Self-hosting Photo Alternatives

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.?

bblkargonaut ,

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

Epzillon OP ,

The tech-slope is a slippery slide into your wallet 😅

bblkargonaut ,

Lol yeh but it's partially funded by money saved from canceled subscriptions.

doodledup ,

That's what they all say.

WhyAUsername_1 ,

I-fucking-mmich!

Smk ,

Immich all the way my dude.

Decronym Bot , (edited )

Acronyms, initialisms, abbreviations, contractions, and other phrases which expand to something larger, that I've seen in this thread:

Fewer Letters More Letters
DNS Domain Name Service/System
IP Internet Protocol
PIA Private Internet Access brand of VPN
Plex Brand of media server package
VPN Virtual Private Network

[Thread #761 for this sub, first seen 25th May 2024, 22:55]
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Epzillon OP ,

Another question: I set up the Immich docker image and I'm using Mullvad VPN, however Mullvad VPN removed in-app port forwarding last year. I'm curious whether there is a solution to use Split Tunneling for Immich via another VPN to setup secure remote access outside of the home network?

n3m37h ,

PIA allows split tunneling in their app

DeltaTangoLima ,
@DeltaTangoLima@reddrefuge.com avatar

Mullvad is great for outbound VPN, but inbound is a PITA without port forwarding (as you've said). I just host a Wireguard container for inbound connectivity now, and it works flawlessly.

MrPoopbutt ,

I'm confused as to how outbound and inbound would be different. Would the traffic not go from the VPN endpoint to your device?

DeltaTangoLima ,
@DeltaTangoLima@reddrefuge.com avatar

This may take us down a bit of a rabbit hole but, generally speaking, it comes down to how you route traffic.

My firewall has an always-on VPN connected to Mullvad. When certain servers (that I specify) connect to the outside, I use routing rules to ensure those connections go via the VPN tunnel. Those routes are only for connectivity to outside (non-LAN) addresses.

At the same time, I host a server inside that accepts incoming Wireguard client VPN connections. Once I'm connected (with my phone) to that server, my phone appears as an internal client. So the routing rules for Mullvad don't apply - the servers are simply responding back to a LAN address.

I hope that explains it a bit better - I'm not aware of your level of networking knowledge, so I'm trying not to over-complicate just yet.

MrPoopbutt ,

I also route everything through my pfsense firewall to mullvad VPN. I've been looking at various ways to access the internal network from the outside internet safely, and I'm a bit hesitant to open that hole just yet. Cloudflare tunnel seems like the easiest option but apparently they can see everything you put through the tunnel and I'm not real comfortable with that.

Does one need a dynamic dns to use wireguard to tunnel back in, or is there another way of ensuring you can connect to the correct location? Does the wireguard server run on docker?

DeltaTangoLima ,
@DeltaTangoLima@reddrefuge.com avatar

You do need to be able to reach your public IP to be able to VPN back in. I have a static IP, so no real concerns there. But, even if I didn't, I have a Python script that updates a Route53 DNS record for me in my own domain - a self-hosted dynamic DNS really.

You certainly can run Wireguard server in a docker container - the good folks over at Linuxserver have just the repo for you.

MrPoopbutt ,

Thanks, I'll give this a shot in the coming week!

RGB3x3 ,

https://github.com/immich-app/immich/discussions/8299

I just got this working today and can say it's quite an elegant solution. It means anyone with a Google account (that I allow through Cloudflare settings) can take advantage of immich. I plan to be the storage server for my family so they can have automatic photo backups.

If you decide to go that route and have questions, hit me up. I spent a while troubleshooting issues caused by not creating a SaaS application in Cloudflare, so read the directions exactly.

Epzillon OP ,

Thank you for the comment, a very interesting solution! I'm thinking of using Google as little as possible however. I would like to look into how to setup some access from outside the network via some VPN shenanigans.

I was also looking at automating backups with Cron - both DB and images to other disks and devices.

I got Immich up and running but have had some stuff come in the way to spend more time with it.

RGB3x3 ,

Yeah, I would prefer not to use Google, so I'm going to figure out how to use another authenticator. I wish Proton had the ability to be an authenticator, but I haven't seen a way to do that yet.

But all my family has a Google account, so it just makes things easier.

k4j8 ,

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 ,

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 ,

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 ,

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 ,

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.

EncryptKeeper ,

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.

crozilla ,

Piwigo.

oxjox ,
@oxjox@lemmy.ml avatar

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 ,

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 ,
@oxjox@lemmy.ml avatar

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.

Epzillon OP ,

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!

Kekin ,
@Kekin@lemy.lol avatar

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

czardestructo ,
@czardestructo@lemmy.world avatar

Ditto, though I'm getting more and more resentful by the day at the lack of multi user support. I'm not going to donate to them again.

DeltaTangoLima ,
@DeltaTangoLima@reddrefuge.com avatar

Yeah, this is why I jumped ship to Immich last year. I was donating to PP, with the understanding that donating users would get access to multi-user features when they happened.

Then they put them behind a paid recurring subscription. For self-hosted users. That move broke all the trust with me.

oldfart ,

They fucking what? I need to get off the couch and cancel my support too

DeltaTangoLima ,
@DeltaTangoLima@reddrefuge.com avatar

Yep - they introduced paid subscription tiers and put multi-user support into those:
https://www.photoprism.app/editions#compare

JurassicPork ,

Same here, Been using photoprism past few years also, loving it so far!! Few quirks but constantly being worked on

jelloeater85 ,
@jelloeater85@lemmy.world avatar

Same, just use FolderSync to get photos to it. Works like a cham.

AbidanYre ,

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 ,

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

AbidanYre ,

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.

Yoruio ,

+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 ,
@MangoPenguin@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

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 OP ,

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 🙏

Evil_Shrubbery , (edited )

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.

DontNoodles ,

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?

skeezix ,

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?

Tywele ,

Immich is by far the best and most convenient.

krdo ,
@krdo@programming.dev avatar

/end of thread

As we used to say.

jws_shadotak ,

i m m i c h

I love this app.

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