Immich v2.0.0 – First stable release

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Overall reception & primary use cases

  • Many commenters say Immich is now a true Google/Apple Photos replacement, especially after the new offline-friendly timeline on Android.
  • People report switching from iCloud/Apple Photos, Google Photos, Nextcloud Memories, Photoprism, and even Lightroom libraries.
  • Common motivations: privacy, avoiding lock-in, fear of account bans, and wanting a pleasant self‑hosted experience that encourages taking photos again.

Search, AI, and feature set

  • CLIP-based search impresses users: natural language queries like “black cat on blue carpet in the morning” are reported to work well.
  • Local face/object recognition and video transcoding are seen as key differentiators vs simpler “just storage” tools.
  • Some feel embeddings were weak a year ago and are considering revisiting with newer models or multimodal LLM-based captioning.
  • Users like shared albums with upload permissions and external tools (e.g., face-to-album, duplicate finders).

Performance, resource usage, and implementation

  • Hardware requirements (4–6 GB RAM) trigger debate: defenders say it’s reasonable for a Google Photos–class stack (Node, Postgres, AI, transcoding); critics call it bloated and compare code size to projects like QEMU or Synology Photos on 2 GB NASes.
  • The “Cursed Knowledge” page sparks broader complaints about JavaScript dependency sprawl and specific ecosystem drama.

Data safety, backups, and reliability

  • Some worry about rare data loss bugs; others stress that self-hosters must do proper backups.
  • Clear guidance emerges: back up the upload directory and Postgres dumps; several describe robust setups using ZFS snapshots, Proxmox, S3/Backblaze, restic/rclone.
  • One minor complaint: using Postgres instead of SQLite makes backups slightly more involved, though automatic dumps help.

Library vs filesystem, mobile sync, and workflows

  • Tension between “database/library first” and “filesystem first”: some want the app to fully manage and reflect a custom folder hierarchy, including later reorganization.
  • Storage templates and external libraries partially address this, but are seen as less than full file-management.
  • iOS users report Immich backups working fine but miss true two‑way sync with the native Photos app.
  • Several want richer geo/time/person/CLIP queries, smart albums, and bookmarkable layered searches; Workflows is anticipated for this.

Governance, licensing, and long‑term trust

  • Immich is AGPL without a CLA, which maintainers say limits “rugpull” risk.
  • Its support by FUTO is viewed positively but with some skepticism about long‑term funding and general OSS sustainability.
  • Some users donate or buy the supporter package despite all features remaining free; others worry about enshittification and wish for simpler, less featureful but very stable alternatives.