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I juat moved to immich but i self host it which requires a (small) bit of tech skills. I believe they do offer optuons for them to host for you. Ente is another option. Google takeout is the way to get your photos exported. Once backed up to the service of your choice, cancel google one.
Be aware, youll need to manually delete all tge google photos day by day on the websote to keep using that google account. Took me abkut 2 hours with 1tb.the lock in and efforts tonorevent escape is crazy.
I think the best idea would be to go with a Synology NAS.
Ugreen is a better option if you don't want to have to deal with Synology trying to do proprietary drives again.
This is an extremely simple solution. They'll even handle the DNS and security for you.
Synology is kind of the Apple of NAS in all the good and bad ways, but they certainly are dead simple to set up, and also give you a lot of flexibility to expand into a more complex,self maintaini tech stack if you want to.
Synology has started enshittifying their products lately by forcing you to only use their hard drives, etc. I have a DS933+, but I'm only using it for file storage and trying not to lock myself into their apps. It works well, but to avoid lock in your only real option is open source.
You may be out of the loop, but Synology walked that back after the backlash they got. You can use any drive again.
But then they turned around and locked down their security camera license.
They're not great, but they are still really simple to set up for a novice. I wouldn't recommend them to someone with the knowledge and patience to roll their own, but for a family who just needs a plug and play alternative to Google/Apple/Etc. cloud, they're pretty easy.
I read that they walked it back but only partially. And the fact they tried it tells me they can't be trusted with my data.
They also make it very difficult to move your data off their NAS once it's on there, because everything is proprietary.
Your best option remains open source with commodity hardware. Had I known what I know now in 2023, I would have probably just built a low power PC server with TruNAS.
We are not very tech savy to set things up
I think, in such case, you should rather look for a service hosted for you
For example
https://elest.io/open-source/nextcloud
https://www.hetzner.com/storage/storage-share/
Can we just buy a big hard drive and somehow hook it to our wifi? This is consider self hosted right? Does that mean medias will only get synced when we are within the house’s wifi?
Yes, it's called a NAS. Correct. Correct
The thread might get locked here under "no support" rule, self-hosting comms will be a better fit
https://piefed.social/f/selfhost
Everyone is suggesting Immich, which is the answer if you want to self-host. But you say you are not very tech savvy, so you might want a service you don't need to self-host, and in that case take a look at Ente Photos.
You get end to end encrypted photos and don't need to do anything. They have guides on how to move your photos from Google Photos as well.
As others have said, Immich is probably the go to DIY self hosted option.
BUT!
Please ensure that if you self host that you have an off site BACKUP. You don't want to lose ALL of your families photos if the house burns down etc.
Download all of your Google Photos data from Google Takeout. Then, upload said data either to something like Ente Photos with a subscription, or an immich server if you're willing to self-host.
An Immich server isn't too overly complicated to set up. You just need a big hard drive, and either an old computer that's just lying around or a cheap and small new computer. It may still take you some headaches and a period of time to properly set up, switch to and get accustomed to but the Immich documentation is pretty good and easy to follow. That plus a bit of googling should be enough of a guide to get properly set up. Beware though, self hosting is something you need take continuous care of and there may be a lot to learn. If that sounds scary I would just say go with Ente. You can still self host Ente, but you can also just pay a subscription and it would be no different or more complicated than switching from iCloud to Google Photos plus you wouldnt have to worry about actually doing the work and maintenance of running a server.
Syncthing seems to be for you. A little setting up is needed, nothing too advanced IMO. It works on LAN / WiFi and syncs your shared folder to another device. No cloud, no middlemen, not even internet (when it is set up) needed.
be careful with that recommendation. möbius sync is not considered a native app for syncthing and op has multiple ios devices
Ente photos is a great choice if you don't want to self host.
I remember you can also host ente yourself with just one script that they provide.
Also look at immich and photoprism to see if you can host them.
immich and photoprism looks good to me
I used photoprism for many years, and while its great, immich ended up being much better.
Buy hard drives.
We are not very tech savy to set things up.
Find somebody near you who is. A family member who cannot ghost you would be best.
I migrated my Photos to a more expensive service called Ente. It's been a mixed bag for me. The backup function works well but both their desktop and mobile apps are causing me trouble. Ask me about the details if you care, I won't bore you with that chat. But in me this has brought me to plan a switch to something self-hosted when my plan expires. I still have lots of time but I'm definitely bookmarking your post.
A family member who cannot ghost you…
Oh fuck off, I hate that family members thought I was free tech support just because “I work with computers”. Getting questions on weekends and nights, and guilt trips from other family members “why don’t you just help them?”
https://www.pikapods.com/apps#photos
Immich is very popular, but there are more options there to check out.
Immich is a Google Photos alternative to manage and share your photos and videos. Comes with its own mobile app, as well as AI and search features.
PikaPods is a managed hosting solution for open source server apps. Their homepage explains a lot, and if you do some web searches, you can see they’ve got a good reputation.
I've used Nextcloud for photo syncing, and that worked well.
Don't use nextcloud, even as a professional IT admin / software engoneer it was clunky and complicated to setup and maintain.
It's also slow.
Immich hosting options or OpenCloud are a better bet.
Any recommendations for alternatives? I just spun up NC but even as someone who self-hosts a lot of different services, I'm not finding NC to be as intuitive as it should be.