GoKawiilDhruv Bhutani / Android Authority
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I’ve had Immich running on my home server for the past three years. It’s a self-hosting essential for me as I try to offload as much of my backups and services from the cloud as possible. It’s where I keep the photos from my SLR, where my phone backs up photos automatically, and where I can search through years of images without handing everything over to Google. For a self-hosted alternative to Google Photos, there’s little doubt that Immich is the go-to for most.
But as good as Immich is, as an enthusiast, I was bound to run into limitations. Immich is great at managing individual photo libraries, but it isn’t always great at managing a family’s photo library. If you’re trying to share a portion of your library, Immich makes it extremely hard. And you can absolutely forget about sharing certain aspects of the library, like metadata.
That’s where Noodle Gallery comes in.
What do you use to backup your family photos? 16 votes Google Photos / Other cloud backup service 25 % Immich 38 % Straight to a NAS 19 % I don't maintain separate backups 19 %
Switching from Immich is surprisingly easy
Dhruv Bhutani / Android Authority
Noodle Gallery is an open-source fork built on top of Immich. It keeps the things I already like about Immich while adding a bunch of features aimed at families and people who actually share their photo libraries. I’ve been running it for the past month, and it has quickly become my preferred way to manage photos at home.
The biggest reason I was willing to try Noodle Gallery was that I didn’t have to start over. If you’ve already got Immich running, Noodle Gallery is designed as a drop-in replacement. You can change the container images in your Docker Compose file, keep the same database, and bring your existing photos, albums, and other data along with you. The project even provides a way to switch back to Immich if you change your mind.
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