explainx / blog
Immich 3.0 (July 2026) is the top HN self-hosted Google Photos alternative. Real cost math vs iCloud, E2EE debate (Ente vs Immich), Tailscale access, and bgblur.com for face privacy before you share.
May 5, 2026
What Immich is, who it is for, how it differs from cloud galleries, and what operators should plan for: backups, Docker, machine-learning services, and license trade-offs.
Jun 30, 2026
WhatsApp now lets you reserve a unique username through Settings > Account > Username, ahead of a global rollout later in 2026. Many users still cannot see the option — this guide covers step-by-step setup, troubleshooting, and privacy tradeoffs.
Jun 29, 2026
altic-dev's FluidVoice hit 5,000 GitHub stars with v1.6.1 — an open source macOS dictation app built around on-device speech models and an optional private local AI runtime called Fluid Intelligence. Hold a hotkey, see words in a notch-aware overlay, and paste into any app. No subscription required for core dictation.
Can you self-host your photos? Yes — and July 2026 is the loudest moment yet for the idea. Immich 3.0 hit Hacker News the same week (286 points, 141 comments) while v3.0.1 patched mobile album display. The thread was not really about slideshow UX — it was about trust: Who can see your library? What does self-hosting cost in money and time? And do you need end-to-end encryption or just disk you control?
This post answers those questions — Immich 3.0 in context, Ente as the E2EE alternative, real cost math, and bgblur.com when you share faces outside your trusted circle.
| Question | Short answer |
|---|---|
| Can I replace Google Photos? | Yes — Immich 3.0 is the closest open-source match for backup + search + sharing |
| Is it free? | Software is free (AGPL); hardware, power, backups, and your time are not |
| Is it private? | More control, not automatic secrecy — you secure the server, network, and shares |
| E2EE? | Immich: no · Ente: yes — pick based on threat model |
| Immich 3.0 worth upgrading? | Yes if you run v2 — mobile editing, integrity checks, backup fixes |
| Blur faces before public share? | Yes when consent is unclear — bgblur.com for quick anonymization |
Immich crossed 105k GitHub stars with v3.0.0 — the first major with release candidates beforehand.
| Feature | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Mobile non-destructive editing | Crop/rotate on thumbnails without destroying originals — closer to Apple Photos workflow |
| Workflows (preview) | Drag-and-drop automation — triggers, filters, actions (tagging, etc.) |
| Recently Added page | Faster "what landed this week" browsing |
| Integrity checks | Detect DB/file mismatches before silent corruption spreads |
| Background backup improvements | Android scheduler uploads full library; iOS parallel refresh |
| HLS + real-time transcoding (preview) | Smoother web video without waiting for full transcode |
| New web video player | Consistent controls; fixes iOS layout pain |
| OCR on mobile | Search text inside screenshots and documents |
Upgrade path: set IMMICH_VERSION=v3 in .env, run usual Docker compose pull/up. Migration guide — drops pgvecto.rs; mostly API breaking changes for third-party tools, not typical family users.
We maintain a longer Immich overview; this post focuses on 3.0 + privacy economics.
The July 2026 thread split along predictable lines:
Several commenters noted: on self-hosted Immich, you are the operator — E2EE mainly matters when a third party hosts disks (managed VPS, small cloud seller). Full-disk encryption + VPN is the homelab answer; Ente is the "hosted but blind provider" answer.
| Threat | Immich + homelab | Ente E2EE cloud |
|---|---|---|
| Google reading photos | ✅ avoided | ✅ avoided |
| Stolen NAS at home | Disk encryption helps | N/A (blobs remote) |
| Rogue VPS admin | N/A if self-hosted | ✅ ciphertext only |
| You lose encryption keys | N/A | ❌ catastrophic |
| Family "just works" support | You are IT | Ente closer to consumer UX |
Neither replaces consent discipline when sharing links publicly.
Illustrative 2026 numbers for a 2TB family library:
| Line item | Self-host (Immich on NAS) | Google One 2TB |
|---|---|---|
| Upfront hardware | $200–600 (NAS or mini PC + disks) | $0 |
| Electricity (~25W 24/7) | ~$6–10/mo | bundled |
| Subscription | $0 (AGPL software) | ~$10/mo |
| Your time (updates, backups) | 2–8 hr/mo | ~0 |
| 3-2-1 backup media | Extra disk or cloud sync ~$5–15/mo | Google's problem |
| 5-year total (rough) | $800–1,500 + labor | ~$600 |
Self-host wins when:
Cloud wins when:
Self-hosting removes Google's indexer; it does not remove consent when you:
/share)bgblur.com — browser-based AI face blur for photos and video:
We covered plate and object blur in AI privacy for video — same principle: redact before distribution, not only before upload.
Workflow: Immich for archive → bgblur for publishable subset → social or public album.
Point Immich at a read-only NAS mount — manage files yourself; Immich indexes without owning the canonical tree. External libraries have been available for years; 3.0's integrity checks help catch drift.
NAS /photos/YYYY/MM → docker volume :ro → Immich external library job
Pain points from HN:
curl with session cookies to NAS directlyBudget days for 700GB+ imports, not an afternoon.
| Pattern | Risk | HN sentiment |
|---|---|---|
| Tailscale / WireGuard only | Low public attack surface | Preferred |
| Cloudflare Tunnel | Convenient; watch 100MiB upload limits on video | Popular compromise |
| Raw port forward | Brute force, CVE rush | Discouraged without CrowdSec |
Immich README: 3-2-1. HN horror stories: upgrade without DB snapshot → months of pain. v3.0 integrity checks help early detection — they do not replace backups.
| Immich 3.0 | Ente Photos | |
|---|---|---|
| Primary design | Self-hosted Google Photos UX | E2EE first; cloud or self-host |
| Face / CLIP search | Server-side ML | Client-assisted; evolving |
| Public event upload links | Strong Immich feature | Album contribute links |
| License | AGPL-3 | Open source clients + server |
| Best for | Homelab families, 2TB+ libraries | Privacy cloud with encryption keys |
| July 2026 buzz | 3.0 launch, 105k stars | GrapheneOS migrants, encryption |
You can run both: Ente for pocket daily sync, Immich for home archive master — if you accept duplicate ops (most people pick one).
From HN and GitHub discussions — not Immich marketing:
IMMICH_VERSION=v3, read migration guideImmich v3.0.1 and HN discussion accurate as of July 3, 2026. Official: immich.app, v3.0.0 release notes, GitHub releases. Cost figures are illustrative — meter your hardware and power locally.