Memories update: Android app now in early access (FOSS Google Photos alternative) reddit / selfhosted ---------------------------------------------------------------------- radialapps · 2023-10-07 17:12 [https://github.com/pulsejet/memories](https://github.com/pulsejet/mem ories) or [https://memories.gallery/](https://memories.gallery/) Hello Self-Hosters! It has been six months since I last posted about [Memories](https://github.com/pulsejet/memories) (the FOSS Google Photos alternative built over Nextcloud) on this sub. Memories is now [a year old](https://github.com/pulsejet/memories/commit/6458abd0b481b cdc8e2d80ac5766627e0e47a8cb) and this post summarises new major features since the [last update](https://www.reddit.com/r/selfhosted/c omments/12pp872/memories_for_nextcloud_v5_admin_panel_and/). ## Android app now in early access Get it on Google Play - [https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id =gallery.memories](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=galle ry.memories) The new Memories Android app for v5.5.0+ supports showing photos on your mobile device alongside your uploaded photos, and makes it easier to natively share images and videos. Testers needed! You can use the `demo.memories.gallery` Nextcloud instance if you want to take it for a spin. Screenshots below! (this sub doesn't allow videos, so a short video tour is at: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v= GMIcnjvEat8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMIcnjvEat8)) [Memories on Android](https://preview.redd.it/vrk3c69ybtsb1.png?width= 6000&format=png&auto=webp&s=d5a4f89eaa6b0b6827f8f6731560cdaad83c4bdf) ## Other features since the [last update](https://www.reddit.com/r/sel fhosted/comments/12pp872/memories_for_nextcloud_v5_admin_panel_and/) 1. **Sidebar improvements**: The sidebar now shows more info, such as the people in the photo, the albums in which this photo belongs, and the full path to the file. 2. **Admin panel improvements**: Too many to list. Most configuration can now be done through the admin panel itself. 3. **Improvements to metadata editor**: Numerous improvements. For instance, you can now create new tags while editing metadata. 4. **Hierarchical Places View**: Start from the country and progressively zoom in to the location you want to find, all with reverse geocoding that completely runs on your server. 5. **Downloading Albums**: Entire albums (including public albums) can now be downloaded as a single zip file. As always, if you enjoy Memories, leave a star at [GitHub](https://github.com/pulsejet/memories)! [Improvements to the sidear](https://preview.redd.it/61ep7mc9atsb1.png ?width=2360&format=png&auto=webp&s=277ed7e84c5a8c080ac540aad3e065cc5b7 5a829) [Improvements to the admin panel](https://preview.redd.it/ddsv3duaatsb 1.png?width=2360&format=png&auto=webp&s=429dc23821dfec02085b8a878b590a 35adbe87eb) [Tagging and tag creation](https://preview.redd.it/71vqd22catsb1.png?w idth=615&format=png&auto=webp&s=35950945ff468abbef23c04c855b733041fcf1 11) [Hierarchy of reverse geocoding places](https://preview.redd.it/xyv22f ddatsb1.png?width=612&format=png&auto=webp&s=608f97ae084de3a37e47206d8 deeea954ffea8c5) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Veloder · 2023-10-07 17:44 Wow this looks great, so hard to make the choice between Memories and Immich! I'm just running both in parallel for now 😆 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- jimboolaya · 2023-10-07 18:45 Is there a way to get the app outside google play? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- OCT0PUSCRIME · 2023-10-07 19:05 This is amazing! Thanks! Is there a roadmap? I would love to see a widget that shows memories from 1 year ago on my android home page. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- superglue_chute115 · 2023-10-07 19:11 What are some of the differences? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- radialapps · 2023-10-07 19:14 Not right now, but it'll likely be on GitHub and f-droid after the stable release ---------------------------------------------------------------------- radialapps · 2023-10-07 19:15 There's just the roadmap of memories itself. I do believe a similar widget exists in the Nextcloud app, but this sounds like a great idea ---------------------------------------------------------------------- RandomName01 · 2023-10-07 19:17 Great news! Are there plans for an iOS app? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Veloder · 2023-10-07 19:19 https://github.com/meichthys/foss_photo_libraries/tree/main ---------------------------------------------------------------------- radialapps · 2023-10-07 19:19 It's technically possible, but I don't have/afford any Apple device ---------------------------------------------------------------------- WalmartMarketingTeam · 2023-10-07 19:44 This is a fantastic site! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- OCT0PUSCRIME · 2023-10-07 20:15 Gotcha. I didnt know that. I assume it uses the nextcloud photos date instead of the exif date though. Main reason I switched to memories, although there is lots more to be excited about. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Bananenhaus23 · 2023-10-07 20:16 Great idea to add an app, loving memories since the first release 🎉 Just one question: Most of the Nextcloud-Apps for android don't require a login, instead they show something like "select account" which loads the account-list from the official nextcloud app. Do you think this could be added? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- radialapps · 2023-10-07 20:16 Ah yes, probably. Makes sense to build a new widget then ---------------------------------------------------------------------- radialapps · 2023-10-07 20:17 Didn't know this, sounds like an interesting API. Will try to figure out how this works. Thanks for the heads up! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- OCT0PUSCRIME · 2023-10-07 21:16 Yep yep. I imported 90% of my photos in April 2021 so Nextcloud shows that as the date for all of them. Infuriating. No clue why they didn't go with exif. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Accomplished-Lack721 · 2023-10-07 21:24 These are really great enhancements. It's very nice to see. If I can make one small suggestion: You've got an option to open a photo in its folder (and clicking the new path in the info panel does the same). But why not have it open in Memories' own folder views, instead of in Nextcloud Files? (Or, alternatively, have options for both?) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Accomplished-Lack721 · 2023-10-07 21:41 This is similar to how Google service logins work. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- radialapps · 2023-10-07 21:47 Might be possible / easy. Historically the reason the option exists is to find the file in the files app for e.g. comments and sharing (which you couldn't do in memories earlier) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- radialapps · 2023-10-07 21:48 Yeah, the Photos doesn't support EXIF extraction (one of the reasons Memories exists, really) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Accomplished-Lack721 · 2023-10-07 21:49 I know you've said before you think adding the option to upload images directly within Memories is overdue. Any progress on that front? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- radialapps · 2023-10-07 21:53 Not yet, the focus has been on the mobile app since the last few months. The implementation for uploading seems straightforward, but there are a lot of things that could go wrong. Probably have this for the next minor release though. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- XxNerdAtHeartxX · 2023-10-07 21:56 Yeah, Github is pretty amazing ---------------------------------------------------------------------- cardonator · 2023-10-07 22:07 Anyone know of an app that can mirror your Google Photos to a local cloud? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- TwilightOldTimer · 2023-10-07 22:38 Seems like it won't connect to a self signed cert server. I can navigate to the index.php/apps/memories/api/describe and see the json just fine but the app just says Failed to fetch server info. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- superyorch · 2023-10-07 22:55 Thank you! Downloading immediately ---------------------------------------------------------------------- cidra_ · 2023-10-07 23:36 Will it be possible to use memories offline similarly to Google photos? Basically you can still see downloaded pictures and some thumbnails of online-only pictures ---------------------------------------------------------------------- hannsr · 2023-10-08 00:11 Sweet, just installed it and looks great. Just gave me a minor heart attack because the update took so long and I thought I'd have to troubleshoot at 2am 😅 Let's see how it'll do in the long run, but so far I like it. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- samsquanch2000 · 2023-10-08 00:17 if only nextcloud wasn't a bloated piece of shit ---------------------------------------------------------------------- nashosted · 2023-10-08 00:28 It’s really too bad it’s reliant on nextcloud. Really too bad. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- radialapps · 2023-10-08 00:40 Yeah, this likely won't be supported due to various limitations / security requirements on mobile. Best to get a letsencrypt cert. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- radialapps · 2023-10-08 00:41 That is the plan. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- TwilightOldTimer · 2023-10-08 00:51 They don't support IPs. Nextcloud notes, nextcloud, immich, davx5, icsx2, black, qbittorrent remote, nzb360, gotify, owntracks. Non of them complain. So I'm unsure of what limitations/security requirements you're trying to blame this on. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- radialapps · 2023-10-08 00:58 Let's say there are some design differences. Anyway, I said "likely" because this would still need more investigation. Can you file a feature request on GitHub? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Normanras · 2023-10-08 02:07 😂 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Normanras · 2023-10-08 02:10 Why? there are plenty of alternatives that don’t rely on nextcloud. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- The_Band_Geek · 2023-10-08 02:29 Any way we can make the Google Camera app open this (or any other gallery app) open when you tap on the preview? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Autoloose · 2023-10-08 04:57 Waiting for iOS 🙏 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- priv4t0r · 2023-10-08 06:12 I really like Memories and have a question. I installed last week immich, ironicly because of the dedicated smartphone app of memories and in the end, i would like to stay with memories, especially now with the app. One thing where Immich is incredibly strong is face recognition already in the default setting. Is there any way to get this in memories? The face recognition app is already much better then recognize but still lacking in the quality. What is immich doing different here? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- TeamBVD · 2023-10-08 10:27 Think they're referring to the [login flow](https://docs.nextcloud.com /server/latest/developer_manual/client_apis/LoginFlow/index.html#login -flow) probably? Can't remember when it came about, but want to say it was sometime around NC24-ish... I think lol ---------------------------------------------------------------------- TeamBVD · 2023-10-08 10:49 Truly **EXCELLENT** work. Glad I stumbled across this post as a reminder to *finally* (shame on me for taking so long 😒) show at least some small appreciation for all your continued efforts on this! That the app's going to be available through avenues other than the play store is fantastic news, and I'm very thankful for all the work you've put in to Memories so far - the app is the sole reason my wife thinks of Nextcloud as more than just a 'photo backup app' now. We've both greatly enjoyed scrubbing through our timelines, reliving old memories that we likely wouldn't have otherwise thanks in no small part to the timeline feature, but greatly enhanced by the integration with Maps. I really just can't begin to describe to you how impactful Memories has ended up being for us. Now if only I can get her off iOS 😑... Topic for another day 🤣 Github sponsor funds go 100% to the dev, right? I'd read as much, but never was certain how accurate that was (e.g. 'no processing fee', etc that are often left in the fine print). Thanks again, and looking forward to the F-Droid release once it's ready! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- TeamBVD · 2023-10-08 10:57 Would this be something that'll integrate in some way with the [Face Recognition](https://github.com/matiasdelellis/facerecognition) app, perhaps similar to how [NC-Photos](https://gitlab.com/nkming2/nc- photos) handles it? No specific requests from me on this end, just curious where this might be headed is all 👍 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- AnthonyKellyYip · 2023-10-08 12:14 Oh no, I think that's why I couldn't log in I can navigate to api/describe but it still won't let me log in 😥 I run NextCloud/Memories on my home network, and use Meshnet to access when I'm out of the house. As both networks are essentially private, I don't know how I'd get a certificate that the new Memories app would accept 😥😥 I can still access Memories on both networks through the browser ---------------------------------------------------------------------- radialapps · 2023-10-08 13:22 Thank you! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- radialapps · 2023-10-08 13:22 It's already integrated ---------------------------------------------------------------------- magicaldelicious · 2023-10-08 13:34 If that's the blocker DM me. I'll be glad to buy something for you based on your efforts. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- dibu28 · 2023-10-08 13:36 Can it handle 50k+ photos like pigallery2 can and also show those photos from existing folders. Other galleries I've tried struggled. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- radialapps · 2023-10-08 13:41 Opened a bug to investigate this: https://github.com/pulsejet/memories/issues/853 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- radialapps · 2023-10-08 13:42 I don't know, really. I've little to no experience with face recognition so my only hope is other folks can contribute to either face recognition and/or recognize to improve performance in the future (or maybe a new app?) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- radialapps · 2023-10-08 13:47 Thank you for the generous offer, really appreciate it. I did consider putting out a request for this at one point, but I feel like it would make me feel obligated to work on this (even if you didn't mean it that way), which would take the fun out of development for me. All considered, I want to wait it out until I can get something myself (and also the Android app stabilizes enough), or even better if someone else can contribute / work on this. Regardless, thanks again (really)! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- radialapps · 2023-10-08 13:51 Probably? 1. I know someone running this on an RPi with 100k+ without issues. Don't know if they tried the app yet. 2. I'm running this with \~20k and the mobile app (with existing folders) with no lag / other issues. Don't have a device myself that will stress it more, sadly. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- magicaldelicious · 2023-10-08 14:04 No problem and I totally understand. If you change your mind let me know, I meant it as a no-strings-attached offer. I'm always impressed at the dedication folks like yourself have to giving away such amazing software. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- dibu28 · 2023-10-08 14:27 Thanks, will give it a try.) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- prime_1996 · 2023-10-08 16:01 Awesome, I just gave it a try and I can say, it's surprisingly fast. I really like being able to see my folders. Great work, how can we support you? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- radialapps · 2023-10-08 16:04 Great! There's GitHub sponsors, but the best support would be if you can use it and file bugs, feature requests and even contribute :) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- nettrieb · 2023-10-08 20:01 > No Lock-In Memories stores most of the metadata in the EXIF headers of your photos, which means that you can easily migrate to other solutions without losing your data. Thanks for this! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ChildLearningClub · 2023-10-09 12:04 I second that. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ChildLearningClub · 2023-10-09 12:25 I know it’s not a dedicated app, but for those on iOS and Android for that matter, it is possible to have a link within the app itself to Memories. When clicked it will open Memories almost like a native app without the webpage borders. How: go to administrative settings, scroll down to external sites, might require the app installed can’t remember if it’s built in. Press “new site” add in Memories and the link https://your_url.com/apps/memories/ add the link to iOS android apps or where ever. And permissions and all the rest and that’s it! Not without its caveats, like you get logged out when leaving the app. Not sure the api for auto logging in between apps can be used here as well, but otherwise works pretty well 👍. The added bonus is that since you often have to leave the app open while your stuff is synced you can be checking memories or whatever else in Nextcloud through the app keeping it active. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ChildLearningClub · 2023-10-09 12:33 I personally find its reliance on Nextcloud as a good thing. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Hairy_Exchange6702 · 2023-10-31 20:56 Great work brother 👏 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- rgmelkor · 2023-11-05 00:54 I will try it for sure! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- josinalvo · 2023-11-05 05:42 Wait, what services don't let you download your own photos with the location metadata? I mean, it seems good privacy to remove it when you share with others...