Immich — Daily Workflow & Wife Adoption Guide¶
A plain-English walkthrough of what day-to-day life looks like using Immich instead of Google Photos or iCloud. Written so both Adam and his wife can understand it.
For the Wife (Jargon-Free)¶
What is Immich?¶
Immich is our family photo library. It lives on a small computer in our house instead of on Google's computers. Your photos stay private — nobody else can see them.
It works just like the photo app you already use. You take a picture, it shows up. You can search, scroll back through old photos, and see things grouped by people and dates.
Your Normal Day¶
Morning: You wake up. Any photos you took yesterday are already waiting for you in the Immich app. You didn't have to do anything — they uploaded themselves overnight while you were on WiFi.
During the day: You take photos as normal. Every time you come home and your phone connects to the house WiFi, new photos start copying over automatically. You don't need to open an app or tap anything. It just happens in the background.
Looking back at photos: Open the Immich app (it's a blue and white flower icon). You'll see your whole photo timeline, newest first. You can scroll back through years.
Finding a specific photo: Tap the search bar and type what you're looking for — like "kids beach" or "birthday cake" or "Christmas tree". Immich finds matching photos even if you never tagged them. Just search like you'd Google something.
Sharing with family: You can share any photo or group of photos by tapping the share button inside the app. It creates a link you can text or email. The person you share with doesn't need the Immich app — they just see the photos in their browser.
What About the Kids?¶
There's a shared album called "Family Photos". Anything Adam puts there shows up on your phone, and anything you put there shows up on his. It's like a shared folder, except it's your actual photo timeline. You can also make albums for specific events — "Holiday 2026" or "School Play" — and decide who can see them.
Do I Have to Do Anything?¶
No. Once the app is set up on your phone, you don't need to think about Immich again unless you want to browse old photos or search for something.
Everything is automatic: - Photos upload in the background when you're on home WiFi - They're organized by date automatically - Faces get grouped together (so you can tap a face and see every photo of that person) - Backups happen every night, so your photos are safe
What If We're Away from Home?¶
If you're on a trip and not on our home WiFi, new photos wait on your phone until you get back. They're completely safe — they're still in your normal phone photos, just like always. When you walk through the front door and your phone connects to WiFi, they all catch up.
If you want to see Immich photos while you're away from home (like showing holiday photos to relatives), there's a way to connect back to the house. Adam set this up so it's secure. You just open the Immich app like normal and it works anywhere.
What If the Internet Goes Down?¶
If our home internet goes out, your photos are still safe. They're stored in the house on a physical drive. You can still: - Take photos as normal (they're on your phone) - Browse photos already on your phone
What you can't do until the internet is back: - Upload new photos to the family library - See photos only Adam has on his phone
But your phone's own photos app still works perfectly. And anything already backed up is safe.
Once the internet is back, everything catches up automatically. You don't need to do anything.
How Is This Different from Google Photos or iCloud?¶
It looks and feels the same. The app icon is different, but inside it works the same way: - Photos organized by date ✓ - Search without tagging ✓ - Faces grouped automatically ✓ - Share with family ✓ - Memories / "On This Day" ✓
The only difference is that your photos live in our house instead of on a company's computers. Nobody's scanning them to sell you things. They're yours.
For Adam (The Details)¶
Architecture¶
Phone (Adam) ────┐
├── auto-upload ──▶ Immich Server ──▶ Backblaze B2 (3am nightly)
Phone (Wife) ────┘ (WSL + NVMe SSD)
Immich runs in Docker on the WSL machine. The photo library lives on an external NVMe SSD mounted via USB-C. Both phones use the Immich mobile app for auto-upload, set to WiFi-only by default.
Daily Rhythms¶
| Time | What Happens |
|---|---|
| All day | Both phones auto-upload new photos when on home WiFi (incremental, ~30s delay) |
| Overnight | ML jobs run: face detection, object recognition, CLIP indexing, thumbnail generation |
| 3am | rclone sync pushes the library to Backblaze B2 |
| Weekly (Sun 4am) | rclone check verifies B2 integrity, result goes to Slack #agent-ops |
Access¶
Local (both of you):
- Phone: Immich mobile app → http://<server-ip>:2283
- Computer: Browser → same URL
- Zero config needed once paired
Remote (Adam): - Via Tailscale (already running on your phone) — connect to home Tailnet, open Immich app as if you were home - Wife's phone doesn't need Tailscale unless she wants remote access - Alternative: Cloudflare Tunnel for a public domain (not set up yet — start local-only)
Setup Summary (from PAR-102–106)¶
- Plug in external NVMe SSD,
docker compose up -dImmich - Configure Backblaze B2 bucket + rclone sync
- Install Immich app on both phones, pair via QR code
- Google Takeout →
immich-goimport for existing photos - Cancel Google One only after migration is verified
Wife's Phone Setup (Step-by-Step)¶
- Install: Download "Immich" from the App Store / Play Store
- Connect: You create her account in the Immich admin panel (Settings → Users → Create), give her the server URL and login
- Enable upload: She opens the app, logs in, taps "Allow" for photo access, and turns on auto-upload (WiFi only)
- Done: She doesn't touch settings again
No QR code needed for additional users — just username/password login against the same server.
Offline / Internet-Down Behavior¶
| Scenario | Phone Behavior | Server Behavior |
|---|---|---|
| LAN down, internet up | Can't reach server, uploads queue on device | Server accessible via Tailscale from outside |
| Internet down, LAN up | Uploads work fine (it's all local), browsing works | B2 sync skips a night, catches up next run |
| Both down | Photos stay on device camera roll, queue when reconnected | Server unreachable, data safe on NVMe SSD |
| Power outage | Server goes down cleanly (Docker auto-restart: unless-stopped) | SQLite WAL mode prevents corruption; B2 is the fallback |
What Happens If Something Breaks¶
| Problem | Recovery | Time to Fix |
|---|---|---|
| USB SSD unplugged | Replug, docker compose restart immich-microservices |
5 min |
| Docker container crash | Auto-restarts (restart: unless-stopped) |
< 1 min |
| SSD fails entirely | Buy new SSD, restore from B2, Immich repair scan | ~3 hours |
| Wife's phone lost/broken | Replace phone, install Immich app, sign in — photos reappear | 10 min |
Why Wife Will Actually Use This¶
She won't notice a difference. The app is polished, the search works, and uploading happens without her thinking about it. The only visible change is a different app icon.
Critical adoption factors: - No manual steps after the one-time setup - No "check if it synced" anxiety — it's automatic - Search that actually works (CLIP is genuinely good) - Shared albums for family/kids that work both ways - No storage limit anxiety — the 2TB NVMe is huge
Cost (Reminder)¶
- Year 1: ~£106 (SSD + enclosure + B2)
- Year 2+: ~£6/yr (B2 only)
- vs Google One Premium: £96/yr
Break-even is Year 1. After that, £90/yr saved.
Guide written 2026-05-05 as part of PAR-86 — Immich daily workflow & wife adoption guide