Immich, an open-source self-hosted photo and video backup solution, has just released version 1.136, packing a mix of new features, critical breaking changes, and under-the-hood improvements.
Let’s start with the most important: this update does include some breaking changes, particularly concerning the “IMMICH_MEDIA_LOCATION” environment variable.
For most users, there’s nothing to worry about. However, if you’ve manually set a custom relative path for “IMMICH_MEDIA_LOCATION” in your “.env” file, you’ll need to convert it to an absolute path. For example, “IMMICH_MEDIA_LOCATION=./my-library” must become “IMMICH_MEDIA_LOCATION=/usr/src/app/my-library“.
Beyond these under-the-hood adjustments, Immich 1.136 introduces a brand-new timeline, syncing capabilities, and upload mechanics—all of which are currently available in beta mode.
Moreover, synchronization is now dramatically improved, running in the background without bogging down your device. Instead of crunching everything in one go, Immich streams your data incrementally, ensuring the app remains responsive no matter how massive your photo library gets. Plus, thanks to smarter server-side data handling, syncing is quicker and gentler on your phone’s CPU.
The timeline and browsing experience have also gotten some much-needed love. Completely rebuilt from scratch, the new timeline offers buttery-smooth scrolling and interactive detail views. Even better, your album and collection views now include delightful parallax effects.
There is also a revamped upload mechanism in place, which leverages your operating system for handling background tasks. Photos and videos now smoothly queue up, allowing uploads to proceed even after you’ve closed the app. Android users also get an intuitive new backup selection screen, complete with a handy search feature.
Also on the Android front, users finally receive home screen widgets, matching those previously introduced to iOS users in a previous release. These widgets let you easily view memories or random photos directly from your home screen.
Additionally, the team has refined iOS widgets based on user feedback, adding support for secure HTTP connections, enhanced error handling, and seamless integration with your favorites.
Lastly, Immich now supports deep links. Whether you’re using NFC tags, automation frameworks, or just clicking through your browser, you can instantly access specific assets, albums, or memories directly in the Immich app.
For a full rundown of fixes and minor enhancements, check out the release’s changelog.
