My family relies heavily on Google One to sync our Google Photos. We have 4 iOS and 5 Android devices. Originally the iOS folks would pay and sync through iCloud. But to simplify the billing process and easy sharing, we switched all to Google Photos. Lets just say there is almost 2TB of photos/videos.
We want to move away from this to a more controlled (self host) and non Google solution. We looked at Proton, their emails and vpns are great. However we dont want to move to a different cloud for photos and videos.
We are not very tech savy to set things up. Can we just buy a big hard drive and somehow hook it to our wifi? This is consider self hosted right? Does that mean medias will only get synced when we are within the house’s wifi?
Appreciate any inputs
I juat moved to immich but i self host it which requires a (small) bit of tech skills. I believe they do offer optuons for them to host for you. Ente is another option. Google takeout is the way to get your photos exported. Once backed up to the service of your choice, cancel google one.
Be aware, youll need to manually delete all tge google photos day by day on the websote to keep using that google account. Took me abkut 2 hours with 1tb.the lock in and efforts tonorevent escape is crazy.
Everyone is suggesting Immich, which is the answer if you want to self-host. But you say you are not very tech savvy, so you might want a service you don’t need to self-host, and in that case take a look at Ente Photos.
You get end to end encrypted photos and don’t need to do anything. They have guides on how to move your photos from Google Photos as well.
Ente can also be self-hosted, so you can compare what you like more.
Buy hard drives.
So far I’m very impressed with the ugreen NAS own photos capability.
But there’s also Ente which is just a brilliant service.
https://www.pikapods.com/apps#photos
Immich is very popular, but there are more options there to check out.
Immich is a Google Photos alternative to manage and share your photos and videos. Comes with its own mobile app, as well as AI and search features.
PikaPods is a managed hosting solution for open source server apps. Their homepage explains a lot, and if you do some web searches, you can see they’ve got a good reputation.
Syncthing seems to be for you. A little setting up is needed, nothing too advanced IMO. It works on LAN / WiFi and syncs your shared folder to another device. No cloud, no middlemen, not even internet (when it is set up) needed.
be careful with that recommendation. möbius sync is not considered a native app for syncthing and op has multiple ios devices
Download all of your Google Photos data from Google Takeout. Then, upload said data either to something like Ente Photos with a subscription, or an immich server if you’re willing to self-host.
An Immich server isn’t too overly complicated to set up. You just need a big hard drive, and either an old computer that’s just lying around or a cheap and small new computer. It may still take you some headaches and a period of time to properly set up, switch to and get accustomed to but the Immich documentation is pretty good and easy to follow. That plus a bit of googling should be enough of a guide to get properly set up. Beware though, self hosting is something you need take continuous care of and there may be a lot to learn. If that sounds scary I would just say go with Ente. You can still self host Ente, but you can also just pay a subscription and it would be no different or more complicated than switching from iCloud to Google Photos plus you wouldnt have to worry about actually doing the work and maintenance of running a server.
