Being able to use the mobile app offline or standalone

[Lendi24]

One thing I really like about google photos is how it can replace the default photos app entirely

I feel like there are only few things missing for this type of experience here. If you could only see you local pictures next the the remote ones and use the app without logging in, we would basically be there!

This could allow for some interesting use-cases, like options to automatically offload local copies for images newer than one year or only keeping low resolution versions locally.

One could also see cerian albums being marked as "both on server and device", keeping them in sync with other devices while still being easily accessible!

This may not be something to focus on this early, but it would be a really cool feature!
Also, it's my first time writing feature requests, so I'm sorry if I messed something up! 😅

[raelgc]

Basically the "offline" copies could be initially, like on Google Photos, just the content from /DCIM/Camera. When you select a non /DCIM/Camera picture, you have the option to download it, which will download it exactly to /DCIM/Camera.

[dev-ritik]

This sounds pretty cool feature to have. The app currently is unusable if it is offline. Do we have plans to get it implemented? Happy to help with the dev work as well

[alextran1502]

It is usable to some extended. If the remote images are not cached, it won't show if you don't have connection to the server though

[crashmit]

Maybe I've been missing it but what I'd love to see is an option enable automatic caching of all images on the device. Perhaps with quality as a selection for the user so it doesn't need to be the full res one if you're on limited phone storage. This could also help the UX when on slower internet connections as something is always already visible and in all circumstances the library is browsable. As @Lendi24 said, that would also help me to use Immich as my sole photos app on my phone.

[not4smurf]

I'm not so concerned about old images being cached. The problem I have with the Android app when offline is that I can't use it to look at photos I've just taken. If I open the app when not connected to the server it just spins. I think it will timeout eventually and allow access to my local photos, but I don't wait for it - I just kill it and switch back to Google photos, waste a little while figuring out the (intentionally?) horrible UI Google presents when it's set to not backup, and then look through my images.

It seems that the app launches, tries to connect and then falls back to local only mode. I'd like to see it default to local-only mode and attempt server connection in the background - I should only be aware that I'm offline if I try to access something that isn't stored locally.

[alextran1502]

We don't do ETA. Probably months

[Hear7beaT]

We don't do ETA. Probably months

Is there an update on this general idea of being able to access local files if there is no connection to the server without waiting for 10 seconds?

Thanks

[bo0tzz]

https://justinmayer.com/posts/any-updates/

[thomas-hauchecorne]

https://justinmayer.com/posts/any-updates/

Do people really think progress happens somewhere else, behind the scenes? The probability of some out-of-sight meeting, sprint, or planning session happening without being visible somewhere in the project’s issue tracker is almost zero.

In the case of Immich, yes there are meetings and planning happening out-of-sight.
I'm not arguing in favor of posting "any updates?", but your link doesn't really apply here.

[bo0tzz]

yes there are meetings and planning happening out-of-sight.

Not nearly as much as you probably think; yes we do coordinate internal to the team, but our planning, if any, is rarely more than a week or so ahead of anything happening on github.

[1661410107114145152525]

Thanks for pointing my feature request (#21017) to this @bo0tzz :). As the request originated 2023, since got many upvotes and still is open I wonder how high this is on your priorities list, if it is still years or something we could expect to see tackled in a sooner rather than later future? (no need to justify I can totally relate that there have been many really important features and fixes, I just try to understand if I can realistically expect it in a neater future of if this is so complex or irrelevant that it will propably still be open for years)

[bo0tzz]

Full offline support is complex and pretty hard, but we're always moving towards it.

[1661410107114145152525]

Addition to my intitial post above: @bo0tzz Oh and as I saw the link above - this was not meant as a typical "any updates" request, just needed some information so I know if I need to workaround it, drop Immich or if waiting pays out if those use cases occur more often. And yes I already donated even before having any feature requests in mind as you guys are doing awesome work and you deserve every cent, but I would never expect any feature to progress faster due to a donation (except I am a large company sponsor which I am not, so all that's left is asking).

[1661410107114145152525]

Full offline support is complex and pretty hard, but we're always moving towards it.

Sounds great! @bo0tzz So it is kept in mind and something that's more about technical duration, not priorities per se. Thanks! :)

Btw: Please keep on mind that we would also benefit from intermediate results in between. E.g. album specific caching as follow-up or so.