this post was submitted on 27 Dec 2024
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Hi,

I’m trying to find a way to have my iPhone’s photos be automatically (or even manually) backed up/synced with my home server.

I heard about photo prism here and got it up and running, however I could not find a free app that lets you sync. Photo sync is their main recommendation and it puts high quality photo backup behind premium.

Is there any solution that lets you backup your photos through home wifi?

Thanks in advance.

Edit: thanks to the suggestions, I found this handy chart listing many and comparing them: https://meichthys.github.io/foss_photo_libraries/

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 days ago (1 children)

I've been using Ente Photos, and PhotoPrism and I've been liking Ente pretty well. Little bit more work to get things setup and going but I've been enjoying it for the last few months

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 days ago (2 children)

What low-effort app do you recommended? I hate messing around with networking stuff, but I'm willing to build a home server, if that means I can finally get away from Google Photos. It must have HEIC support and a "memories" feature (where it automatically creates albums sends me notifications about what it wants to show me).

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 days ago

Probably be Ente even if it does take a little bit to configure it and get a web UI and stuff. PhotoPrism was easy for me to get up and running with Proxmox and the great community scripts to setup a container but having to have photosync is a drawback I don't care much for.

I believe both have something to like a memories feature

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 days ago (2 children)

@Psythik @dogma11 I'm a bit of a broken record on this but #Yunohost is fairly low effort and allows you to get basic Nextcloud and a few other apps running fairly quickly.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Yunohost seems pretty good. I've only had experience with CasaOS as a self hosting framework.

I run all my stuff in Proxmox

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 days ago

@dogma11 I'm hoping to put #Promox on a Dell Optiplex Micro soon. I'm currently running Yunohost on Cloud VM and on a RaspberryPi locally. Looking at configuring backup at the moment and also seeing if I can work out how to do the config for #Zigbee2MQTT so that they can add that as a supported application.

[–] [email protected] 98 points 1 week ago (4 children)
[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Sounds overkill just for backing up files.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 days ago

Its more of a complete Google Photos replacement than a basic backup/syncing system

[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 week ago

Absolutely phenomenal. Great app, hosting, and development community.

It's a good reason to start self hosting.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 week ago

This. Its excellent. Cross platform. AI search. Location tagging. Everythibg u want.

[–] Grandwolf319 8 points 1 week ago

This is amazing, exactly what I was looking for!

[–] [email protected] 45 points 1 week ago

Immich. Come for the photo backup, stay for everything else because it's awesome.

[–] [email protected] 32 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Like everyone is saying, Immich.

But keep an eye on updates because it is under active development so breaking changes tend to happen every once in a while.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 days ago (3 children)

Does Immich auto update / breaking changes?

[–] [email protected] 6 points 6 days ago

On itself it doesn't auto update, you do get a notification in the app if your server is outdated.

You can setup watchtower or something similar to update it but it is discouraged due to the active development

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Does Immich auto update

Only if you auto-update the docker images on your server.

There have been a few breaking chances, but it just takes a minute to tweak the compose file and it's up and running again.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 days ago

Apparently docker images must be manually updated, so currently I don't. Thanks for the info.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 days ago (1 children)

The server doesn't, except if you have watchtower or something similar.

The app auto updates on your phone though, unless turned off.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Damn. I think a few updates have happened on the App but not seen an issue yet. Guess I'll update the docker image when an app update does break it - family don't use it often and I don't want to manage their phone updating the app.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 days ago

Luckily the app is generally (but not always) backwards compatible. It'll just nag you to upgrade the server.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 1 week ago (4 children)

I use syncthing to keep all my documents and pictures synced between my devices.

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[–] [email protected] 20 points 1 week ago

Immich has a setting that does automatic photo backup over WiFi, I use the android app as a Google photos replacement. You can choose however many folders on your phone as you want (I just do camera roll) and enable only backup over WiFi and it backs up all the photos in original quality. I self-host the server on my Synology with a reverse proxy (can't forward ports at my current place due to cgnat) so I can access it from anywhere.

I believe the app is cross platform so the iPhone version should be identical to the android one.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 week ago

I use Immich, and I love it.

[–] InEnduringGrowStrong 17 points 1 week ago (3 children)

Nextcloud's instant upload feature?
Whenever I take a picture or screenshot it's uploaded there.

Nextcloud might be overkill if that's the only feature you need. I've never used the more involved stuff like chat or document editing, just sync.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 week ago

You can use the Nextcloud app with the much simpler KaraDAV backend. Works fine for photo backups.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 week ago

That feature kinda works, but it's incredibly fragile. It has caused so many annoyances for me over the last year or so that I'm finally done with the thing. Just go with immich instead, less headache.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 week ago (9 children)

Nextcloud has so many bugs when you store a lot of files, and photos on a phone accumulate to a big number. Both their Android app and server doesn't deal with a few years' worth of photos.

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[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Immich has completely replaced Google Photos for me, love it!

My only bugbear is that it is updated very frequently (what a nice problem to have!) which in my case requires a manual once-over of my docker-compose file every time in case there are breaking changes.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 days ago (1 children)

I go the other way, auto-update and fix the file if it goes down lol

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 days ago (1 children)

As a developer myself I'm not sure if I would trust any application to safely handle a configuration that has become invalid due to a breaking change, especially not an app that is still under active development! Better safe than sorry.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 days ago

It's docker compose changes (at least the ones in the last 2 years have been), so it's not really config related with a worry about breaking stuff from that.

But also multiple backups are in place anyways, so worst case I restore from that.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 week ago

Nextcloud. Works super well.

[–] bitwolf 11 points 1 week ago (5 children)

I think right now it is a throwdown between:

  • Nextcloud Photos
  • Immich
  • Ente Photos
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[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 week ago (2 children)

I've been using folder sync pro for ages and ages https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=dk.tacit.android.foldersync.full

It basically syncs a folder from your phone to a folder on your home servers share.

I think it was paid.... But it's been years so I couldn't tell you.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I think it was paid.... But it's been years so I couldn't tell you.

It's currently $3.99 in the Play Store for me, with a crossed-out list price of $6.49. Not a bad deal.

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