@lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        It wasn’t that the upgrades were hard so much as it felt like everytime I tried to open the app on my phone, it errored out because either it or the server needed to be upgraded and the versions weren’t compatible.

  • Kekin@lemy.lol
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    5 months ago

    I use Photoprism, mainly because it seems stable so far, and it’s good enough for my needs

  • Epzillon@lemmy.mlOP
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    5 months ago

    Thank you all for the responses! I will take look into Immich and if maintenance is too much of a hassle I might try out Ente!

  • k4j8@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    Definitely check this summary out: https://meichthys.github.io/foss_photo_libraries/. Everyone’s use case and priorities will be a little different, but I’d vote for Immich as a Google Photos replacement that looks nice and is very easy to use. I was awestruck by the facial and object recognition, which wasn’t even a feature I particularly cared about.

  • Takahe@lemmy.nz
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    5 months ago

    I tried Immich but did not like it, its also been sold so who know what will happen there. I have been using Nextcloud and loving it

    • CallMeMrFlipper@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      It wasn’t sold, it’s being funded. There’s a big difference. And the group behind the funding is a huge supporter of FOSS. They’re gonna be “selling” immich licenses soon, but they’re also going to keep all the source code open and available for anyone to download, modify, or use however they want.

      • Takahe@lemmy.nz
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        5 months ago

        The owner of the name and repo has changed hands in exchange for money, and is now going to be pushing licences to use it. You can say that is not “sold” if you like, but its the same to me.

        • CallMeMrFlipper@lemmy.world
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          5 months ago

          It literally didn’t. Read about it and stop spreading misinformation. The deal is essentially like an investment. The developer still maintains full autonomy on the projects direction and leadership. All FUTO is doing is providing them stable income so they can work full time on developing the project.

          • Encrypt-Keeper@lemmy.world
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            5 months ago

            It’s not misinformation. I hear what you’re saying, and that this whole Futo thing seems like it should be net positive, but it was sold.

            The developer still maintains full autonomy on the projects direction and leadership. All BLANK is doing is providing them stable income

            This isn’t a good argument for Immich not being sold, because this is the exact description of what private equity firms do.

  • bblkargonaut@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    I’m a noob, I started 2 months ago with immich and tailscale. Now I have an unraid server, it’s a slippery slope.

  • oxjox@lemmy.ml
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    5 months ago

    I don’t know why people recommend Immich. I found it to be the most bare-bone photo app I’ve ever used. It feels ten+ years old. I tried really hard to make it work but Plex photos is about 20% better and it still sucks.

    • Yoruio@lemmy.ca
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      5 months ago

      I don’t remember much about plex photos, but facial (and object) recognition, photo map, easy sharing through albums (without the other person needing an account), and being open source are some features I imagine plex photos does not have.

      it seems barebones still, because it is a very young app, and the UI is not great, especially on mobile.

      It is the best replacement for Google photos that I have seen though.

      • oxjox@lemmy.ml
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        5 months ago

        Fair enough. Plex may not have the bells and whistles but it’s simple and intuitive to use. I’ve also tried the QuMagie app on my QNAP which does have all those features but found it to be a bit more cumbersome than it was worth.

        I tried Google Photos briefly as well and was very shocked at how bad it is, compared to Apple Photos. It took me several days just to figure out how to delete more than one picture at a time. I have to assume it’s much more robust on an Android than on an iPhone but even their web interface was horrible.