Hi all,
So recently my immediate family had expressed interest in getting some kind of photo share platform for us to share vacation photos more easily. We’ve done a Dropbox with extended family years ago, but that sucked to hard that it even managed to put my non-techy family off of doing that again.
So what are some ideas you all can think of? I’ve seen Immich mentioned around here before, but I’ve honestly never set up even a real homelab or sever before, so that’s a bit daunting. Their google photos-esque UI is a bit plus as everyone but me uses that.
It wouldn’t need to be open to the internet, local WiFi would work as well really just need to be able to share photos between our phones more easily once we get back from a trip. I’ve got an older laptop with like 8GB RAM that I could run the server off of.
Sorry if this is really vague. I’ve just been given instructions to “find out what’s out there” by my non-techy family and I figured you all here would have a better idea of my options. Thanks!
If you’re looking to learn how to set up a server and start selfhosting, Immich is great. You can get a docker image that includes the postgres database and everything, and it’s not hard to pair it with a reverse proxy or tailscale/VPN if you want to expose it to the web. You also don’t have to do that, just open the local port and use it on home WiFi.
HOWEVER, if you’re daunted by self-hosting and just want a simple, secure experience, Ente is the way to go, IMHO. It’s end-to-end encrypted so your photos are private, and the server is maintained and managed by people who know what they’re doing. Headache-free for you. The cost is a bit more than Google Photos, so it’s competitively priced but you’re paying only with cash instead of personal data.