How to upload single new photo using the Android App?

[ryny24]

The bug

So, currently if I have a photo/video on my phone that's not in my 'Backup Albums', I have to send it to my desktop computer, and then use the 'upload' link in the desktop web portal.

You would think you could either:

1. have an upload option in the android app (is there one I can't find?)

2. Be able to 'Share' the photo/video to Immich app. I've tried this many times, but immich does not appear in the list of apps to share.

Thank you for your help.

The OS that Immich Server is running on

Ubuntu 23.10

Version of Immich Server

v1.114.0

Version of Immich Mobile App

1.114.0

Platform with the issue

• Server
• Web
• Mobile

Your docker-compose.yml content

#
# WARNING: Make sure to use the docker-compose.yml of the current release:
#
# https://github.com/immich-app/immich/releases/latest/download/docker-compose.yml
#
# The compose file on main may not be compatible with the latest release.
#

name: immich

services:
  immich-server:
    container_name: immich_server
    image: ghcr.io/immich-app/immich-server:${IMMICH_VERSION:-release}
    volumes:
      - ${UPLOAD_LOCATION}:/usr/src/app/upload
      - /etc/localtime:/etc/localtime:ro
    env_file:
      - .env
    ports:
      - 2283:3001
    depends_on:
      - redis
      - database
    restart: always

  immich-machine-learning:
    container_name: immich_machine_learning
    # For hardware acceleration, add one of -[armnn, cuda, openvino] to the image tag.
    # Example tag: ${IMMICH_VERSION:-release}-cuda
    image: ghcr.io/immich-app/immich-machine-learning:${IMMICH_VERSION:-release}
    # extends: # uncomment this section for hardware acceleration - see https://immich.app/docs/features/ml-hardware-acceleration
    #   file: hwaccel.ml.yml
    #   service: cpu # set to one of [armnn, cuda, openvino, openvino-wsl] for accelerated inference - use the `-wsl` version for WSL2 where applicable
    volumes:
      - model-cache:/cache
    env_file:
      - .env
    restart: always

  redis:
    container_name: immich_redis
    image: registry.hub.docker.com/library/redis:6.2-alpine@sha256:84882e87b54734154586e5f8abd4dce69fe7311315e2fc6d67c29614c8de2672
    restart: always

  database:
    container_name: immich_postgres
    image: registry.hub.docker.com/tensorchord/pgvecto-rs:pg14-v0.2.0@sha256:90724186f0a3517cf6914295b5ab410db9ce23190a2d9d0b9dd6463e3fa298f0
    environment:
      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: ${DB_PASSWORD}
      POSTGRES_USER: ${DB_USERNAME}
      POSTGRES_DB: ${DB_DATABASE_NAME}
      POSTGRES_INITDB_ARGS: '--data-checksums'
    volumes:
      - ${DB_DATA_LOCATION}:/var/lib/postgresql/data
    restart: always
    command: ["postgres", "-c" ,"shared_preload_libraries=vectors.so", "-c", 'search_path="$$user", public, vectors', "-c", "logging_collector=on", "-c", "max_wal_size=2GB", "-c", "shared_buffers=512MB", "-c", "wal_compression=on"]

volumes:
  model-cache:

Your .env content

# You can find documentation for all the supported env variables at https://immich.app/docs/install/environment-variables

# The location where your uploaded files are stored
UPLOAD_LOCATION=./library
# The location where your database files are stored
DB_DATA_LOCATION=./postgres

# The Immich version to use. You can pin this to a specific version like "v1.71.0"
IMMICH_VERSION=release

# Connection secret for postgres. You should change it to a random password
DB_PASSWORD=YWFlZWNjNW

# The values below this line do not need to be changed
###################################################################################
DB_USERNAME=postgres
DB_DATABASE_NAME=immich

Reproduction steps

1. Share photo from google photos (can't find Immich)
2. Searched Immich app for upload feature.

...

Relevant log output

No response

Additional information

No response

[alextran1502]

Please see the documentation for your first question https://immich.app/docs/features/mobile-app

The second question, it is not implemented yet

[ryny24]

Thank you @alextran1502. I've seen that documentation, but that's for batch upload, and sets the background upload process. What I'm talking about is a single, one time upload for a photo/video outside the configured background upload folder. Like downloads, or in yesterdays case a photo saved by a photo editor.

[alextran1502]

So you will need to select the target album for upload to show the photos in the albums on the timeline. From there, you can upload individual photos by selecting them

[ryny24]

Thank you, my background uploads are working great, I'd rather not touch anything that could mess it up. I'll just go through my desktop pc until there is a better solution. Thanks for the help!

[DevServs]

A highly requested feature that is missing in the mobile app.

[alextran1502]

You can select the album in which the target media is as a target for backup, but don't run the bulk upload action from the upload page. Then, you can select individual assets shown on the timeline and upload them

[DevServs]

I often want to save photos to my library that my friends sent me via WhatsApp, and I often use Share - Upload to Google Photos. I don't need to download all the WhatsApp files for this.

[alextran1502]

That is an upcoming feature. You can see here #15229

[DevServs]

Great! Thank you!

[ptartarian]

What i do is i open the photo via any other app like gallery, file Explorer... And i share the photo and select immich. It will add it to the app and then upload it to the server.

[ekauz]

Is there any chance of this getting re-opened or evaluated? IMO being able to upload specific photos instead of being forced to sync an entire album is a critical photo management app feature.

This is basically a blocker for me to be able to share my server with friends for shared trip albums or such because I have to give the entire explanation of "you sync your entire photoroll album to immich but just dont upload everything" instead of them just being able to select specific local photos to add to the immich album.

This understandably spooks people since they don't want their entire library sync'd and then we just end up not using it.

[DevServs]

It has already been implemented. Any individual photos can be uploaded to the server via the Share function.

[ekauz]

Thanks, I see, maybe I'm comparing too closely with my flow for google photos.
With the share function, it isn't possible to see which photos you've already uploaded to immich (on android at least).

I realize that immich will de-duplicate, but it's not as front-and-center as it is with the google photos picker and being able to see what was previously uploaded or not.

[alextran1502]

@ekauz do you have a screenshot of GPhotos picker?

[ekauz]

Sure here's an example. I have a shared Google photos album that I've selected and hit "add photos".

I'm able to select any photos on my device camera roll, not just from a sync'd album, and it also shows which photos I've uploaded already.

(Blue checkmark is what I've just selected, grey is what's already been uploaded)