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  • How to replace Apple Photos?

Has anyone found a way to replace Apple Photos on grapheneos? It’s the only feature holding me back now.

Google Photos seems to be the only app with cloud storage that syncs but you can only access in a browser on Desktop which is no good for me. I also want to have my full photo collection stored and synced on my computer like I do with Apple. Also Google Photos without an account linked is fairly useless as you cannot create albums and many features are missing.

I have tried most apps and currently use Aves and have cloud service like Mega and pCloud as a backup but it is not working well.

I also find managing and editing photos difficult. It may be more the way Android works. For example on Apple I can favorite some photos and move to an album. In Aves or other apps on Android if you move to an album it actually moves the photos to a different folder on your phone which I do not want. To stop this you need to make copies making my photo collection messy. Also when you edit photos in Google Photos you can not save over the same photo, you have to save as a copy. On Apple you can edit a photo and save over the original image. If you want to go back you can edit and revert to the original image. This does not seem possible on Android. Also importing to Android from cloud services removes all the photo tags like capture date, location etc.

I have a Synology NAS and use Synology Photos and PhotoPrism but they are slow when outside the network and do not have a dedicated Desktop app.

The closet I have found is Mylio but the Android app is full of bugs and not compatible with Apple Live Photos.

I tried other suggestions in here like Ente but it is not suitable and too expensive.

Has anyone found any decent software or cloud that can manage photos like Apple? When you have copies on your phone, cloud and desktop?

  • Aeon replied to this.

    No experience from my side, but LTT just released a video on degoogling with 4 recommendations to replace Google Photos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnSv8ylLfPw&t=681

    Usually their videos are superficial at best, but this one I actually liked.

    Other than that you might what to look into Nextcloud. And yes Apple is doing a great job with how integrated their apps and systems are, but the privacy implications are just horrendous. It's so invasive that it's very hard to even replicate yourself... And they just happened to be in the news for never actually deleting your old photos (e.g. nudes).

    Let's hope you find a better solution that is privacy respecting and controllable (and actually does delete files when told to do so). I'm interested in the recommendations.

    I'm currently using nextcloud to sync my photos, but I'm not very satisfied. I think I'm gonna try immich next, as it promises a lot of good stuff.

    Ente.io would be my choice if I wouldn't self host my stuff already.

      GI1

      There is one Open Source Photo Cloud Sync Service I know: https://ente.io/

      I dont use them myself but they have open sourced their entire software stack from server to client. Might be worth a look as alternative.

      They End-to-End-Encrypt the data that is synced.

          Aeon
          They already mentioned this:

          I tried other suggestions in here like Ente but it is not suitable and too expensive.

            What works for me using my synology NAS:

            DS drive desktop app sync task between desktop photos folder and synology photos folder

            DS drive android app sync task with photos folders (camera roll, screenshots, etc) and sub folders of my choosing within synology photos folder (I find this better than the photo backup option in DS Photo app).

            Make sure the DS drive android app is not syncing to the actual photo folder as you will duplicate your entire synology photo directory to your phone.

            With this setup all phone photos sync almost instantly to desktop and if you use the DS photo app to move cameral roll, snapshot, etc photos to other folders it will then sync and remove it from phone, unlike the DS Photo backup option. Not exactly like apple but I'm happy with it.

            • GI1 replied to this.
            • N1b likes this.

              Thanks for the comments. I have tried Ente but they want £19.99 a month for only 2TB. It is not enough storage, expensive and they would have access to my files. Mylio looked more promising as you can sync directly with your computer or chosen cloud storage (or both at the same time) but the Android app is full of bugs at the moment.

              I already use my Synology but like I said there is no dedicated Desktop app where I can view and sync files with my computer like you can with Apple Photos. You can only access through a browser and it is slow outside of my home network. Viewing on my phone is also too slow and you can barely view the images.

              I have tried Nextcloud and may have to use that for now however it does not work well with Live Photos.

              It is a difficult situation to figure out. I am surprised no one has done anything about this. If Synology had a dedicated Desktop app where you could download photos to your computer that would be a great solution. The same with PhotoPrism but for now you can only use through a web browser. Mylio seem to be onto a good solution but not working correctly at the moment

                Arielaviles thanks for that. The backup is not an issue as I have both Mega and pCloud backing up photos. It is more replicating the syncing between the phone, computer and cloud. I want a way to access my full collection on the go but also easily edit on my computer and sync back to my phone

                  pit2p thanks, backing up the photos is not an issue. I do use FreeFileSync for backing up hard drives on Windows.

                  What I need is to replicate similar to Apple Photos. I want my full collection on the phone but an optimized version as the Pixel doesn’t have enough hard drive space. I want to then also be able to access on Desktop where I have my full collection stored. If I make any edits on either my Phone or Computer I want them to sync with each other.

                    spl4tt yes I have seen Immich. Another issue I am having is many of the FOSS type photo management systems use Docker and I can not run Docker and virtual machines on my Windows computer at the same time. I probably would use PhotoPrism which is similar to Immich but this also uses Docker.

                        If you have a few devices and a local network you can try sync thing , its like brave browser sync but for files and can be rigged to run locally

                        • GI1 replied to this.
                        • GI1 likes this.

                          OfflinePuffin thank you, I do keep coming across SyncThing. I am trying it out now and installed on Windows. What is your workflow for using this? Can you sync between your computer, android and a cloud service?

                            GI1 they would have access to my files

                            Ente is end to end encrypted so I don't think they would or alarm bells would ring and they wouldn't be a recommended provider.

                              I use Syncthing. Photos taken on my phone automatically show up in my Photos app on my computer (gThumb, Linux) like magic. As a previous Apple user I am satisfied with how seamless this setup is and it works just like iCloud for me.

                              As far as editing photos on Android, I tried a few apps but ended up using Google Photos (with no network permissions and no Google Play services). Yes it saves a copy upon editing but I don't edit many photos. I too hope Android UX continues to improve.

                              a month later

                              GI1
                              Very late reply here, but still, I just took an old laptop, put an arch linux on it and run it as a server for all my dockerized stuff. An old laptop is actually stronger than any server you can rent online, you just have to manage the networking stuff yourself

                              • GI1 likes this.

                                The Proton Drive app can be downloaded as an apk directly from their site and updated with Obtainium.

                                As of recently, the app can auto-sync photos on your phone to proton drive.
                                https://proton.me/drive/photo-storage

                                If you need that synced to your desktop, you can use the proton drive app for desktop. It can sync files to your desktop's harddrive.

                                I have no idea if your albums / tagging / apple live photo needs can be met with Proton Drive.

                                Regardless, it could be a decent option if you're like me and not skilled or patient enough to go with a self-hosted solution.

                                  zzz

                                  Proton's Photo Backup works great. However, it is a pure backup; I had understood the OP to be looking for a way to synchronize photos.

                                  The different possibilities of backup and sync with Proton Drive are described quite well here:

                                  https://proton.me/blog/backup-vs-sync

                                  • zzz likes this.