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]

@not4smurf yeah we are working toward a better support for offline mode so you can use Immich as the viewer regardless of your server connection

[palitu]

@alextran1502

@not4smurf yeah we are working toward a better support for offline mode so you can use Immich as the viewer regardless of your server connection

Ah perfect. i actually just came to ask about the App. It is unusable as a photo viewing app, so my wife keeps using google photos, and i use fossify gallery.

I would definitely loove to see the app be a photo viewer, as it also adds in the photos that are only on the server. As a minimum local caching for thumbnails would be a minimum, using the local photos if available, and have a limited cache of online only photos, that are stored and purged dynamically.

But all of this is not going to get used if it take 10s for the app to open.

For a little bit more context, i live in a country that has limited internet, and it is expensive, so i spend a lot of time offline.

Thanks! i have been using and loving immich since pretty close to the start, and it just keeps going up and up!