Immich¶

Self-hosted photo & video backup and gallery — your own Google Photos. · https://im.fmm.house

What it's for¶

Immich automatically backs up the photos and videos from your phone to the home server and gives you a fast, searchable gallery to browse them. It's a private replacement for Google Photos or iCloud Photos: same timeline, albums, sharing, and face/object search, but the pictures live on hardware at home instead of a cloud company's servers. Everyone in the household can have their own account and their own library.

Getting in¶

Open: https://im.fmm.house — on the home Wi-Fi/LAN, or from anywhere with Tailscale connected.
Sign in: Immich has its own accounts. Ask the admin to create yours, then log in with your email and password (in the app and the web UI).

How to use it¶

Install the mobile app¶

Get Immich from the App Store / Play Store. On first launch it asks for a Server Endpoint URL — enter https://im.fmm.house (you must be on the LAN or Tailscale for it to connect), then sign in with your account.

Turn on auto-backup¶

In the app, open Backup and pick the albums to protect (Camera Roll at minimum). Turn on background backup so new photos upload on their own. The app shows progress and how many items remain. Uploaded photos stay on your phone — Immich copies them, it doesn't move or delete them.

Browse the timeline¶

The main Photos tab is your whole library in reverse-chronological order, grouped by day and month. Scrub the bar on the right edge to jump years in a second.

Create Albums to group trips or events. You can add other Immich users to a shared album, or create a shared link for something specific — note that a link only works for people who can reach the server (LAN or Tailscale).

Search (faces, objects, places)¶

Immich indexes your library so you can search naturally: - People — it clusters faces; name a person once and find all their photos. - Objects / text — search things like "beach," "dog," or "receipt." - Places / map — browse photos on a map by where they were taken.

The web UI¶

https://im.fmm.house in a browser gives the same library on a big screen, plus easier bulk selecting, album management, and downloads.

Tips¶

Note

Backup and search only happen while your phone can reach the server. Off the home network, connect Tailscale first or the app will just queue uploads until you're back.

Verify the first backup finished (the Backup screen shows "0 remaining") before you clear anything off your phone.
Naming a few faces early makes People search dramatically better — the model uses your labels to group the rest.