Immich: The Best Google Photos Alternative for Self-Hosted Photo Storage

Smartphones are no longer simply communication and texting devices. Cameras have evolved so much that they have become the main highlight of every modern smartphone. As a result, we take many photos and videos, as we have a handy device that goes everywhere with us, even in the loo. However, smartphones have limited capacity and can run out of storage quite quickly. While I’ve used a range of cloud storage options, such as Apple iCloud, Google Photos, etc., to store my images, unfortunately, they are also limited. You get more storage for money, which is a waste.

Wouldn’t it be amazing to host your photo hosting platform using the extra storage you have? While researching, I stumbled upon Immich, a great alternative to all cloud storage platforms. It lets you use your free storage and convert it into a cloud storage service with benefits. In this guide, we will discuss what Immich is, which is the best Google Photos alternative, and how you can host self-hosted photo storage. Let’s jump right into it.

What is Immich, and what are its features?

Interestingly, Immich was developed by Alex, an Electrical Engineer and, more importantly, a father (which is why we have Immich). Alex and his wife wanted secure storage for their baby photos and videos without paying for a cloud storage app. Alex took on this challenge and did some research. While existing self-hosting cloud storage options were available, they focused on gallery features rather than simple and easy backups for media viewing.

He then created an alternative to Google Photos called Immich. It is a user-friendly, high-performance backup tool that uses local storage for image and video hosting. Immich also focuses on privacy, as none of your data is shared with giants like Google to train their unknown AI models.

Here are a few features that you will love about Immich:

• Since Immich is a Google Photos alternative, you will find the UI to be strikingly similar to Google Photos. This means it is recognizable and easy to use.
• It receives automatic updates on both Android and iOS.
• Immich isn’t barebones; it gets nifty features such as facial recognition and AI-powered search. The latter helps you locate any image simply by describing a few elements of the image. For instance, you can search for a parking receipt by literally typing “parking receipt.”
• Let’s use your device’s internal or external storage or even your NAS to store images and videos.
• It is also available for Mac and Windows.
• The best part is that it is available completely free of cost.

Pre-requisites

There are a few things you should have before you can use Immich. You can access the complete list of requirements by heading over here or simply following the steps mentioned below:

• Supported device: Mac, Windows, Android, or iOS device is supported. Do note that in order to use Immich on Windows or Mac, you need to install the Docker app. Get the appropriate version from below:
  • Windows
  • Mac
  • Android
  • iOS
• RAM: Minimum 4 GB, recommended 6 GB. It runs okay-ish on a 4 GB PC (I’ve tried it on a laptop)
• CPU: Minimum 2 cores, recommended 4 cores.
• Storage: As much as you have at your disposal.

How to install Immich?

We are using a Windows PC and explaining the steps for the OS. Follow each step carefully in order to set up and use Immich.

1. Download the appropriate version of Docker. You can use the link above or simply search for Docker Desktop and download the program.
2. Once downloaded, open the program on your Windows PC and install it.
3. Restart your PC once the installation is complete.
4. You need to head over to Immich.app website > Get Started > Install > Docker Compose [Recommended], here you will see all the important things you need to create.
5. Open a File Explorer.
6. Expand the Linux section from the left pane and click on docker-desktop.
7. On the right side, locate the Home directory, and open it.
8. Open the folder in your desktop’s name > open the docker folder.
9. Head over to the location mentioned in step 4, and copy the content under the “Move to the directory you created” section.
10. Now inside the docker folder, right-click and select Open PowerShell windows here from the context menu.
11. Paste the content that you have copied and ignore any warnings that appear. It will create an immich app directory inside the docker folder.
12. Then you need to head back to the location mentioned in step 4, copy the content from the “Get docker-compose.yml file” section, and paste it into the terminal that is open.
13. Do the same for the “Get .env file” content. Successfully doing so will show both files inside the immich app folder.
14. Opening the env file will show you the passcode and where your media will be saved.
15. Head back to the docker folder, open the immich app folder -> create two new folders -> name them library and the name of the passcode that is shown.
16. Copy the path of the library folder you have created and paste it in the place of the library in the terminal. Do the same for the other folder. make sure to remove “.
17. Save the terminal.
18. Head back to the Windows PowerShell, and type docker compose up -d and hit Enter. This will download all the latest versions of the containers.
19. Go to the Docker desktop, and you will see a list of all the Immich containers that are up and running.
20. Open a browser, and type http://localhost:2283 in the address bar of your favorite browser.
21. You will land on the Immich homepage. Hit the Getting Started button.
22. Follow the on-screen steps and fill in the details such as your email address, password, and name to create a primary user account. Then press the Sign up button.
23. Then you need to login with the same credentials.
24. After successfully logging in, you will be asked to change the theme of the app.
25. That’s it! You are now all set to upload your images and save them.

You can now download the mobile app on your Android or iOS device and backup any number of images, videos, or entire albums to your self-hosted cloud storage, as per the limit of your storage. However, since Immich is under continuous development, it is important that you don’t rely too much on a single storage option if you want to store something very important. Ensure that you have two to three copies of your data saved in multiple locations.

Conclusion

Immich may seem a bit overwhelming, especially when you want to set it up. However, after you have set it up, you will be glad that you can now save those extra dollars slipping out of your pockets for purchasing cloud storage services. You can use Immich Go to import photos from your Google Photos. Also, if you wish to share photos with anyone you trust directly from the internet, you can make use of ImmichFrame and ImmichKiosk (which lets you run a slideshow of images). Immich has been responsive even after uploading around 6,000+ photos. Try it out and let us know in the comments below if you encounter any issues while setting up Immich.

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