Self hosted solution for phone photo backup
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: meichthys.github.io/foss_photo…
This entry was edited (Friday, December 27, 2024, 2:30 AM)
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7U5K3N
in reply to Grandwolf319 • • •I've been using folder sync pro for ages and ages
play.google.com/store/apps/det…
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.
FolderSync Pro - Apps on Google Play
play.google.comcobysev
in reply to 7U5K3N • • •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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7U5K3N
in reply to cobysev • • •Yeah I've definitely gotten that out of it.
It backs up my entire phone to my server.
InEnduringGrowStrong
in reply to Grandwolf319 • • •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.
poVoq
in reply to InEnduringGrowStrong • • •oldfart
in reply to InEnduringGrowStrong • • •ilmagico
in reply to oldfart • • •I have years worth of photos backed up from my phone (android) on Nextcloud, it's working pretty well... but it matters how you set up the auto upload and a few other things, and I'mnot claiming it's without issues.
For example, I set it to move files into Nextcloud's folder after uploading, so they appear as locally synced, and can be deleted to free up space if needed (maybe even automatically, not sure). Also, I set it to also upload existing files, because since they get moved, anything that's still there clearly needs to be uploaded.
There are a few issues viewing media from the app, sometimes, but I use the Memories app :)
I've been meaning to try immich, looks pretty good, but I use Nextcloud for much more than just photos, so I'd have to keep both and have them sync somehow, and I'm not sure how to do that.
InEnduringGrowStrong
in reply to ilmagico • • •I currently have 16GB of phone uploads and 540G overall, it works fine
oldfart
in reply to InEnduringGrowStrong • • •And you don't have your notification bar on the phone full of upload errors? Nextcloud doesn't open 15 seconds on the computer? Can you get to older photos in under an hour, while Nextcloud slowly loads one thumbnail per second?
It is really unbeleviable how there are some people for whom Nextcloud just works, and the rest of us.
I gave up on my personal self-hosted instance a long ago, and at work we use commercially hosted Nextcloud and have to get a new account ~yearly because it slows down like Windows 95 when data accumulates.
oldfart
in reply to oldfart • • •InEnduringGrowStrong
in reply to oldfart • • •Legit have had none of these issues.
I do get a notification once in a while if I modify a picture fast enough, like a quick crop and it's still uploading. Like snap pic and edit within the same 5 seconds or so.
Basically just a: "there are multiple versions of the same file (which is true), which one do you wanna keep".
Then again mine is running on a pretty beefy server which might hide issues rooted in performance.
I remember it being hell when I was running it on a RPi.
oldfart
in reply to InEnduringGrowStrong • • •InEnduringGrowStrong
in reply to oldfart • • •Yea, it's not the first time I've seen this discussion either.
I don't wanna seem like I'm not believing you or belittling your experience, I just find it weird that we (we, users, as a whole, not just you and I) have such wildly different experiences with it.
As is, I have a vastly better experience with my own nextcloud than with corporate's onedrive, with more stuff on mine.
Wish I knew why it's so inconsistent.
Even though my nextcloud experience is fine, I know plenty of people with the opposite.
oldfart
in reply to InEnduringGrowStrong • • •I wish that too. I've profiled the server code and there was no simple to identify bottleneck. I profiled the android app when it was displaying Force Close / Wait modal every few minutes when in background, and found a very troublesome database query which selected all files without pagination. Adding pagination fixed that force close problem but the app was still too slow to be usable.
And at the time when I was doing all this, of course there were reports of people who had more data than i did and it was working fine for them.
ilmagico
in reply to oldfart • • •I get a bunch of upload errors for photos that I delete or move before nextcloud has a chance to upload them, those are safe to ignore. Not sure which errors you're getting...
Forget about the plain nextcloud photos app, use the Memories app (incl. the android app).
Not as good as immich, from what I understand, but if you already have nextcloud, or need more than just photos, it works well.
It's definitely not perfect, but since I was able to set it up to work well for me, I'm keeping it, at least until I have time to install immich and figure out how to sync the two (and maybe get a more powerful server to use its ML features). I'm currently running it off of a decade old chromebox ...
Creat
in reply to InEnduringGrowStrong • • •BakedCatboy
in reply to Grandwolf319 • • •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.
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walden
in reply to Grandwolf319 • • •like this
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gedaliyah
Unknown parent • • •Absolutely phenomenal. Great app, hosting, and development community.
It's a good reason to start self hosting.
DaGeek247
in reply to Grandwolf319 • • •fine_sandy_bottom
in reply to DaGeek247 • • •Yeah this.
I don't keep all my photos in sync though. Only the last few months.
I'm using photoprism to browse photos on my server but I've been meaning to look at other options because it's not that great IMO.
werefreeatlast
in reply to fine_sandy_bottom • • •fine_sandy_bottom
in reply to werefreeatlast • • •Syncthing-Fork | F-Droid - Free and Open Source Android App Repository
f-droid.orgsurewhynotlem
in reply to fine_sandy_bottom • • •like this
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bitwolf
in reply to Grandwolf319 • • •I think right now it is a throwdown between:
Moonrise2473
in reply to bitwolf • • •Strit
in reply to Moonrise2473 • • •So not sure if that "not even alpha stage" comment is correct. I don't know the state of it on iOS though.
Moonrise2473
in reply to Strit • • •Automatic photo upload works good, but it's the album creation (and sharing with other users) that severely lacks in features. 3rd party modules like memories are also better
But for official photos, last time i checked it 3 months ago, you could add photos to an album only at the moment of creation, and not add later
Strit
in reply to Moonrise2473 • • •mbirth 🇬🇧
in reply to Grandwolf319 • • •hperrin
in reply to Grandwolf319 • • •like this
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🇦🇺𝕄𝕦𝕟𝕥𝕖𝕕𝕔𝕣𝕠𝕔𝕠𝕕𝕚𝕝𝕖
Unknown parent • • •HeavyRaptor
in reply to Grandwolf319 • • •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.
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tabular
in reply to HeavyRaptor • • •Crassus
in reply to tabular • • •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
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Taasz/Woof
in reply to tabular • • •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.
tabular
in reply to Taasz/Woof • • •HeavyRaptor
in reply to tabular • • •The server doesn't, except if you have watchtower or something similar.
The app auto updates on your phone though, unless turned off.
tabular
in reply to HeavyRaptor • • •HeavyRaptor
in reply to tabular • • •Rookeh
in reply to Grandwolf319 • • •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.
Taasz/Woof
in reply to Rookeh • • •Rookeh
in reply to Taasz/Woof • • •Taasz/Woof
in reply to Rookeh • • •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.
Grandwolf319
Unknown parent • • •Ulrich
in reply to Grandwolf319 • • •like this
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Grandwolf319
in reply to Ulrich • • •Ulrich
in reply to Grandwolf319 • • •MMAniacle
in reply to Ulrich • • •Ulrich
in reply to MMAniacle • • •RaoulDook
in reply to Ulrich • • •That is not true, it is completely possible with systems like Nextcloud and Owncloud. I have one set up at home and it's great.
The phone app auto-uploads your chosen pics directory's contents to your chosen cloud backup folder on a schedule or any time you want. And it's free software.
sem
in reply to RaoulDook • • •RaoulDook
in reply to sem • • •sem
in reply to RaoulDook • • •surph_ninja
in reply to Grandwolf319 • • •like this
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pedroapero
Unknown parent • • •Honse
in reply to pedroapero • • •dogma11
in reply to Grandwolf319 • • •Psythik
in reply to dogma11 • • •abeorch
in reply to Psythik • •Selfhosted reshared this.
dogma11
in reply to abeorch • • •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
dogma11
in reply to abeorch • • •Yunohost seems pretty good. I've only had experience with CasaOS as a self hosting framework.
I run all my stuff in Proxmox
abeorch
in reply to dogma11 • •Selfhosted reshared this.
dogma11
in reply to Psythik • • •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