I prefer to live in the moment rather than behind a lens, but I don’t shy away from capturing moments that I want to stay with me forever. I trust my Samsung Galaxy phone and Google Photos to make this easy for me.
None of these tools is best at everything, but they are mostly enough for what I need them for. However, at no point did it end my scouting for better alternatives.
I’m yet to find a non-Galaxy alternative that I would love to switch to, but I’m glad that I’ve seen some success on the software side.
After spending months trying several alternatives to Google Photos, I’ve finally found the one that I would love to use going forward. In many cases, it’s far better than Google Photos.
I’m thrilled that I’ve finally found Immich, a Google Photos alternative, worth switching to. Here is why I rate Immich so highly.
Immich is the closest alternative to Google Photos, but it’s not for everyone
It gave me something Google Photos never could
I believe that Google Photos is the easiest and most convenient cloud-based storage and backup solution for pictures and videos. Even a non-technical user finds the app easy to use.
Being a part of the Google ecosystem certainly helps, but simplicity is its biggest strength. However, Immich offers me something more rewarding than convenience.
I self-host Immich using Docker, and the setup process isn’t as easy as installing some apps from the Google Play Store. It takes time and patience to set it up, especially for people who have never used Docker.
It was worth putting in the effort, because I no longer feel restricted by storage limitations, unlike in Google Photos, which offers only 15GB of free storage.
In addition to taking pride in building something on my own, storage ownership puts me in complete control of my photo library. However, this isn’t its only major advantage.
For anyone who’s coming from Google Photos, Immich feels like a natural alternative to try because of how similar both look and feel.
Like Google Photos, Immich has a timeline feed, navigation tabs, face recognition, album sharing, automatic backup, Locked Folders, and more.
So, I won’t miss some of my favorite features on Google Photos even if I quit the app in favor of Immich for good.
Of all the alternatives I have tried, Immich comes the closest to matching Google Photos. It also works on both Android and iOS.
The arrival of Immich v3 finally made me believe I could quit Google Photos for good
It’s still not easy, but not because of Immich
Immich wasn’t nearly as good as it is now when I first self-hosted using my PC. While I liked what I saw, one major reason it worked for me was that I kept my expectations low.
Would it be fair to expect open source software that was only launched in 2022 to beat Google Photos? But I realized that its potential is undeniable, so I kept my patience and waited for it to get better.
After trying the latest version of Immich, I can say that my patience paid off. Immich v3 comes with a host of new features that were previously missing and much-needed improvements.
For example, on Android, you can now upload your entire library in the background, unlike previous versions where background backup was limited to newly taken photos.
The latest version also offers a Recently added page, making it easier for you to find what’s new. In addition, it brought OCR support to the mobile app. I also love the new Slideshow experience on the mobile app.
For me, the biggest change is the support for non-destructive edits. So, like Google Photos, Immich can edit your photos and save them as copies to preserve the original quality of the image. I’ve used this feature the most in Immich in the last few days.
These are the features I’ve tried, but there is a lot more than that in Immich version 3.0.0.
While the latest additions finally make Immich a worthy alternative to Google Photos, it won’t be an easy migration. It requires you to follow several steps, so much so that it can take hours to complete the process.
Immich isn’t the one to blame here. The migration process is complicated because Google Takeout exports some of the important metadata as separate JSON sidebar files instead of merging them into your photos.
You have to merge it yourself, and that’s not as simple as I would’ve liked.
The migration is a hassle, but Immich is worth it
I haven’t left behind Google Photos yet, but I’m closer than I ever was, especially after seeing how much Immich improved in the latest version.
I wouldn’t wait for the migration process to get better, as I don’t expect Google to make it simpler. If anything, I’d rather spend hours to get the long-term benefits of owning my photo library instead of relying on Google’s Cloud storage.
There has never been a better time to do it.
