{"id":16400,"date":"2026-01-05T09:55:42","date_gmt":"2026-01-05T16:55:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/macblaze.ca\/?p=16400"},"modified":"2026-01-04T11:08:52","modified_gmt":"2026-01-04T18:08:52","slug":"immich-implemented","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/macblaze.ca\/?p=16400","title":{"rendered":"Immich Implemented"},"content":{"rendered":"

Well I think I an 90% sure this is the way I will go. Back in New Image Management?<\/a> I mentioned I was testing Immich<\/a> as possible replacement for Apple Photos and the iphone app. I tested it out and even used it at a family visit to Brooks and so far it has performed flawlessly. I covered some of this in the original post but I thought I would\u00a0 add in a bit more detail.<\/p>\n

Server<\/h2>\n

I have this installed on my Mac Mini (2019) which has basically become my server these days. Maybe a post later about how that is set up now. Much of this is based on https:\/\/rhettbull.github.io\/osxphotos\/tutorial.html<\/a>‘s tutorial.<\/p>\n

Step 1 Docker<\/h2>\n

Everything is Docker (containerized) so, other than the Docker overhead, it is pretty clean install-wise. I decided to go with Docker’s Docker Desktop<\/a> for the Mac rather than jump through the hoops to install it on the system itself… lower overhead vs easier management… and I was lazy.<\/p>\n

Then I followed Immich’s install guide<\/a>. The only real tricky part was that on a Mac if you try to ‘get’ the .env file it immediately is invisible (wget -O .env https:\/\/github.com\/immich-app\/immich\/releases\/latest\/download\/example.env<\/code>). So I modified the command to read wget -O example.env https:\/\/github.com\/immich-app\/immich\/releases\/latest\/download\/example.env<\/code> and then after editing it renamed it (in terminal mv example.env .env<\/code>) to .env<\/p>\n

The .env (Environment)<\/h4>\n

I changed the location of my library to a folder on my Mini and decided to put the postgres database there as well. Not sure if this is best practice but I am tired for hunting for elements years later when I need to change or clean up something. And then I set the time zone to America\/Edmonton<\/code>.<\/p>\n

Just a note to remind you if you want to edit the .env in a text editor then hit cmd-shift-. (period), this will show all the invisible files so you can just drag the .env file to BBEdit etc. Just remember to hit cmd-shift-. again to hide them all or all the hidden files will clutter up everything.<\/p>\n

Save the file.<\/p>\n

Docker Compose<\/h4>\n

Make sure you are in the right directory (the one with all these files) and run the downloaded docker compose command docker compose up -d<\/code>. This will invoke Docker, run though the compose file to download and set up everything and the -d<\/code> ensure it is running in the background.<\/p>\n

That’s it. You should be up and running at http:\/\/<machine-ip-address>:2283<\/p>\n

Step 2 Apple Photos<\/h2>\n

The next big challenge is to get the photos from Photos to Immich.<\/p>\n

If, like L, you have a bunch of images on your phone or iPad that aren’t on your desktop the easiest was is to download the Immich App<\/a> from the store and set it up to back-up all the images. Once that’s done you can set it to only back up Recent and every time you open Immich on your phone it will upload the images to the server.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

As for the main Photos Library I covered that back in the original post (New Image Management?<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Settings<\/h2>\n

A few settings and tweaks.<\/p>\n

    \n
  • I enabled tags Account Settings > Features > Tags. This shows all the tags that I had set in Photos and allows me to set more.<\/li>\n
  • I changed the library so it organized itself in a more understandable way. Originally all the images were stored in folders like \/Immich\/upload\/8e403d85-6740-4ba7-8549-0feb702f0cb3\/6a\/04<\/em>. By going to Administration > Settings > Storage Template and enabling it you can set the folders to year\/month\/ date etc. and it will migrate all the images to the new structure e.g. \/Immich\/library\/User-1\/1956\/1956-01-01\/001 – 1956.jpg<\/em>.\n
      \n
    • Then you have to go to Administration > Jobs > Storage template migration and click Start<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

      A Second Library<\/h2>\n

      One of the neater things is that you can set up a second user and use the server for them as well. I did this and set up all L’s images to be stored in a different folder. Note that when you set up the user you then should go to Administration > User and click the three dots to edit the account. Change the Storage label to whatever you wan the folder to be called.<\/p>\n

      Then either before or after you migrate their images. Make sure you repeat the Storage template steps above.<\/p>\n

      Sharing<\/h3>\n

      Now, if you want, you can set it up so the other user can see all of you images in their own Immich instance. Account Settings > Settings > Partner Sharing. Add the other user and they can\u00a0 see pretty much everything by clicking on Sharing in the main sidebar.<\/p>\n

      External Access<\/h2>\n

      I am still not sure if I will use this as something that is accessible external to my firewall. I did briefly set it up to one of my test domains when I was away and it worked just as advertised. i took a picture, opened the Immich app and voila it was\u00a0 available pretty much instantly on the web interface.<\/p>\n

      But if I leave it inaccessible, the app stores all the thumbnails so I can”see the images wherever I am and when I am back in my own network I can upload the images then \u2014 which is pretty much how I did it with the old system. the only difference being if I want a high-res version of a photo when I am away from home I am screwed unless I VPN back in… and I rarely leave the VPN running unless I am away for extended periods.<\/p>\n

      Hmmm….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Well I think I an 90% sure this is the way I will go. Back in New Image Management? I mentioned I was testing Immich as possible replacement for Apple Photos and the iphone app. I tested it out and even used it at a family visit to Brooks and so far it has performed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/macblaze.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16400"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/macblaze.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/macblaze.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/macblaze.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/macblaze.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16400"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/macblaze.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16400\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16407,"href":"https:\/\/macblaze.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16400\/revisions\/16407"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/macblaze.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16400"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/macblaze.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16400"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/macblaze.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16400"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}