I have 113k images going back two decades. The screenshot above doesn’t include RAW files, with those included I’m around 2 terabytes of total storage.

• Immich is in fact a photo album, and a damn good one at that.
• Immich keeps google’s grubby paws off my photos. I don’t need or want anyone datamining every precious memory I have in order to modify my behavior to their benefit.
• Immich shares photos between my wife and my phones.
• Immich ensures that if I lose my phone, my photos aren’t lost.
• Immich lets me easily re edit and re-export RAW files without creating duplicates or losing metadata
• Immich lets me conveniently share photos with friends and family without requiring them to have an account anywhere.

Mostly I self-host things when I want data synchronized between multiple devices, or I don’t want to lose it in the event I lose the device it was created on.

Also, like, phone screens are tiny and typing on them is terrible? Why would you want to do everything on your phone?