Summary
Why Immich 3.0 Finally Replaced Google Photos on My Phone
When I first moved my photo library to Immich, I found myself in an awkward transition period. Although I trusted my self-hosted setup, I couldn’t bring myself to uninstall Google Photos. Its icon remained on my home screen as a backup plan—just in case something went wrong with my DIY photo library.
After years of relying on Google Photos, it felt difficult to let go completely.
That transition lasted longer than I expected. Overall, I was happy with Immich, but three habits kept me from deleting Google’s app. I trusted Google Photos more for background backups, I still used it for quick photo edits, and older videos played more smoothly. With the release of Immich 3.0, all three of those concerns were addressed, and I finally felt confident removing Google Photos from my phone for good.
Background Backup Finally Works Reliably
No More Checking Whether Photos Actually Synced
There were times when I wouldn’t open the Immich app for several days, only to discover dozens of photos still sitting on my phone waiting for a manual sync.
Although Immich is designed to upload photos automatically in the background, that process only worked consistently some of the time. The developers attributed the issue to iOS limitations around background processes, which initially seemed like a reasonable explanation. Still, Google Photos rarely appeared to experience the same problem.
Because of that, Google Photos always felt slightly more dependable, even though I no longer wanted it storing my personal memories indefinitely.
Immich 3.0 has finally resolved that issue.
To test the improvement, I intentionally ignored the app for an entire week. When I eventually opened it, every photo I’d taken during that period had already been uploaded to my server without any manual intervention.
The update also introduces integrity checks within the maintenance section. These scheduled scans verify the health of the photo library, detecting missing files and checksum mismatches before they become serious problems.
Between the improved background synchronization and automated integrity verification, I finally trust that my photos are safely reaching my server without requiring constant monitoring.
Photo Editing Is Finally Practical
Built-In Editing Without Creating Duplicate Photos
Earlier this year, Immich introduced mobile photo editing, but the initial implementation wasn’t ideal.
Simple edits such as cropping or rotating a photo created an entirely new asset instead of modifying the existing one. Even small adjustments resulted in duplicate images cluttering my library, making the feature less convenient than simply opening Google Photos for a quick edit before sharing an image.
There was also another annoyance: edits performed on my phone didn’t always remain synchronized with the web version.
Immich 3.0 completely changes that experience.
The new mobile editor now supports non-destructive, in-place editing that stays synchronized across both the mobile and web applications. The original image remains untouched, while every edit appears consistently regardless of which device I use.
It’s the same workflow that kept me returning to Google Photos—except now I can enjoy it without uploading another copy of my photos to Google’s servers.
Video Playback Is Noticeably Smoother
Real-Time HLS Transcoding Makes a Difference
Video playback also received a significant improvement in Immich 3.0.
Previously, older videos often stuttered while scrubbing through the timeline unless an offline transcode had already been generated. That usually wasn’t the case for videos I hadn’t viewed in a long time, making playback feel inconsistent.
The latest release introduces real-time HLS (HTTP Live Streaming) transcoding.
Instead of relying solely on pre-generated transcodes, Immich now converts videos while they’re being watched and can automatically—or manually—adjust playback quality as needed.
Although the feature is currently labeled as preview/experimental, it has performed reliably in my testing and demonstrates that the development team is actively improving the overall media experience.
At the moment, real-time HLS transcoding is available only through the web interface, but mobile support is expected in a future release.
Immich Still Isn’t a Complete Google Photos Replacement
Some Features Still Lag Behind
Despite its rapid development, Immich still doesn’t match every feature available in Google Photos.
One of Google’s strongest advantages remains Ask Photos, which makes searching images and extracting information from your photo library remarkably intuitive. That experience depends on Google’s powerful cloud AI infrastructure—something Immich simply doesn’t have.
Even if comparable functionality became available locally, many self-hosted users wouldn’t have the hardware required to run an AI model of that scale.
Photo editing is another area where Google maintains an advantage. Immich currently focuses on basic editing capabilities, and non-destructive in-place editing only arrived with the recent 3.0 release.
There’s still room for the platform to mature.
Privacy Remains Immich’s Biggest Strength
What Immich lacks in advanced cloud-powered features, it more than makes up for with privacy and ownership.
That’s the primary reason many users choose Immich in the first place. People who self-host generally want complete control over their own data rather than relying on third-party cloud providers.
I don’t want thousands of personal photos stored on Google’s servers or analyzed by its AI systems. More importantly, I don’t want my irreplaceable memories to depend entirely on someone else’s cloud infrastructure.
Immich gives me full ownership of my photo library while providing an experience that’s now polished enough for everyday use.
Although I still miss a handful of Google’s premium features, I’m happy to trade them for greater privacy, transparency, and control. Given Immich’s pace of development, I wouldn’t be surprised to see many of those missing capabilities arrive in future releases.
I Finally Deleted Google Photos
For a long time, I kept Google Photos installed because I considered it the more reliable and convenient option for backing up my memories.
Immich 3.0 completely changed that perception.
Today, I trust Immich as the sole home for my photo library. My photos now exist exclusively on my own server—along with multiple backups that I control—because I no longer need Google to protect data that I can safeguard myself.