[Feature]: Upload a single photo via mobile app

[Morethanevil]

Feature detail

It should be possible to upload a single photo via mobile app. Something like the upload button from the web version

Platform

Mobile App

[micogg]

Is there a way to know when in the timeline this "nice to have" is slated to be worked on?

This project is amazing, it's incredibly responsive and the upload speeds are superb. I'm waiting to use it full time until this feature is implemented. I'm using Immich primarily to store my kids pictures, but they are scattered in several different albums on my phone and I don't want to backup all albums so it would be nice to be able to upload specific pictures.

Regardless, great job with the project.

[alextran1502]

@micogg We don't have a timeline set for the nice to have feature yet.

For your specific needs, you can create an album, let's say "Kid's photos". Then from your phone's gallery, you can select and move all of the photos/videos of your kids that you want to backup to that album/folder.

From Immich, you can select that album to be the only one that will be back up from the album selection screen, then Immich will only upload the photos and videos in that album. If you use Android and enable background backup, every time you move the photos/videos to that album, they will be uploaded in the background.

[Vcele]

I think syncing albums makes a lot of sense, but explaining my friends how to create albums to upload photos into our shared photo cloud seems quite complicated. Especially on the Google photos app it's rather complex to create those because the standard way creates a Google photos album and not a local folder. I think the ability to upload selected photos directly in the backup section would be a great feature to simplify the upload process and prevent clutter on the phones when uploading only a few photos 👍

[micogg]

Thanks for the reply Alex, I will do that for now and eagerly await the nice to have feature!

[irmantask]

Thanks Alex for your amazing work!

@micogg We don't have a timeline set for the nice to have feature yet.

For your specific needs, you can create an album, let's say "Kid's photos". Then from your phone's gallery, you can select and move all of the photos/videos of your kids that you want to backup to that album/folder.

From Immich, you can select that album to be the only one that will be back up from the album selection screen, then Immich will only upload the photos and videos in that album. If you use Android and enable background backup, every time you move the photos/videos to that album, they will be uploaded in the background.

Waiting for this feature too.

Thanks for the reply Alex, I will do that for now and eagerly await the nice to have feature!

[Vyerni]

Definitely waiting on this feature. Would be handy for my use case.

[enboig]

As I stated at #2440 being able to use Android sharing would be great. It would also allow saving files from social and messaging apps.

[donjakobo]

+1 on this one for me too, I would just like the ability to create custom Albums and select by date (all day) or single photo selection what to upload, as I don't need to backup all my random photos, but I do value being able to create shared albums especially across multiple phones without totally backing everything up THEN selecting out of those backups.

[irmantask]

I am still waiting this feature to use Immich daily :)

[BaldFabi]

Today I actually thought I migrate from photoprism to immich. But I never imagined that one can't select a single image from the phone.
Is this really a nice to have feature?

[donjakobo]

Right, I only wish to select key photos from my mobile phone and add them to an album, without backing everything up, and then selecting from a backed up list of photos.

Basically if I wasn't clear, I want to upload one photo at a time into an album, currently there is no option to do so, and I am forced to only select existing uploaded photos.

[BaldFabi]

@alextran1502 Yes I have. I would love to have the same functionality as in the browser to just select one (specific) photo (as @donjakobo described)

And please don't get me wrong. I'm totally thankful for your work, the application etc. but I didn't expect that a function which seems so obvious isn't implemented, at least not in the app where I would definitely need/expect it

[bo0tzz]

Immich is very young, and as such a lot of 'basic' stuff hasn't been implemented yet.

[SitramSoft]

As a workaround, you can open on your phone browser the immich web page and upload from there any pictures you want from your phone. The only issue I found with this approach is that each app stores photos in a separate folder and it is very difficult to identify where that location is on the phone filesystem.

[LaVINCENTgit]

@SitramSoft

As a workaround, you can open on your phone browser the immich web page and upload from there any pictures you want from your phone. The only issue I found with this approach is that each app stores photos in a separate folder and it is very difficult to identify where that location is on the phone filesystem.

This is the way i use too... But (donno if only on xiaomi) also if you select multiple photos and videos, only one is uploaded. Do you have the same issue?

[shenlong-tanwen]

An initial implementation for this feature is now released in the v1.72.0 release. Feel free to suggest any improvements or issues with the current implementation.

• v1.72.0 #3574

You can open a local only asset and use the upload button to upload it to the server or you can select up to 30 local assets from the timeline and use the upload button from the bottom sheet. The bottom sheet is made dynamic and so, the upload button will be displayed only when all the assets that are selected are local only.

⚠️ The current implementation lacks a cancel button to stop an ongoing upload. I'll try to add it as an action button in the notification and in the backup page in the next release

[Vcele]

I have a question about the general functioning of Immich. Wasn't it always the case that only the albums to be uploaded were displayed in the timeline? I am very happy that there is now a single upload feature, but wouldn't it make sense to continue to show only the uploaded albums in the timeline and to allow single uploads via the album page, where non-synchronised albums could also be displayed? In addition, one could then also add the function to display select non-synchronised albums, if someone needs this function.

[Vcele]

Actually now it doesn't show all my pictures in the timeline again. Maybe that was just a bug, but I still think that all Albums should be displayed under "Albums on Device", synchronized or not.

[enboig]

I was expecting integration in "phone sharing system", so you can send images/videos from any application (messaging, forum, another gallery, ...) to immich 😅

[shenlong-tanwen]

Wasn't it always the case that only the albums to be uploaded were displayed in the timeline?

Yes. However, if a user has not enabled auto backup or have not initiated a backup yet, the assets from the selected albums will be displayed in the timeline as local only assets. In which case, the user can select the local assets and upload them to Immich. This is useful for those who don't want to enable auto backup and don't want to bulk upload assets as well.

If you select 'Recents' in the albums to upload, all your assets, local and remote will be displayed in the timeline and all the albums will be displayed under 'Albums on Device'

[Gorkycreator]

This is useful for those who don't want to enable auto backup and don't want to bulk upload assets as well.

If you select 'Recents' in the albums to upload, all your assets, local and remote will be displayed in the timeline and all the albums will be displayed under 'Albums on Device'

Thanks, this was what I was missing from the intended workflow! I was questioning whether this method was meant to be used with auto-backup permanently disabled. Turning off upload, adding 'Recents', uploading images, removing 'Recents', and enabling upload is clunky, but seems to be valid if users want to juggle auto backup and individual uploads.

When I heard that the feature was implemented, I was also expecting the method @enboig described. The current method is very appreciated, but it's a bit of a configuration pretzel for users to set up. I don't feel comfortable passing it to family members yet, since there's a big "Start Backup" button that'll be primed with potential to accidentally generate situations with lots of manual sorting and removal of items they didn't intend to upload.

[waclaw66]

When you add a local asset to an album, you could start upload automatically.

[nep2ner]

This is an awesome feature, but I can't seem to find it. Immich doesn't show up in the OS share menu, and I can't find anywhere inside the Immich app to select photos for upload. I can only see photos that are in folders selected for auto-backup, and therefore are already backed up. My app version is 1.72.2. I see in the release notes how it is supposed to look, but I can't seem to find where I can view non-uploaded images What am I missing here?

[Gorkycreator]

Currently, you can only see the button to upload images if you have backup settings disabled. Images in backup folders that have not been uploaded will then show up in the immich app, but have a local-only icon. These can be selected and uploaded manually. More details available in this thread.

[shenlong-tanwen]

The following discussion is also about improving this flow as well:

• [Feature] Upload multiple selected assets #3826 (comment)

I'm not sure what's the best way to handle this either, but I do know that this has to be improved to make it less clunky.

[Monarsoft]

For local deployment, when using the immich mobile app, some videos failed to upload and were repeatedly uploaded without success, resulting in the content behind the iteration not being processed.

[alex-sherwin]

Are you open to a PR to add an upload single/multiple file selection from iOS directly into an Immich album, e.g. the standard iOS sharing paradigm most people in this thread were hoping for?

[architomsn]

+1 for the possibility to upload a single or multiple assets in the mobile app - like in the web-ui.

[shivanshs9]

@architomsn It's already present, even though it's very confusing on how to use it. Mentioned here - #3826 (comment).

I've just raised a PR as well to highlight this feature in the docs - #14225 🚀

[rijndael86]

This doesn't include a "share to Immich" option when clicking share in the classic Android menu right?

Because if you have files under a hidden folder (starting with a dot), Immich will not see those assets and you won't be able to upload them from mobile. It'd be nice to be able to manually click share when visualizing a picture in other gallery or files app and let the user upload it to the server.

[ramphex]

Also waiting for this feature. Getting resistance from friends and family on creating separate albums on their phones for pictures they want to upload since they don’t want to dump their entire photo gallery into my server.

Edit: this post is in relation to the iOS mobile app

[garypaduana]

I can't believe "upload single photo or selection of photos" isn't part of the MVP for the Android app. The app should have never been published without it. It's the first thing I looked for upon opening the app for the first time and it's sadly not present. That makes it a 1-star app as it's completely useless and I must use the browser instead.

[alextran1502]

@garypaduana You can select individual asset or a group of assets for upload after selecting an album for as target for backup.

On a side note, I was trying to understand the tone in your comment but I couldn't find a reasonable explanation. So maybe understanding where the app comes from, what it is trying to achieve, and what capabilities it is giving you would give you a better of understanding why some features are missing.

Cheers

[garypaduana]

On a side note, I was trying to understand the tone in your comment but I couldn't find a reasonable explanation.

It's a CRUD app without create/update functionality.

We don't have a timeline set for the nice to have feature yet.

It's a CRUD app without create/update functionality. It's incomplete. I can't come up with a reasonable explanation for your tone. It's a CRUD app. And we're now years in on this project and you still can't upload a single file. Feedback is a gift, sorry it's not wrapped in the expected praise and thanks.

[alextran1502]

@garypaduana

It's a CRUD app without create/update functionality.

Thank you for the feedback. I didn't expect the feedback to be wrapped in the "expected" praise and thanks; I am not entitled. The sentence that troubled me the most is, "That makes it a 1-star app as it's completely useless", which is untrue and exaggerated. I hope we create a good environment for giving and receiving feedback so that all the contributors that put their effort into the project, when reading the input, don't have to feel, "shit, man, why such harsh words."

Anyway,

As stated, you can upload a single photo; there is a way to do that. The app is built for mass uploading, so we choose not to have a big upload button on the timeline. The viewing experience is vital to the users and me, so we make some sacrifices on the real estate of the home page.

I plan to add this upload button somewhere, but I haven't figured out where would be the least intrusive place yet.

[ericarthurc]

From my Samsung Galaxy app.. super easy

[HeytalePazguato]

3 years later, still waiting for this feature

[Vyerni]

Can't you just open the app, and select upload in the top right?

I can

[AverageHelper]

@Vyerni isn't that just the Album Backup option? I don't see an option in-app for single or selected image upload..

[melyux]

Can we reopen this?

[melyux]

Yeah, it's very convoluted. People think selecting an album to sync is going to reveal their entire photo library to the server (understandably).

The share sheet method converts HEIC photos into JPEG on iOS, and also removes the Live Photo video from it. Which is bad

[bo0tzz]

The share sheet method converts HEIC photos into JPEG on iOS, and also removes the Live Photo video from it. Which is bad

I don't use iOS but AFAIK there are options for this that you can select while sharing.

[melyux]

You can change the compatibility to "Current" in the share sheet options, but it still strips away the Live Photo video. Can't replace a real upload button in the app as it is

[shenlong-tanwen]

Can't replace a real upload button in the app as it is

We are currently reworking our sync implementation. After the rework, all the albums on the device will be listed under the Library tab group - "On this device". You can then select and upload individual assets from within the local album, even if the album is not selected for backup

[icf20]

The workaround for uploading a single image is to

No, a workaround isn't necessary:

* select the images you want upload

* "share"

* "upload to immich"

this currently fails to upload on current date latest container and android 15

[architomsn]

You are right. Upload fails.
Version 1.134.0, build 2200