Camera Upload Replacement

Now that the Camera Upload feature is going away, I’m looking for a replacement app to move photos from my Android phone to my Unraid Server. The Plex article suggests there are alternatives to Plex Camera Upload, but I am not aware of any. In fact, I have been dissatisfied with Plex Camera Upload for many years but have dealt with it because there are no easy alternatives. I’m sure I could implement a multi-step process of uploading to the cloud (something I do not want to do) and then downloading to my server on occasion, but that sounds time consuming and inconvenient. Does anyone have any suggestions? I suppose the solution would have to include an app for Android and for Unraid.

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Nextcloud will do it. You can run the application on your own server/docker.

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Or use an app (Android) like FolderSync. Very customizable and very stable. It works towards multiple cloud providers or you can use it on your server with support for ftp/sftp/webdav/samba (and Nextcloud) etc,

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Found the alternative for Plex Camera Upload for Android devices due to the stop of support of this key feature.

FolderSync. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=dk.tacit.android.foldersync.full

My functional requirements

in a MoSCoW-model (Must have, Should have, Could have and Wont have).

  • M: local sync (to Plex server running linux with SSH)

  • M: SSH (SFTP) support

  • M: actively developed.

  • M: Only upload foto’s and video’s automatically when connected to my home wifi networks.

  • M: Only upload when connected to charger.

  • M: media stuff (video’s, photo’s) ends up in plex folder

  • M: very active community (assuming continuity)

  • M: Scheduling

  • S: Open source with donation option.

  • S: NFS support

  • S: SMB support

  • S: File organizer

  • C: paid app

  • C: One-off payment.

  • C: An ‘upload then delete’ with a ‘wait for n days’-condition would be great (you can set to auto delete the photo’s on your phone after 2 years, say).

  • W: Pay continuously.

  • W: Backup applications APK’s (why would one want that?)

  • W: Backup of contacts, messages, etc. (mostly covered by MS or Google accounts anyways).

On top of the must haves, FolderSync offers:

My configuration (for your inspiration):

  • Run one final upload using the plex app.

  • Stop automatic upload in plex app.

  • Create a new unix user in the same group as plex with a SSH-keypair and copy the private key to your phone.

  • Setup a sync task (local folder: /storage/32DA-4AA33/DCIM/Camera and destination folder /opt/plex/Freek Mobile)

  • Sync type ‘to remote folder’ (one-way sync)

  • Advanced → Only sync if charging

  • Set up scheduling to when you usually charge your phone (e.g. 06:00 - 12:00)

  • Set up your home wifi networks in ‘Allowed wifi names’ under ‘connection’

  • Name the home wifi networks for syncing.

  • Only sync when charging between 06:00 - 12:00 (when the phone usually charges)

  • Sync.

  • Check the expected results.

  • OPTIONAL: Remove local photo’s and use Plex for accessing your media.

  • OPTIONAL: Also setup sync tasks for other sources of media (e.g. whatsapp).

Options evaluated yesterday:

Name URL Rating Reviews (x1000) Installs (mln) Notes
Cx File Explorere https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.cxinventor.file.explorer&hl=en&gl=US 4,8 127 10 No auto backup features.
Solid Explorer File Manager https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=pl.solidexplorer2 4,4 117 5 No auto backup features.
ASTRO File manager: Storage Organizer & Cleaner https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.metago.astro 4,4 633 50 Requires data collection
Autosync - Universal cloud sync and backup https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ttxapps.autosync 4,6 0,014 0,05 Early release, not mature or active enough for my liking. Great potential!
Titanium backup https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.keramidas.TitaniumBackup 4,2 373 10 Need root
Alpha Backup Pro https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ruet_cse_1503050.ragib.appbackup.pro 4,5 8 0.1 Focused on application (APK-backups)
G Cloud Backup https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.genie9.gcloudbackup 4,4 309k 5 No local backups (sftp, ssh, nas/nfs)
Backup Your Phone https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.backupyourmobile 4,3 21 0,1 No backups of media (photo’s, video’s)
Alpha Backup Pro https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ruet_cse_1503050.ragib.appbackup.pro No automated local backups
Resilio Sync https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.resilio.sync 4,0 4,6 0,1 Requires proprietary p2p protocol plus software
FolderSync https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=dk.tacit.android.foldersync.full FolderSync | Tacit Dynamics 4,5 24 0,1 Won!
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The Plex email mentioned solutions “more elegant” than Camera Upload but no one has a clue what those are elegant solutions might be.

Thank you Plex for failing us. You are abandoning the features that made you useful.

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Tobe honest i been running plex for about a year paid for lifetime sub mostly for this feature and now its going away so now i have to pay more money spend more time setting some other service up to just back up my photos when this worked just fine… What is the elegant solution plex??? Whats the name of the company i should trust and give my money too since plex gave up on the hand full of people who use this daily. ( Which I believe is more than speculated but could be wrong) I understand if not a lot of people are using it and developing it for new phones might not be cost worthy, but for us who use our tech tell it dies and already have it set up why not leave it enable so we can use it until we upgrade to phone with no support for it for it. Problem is I do understand from both side of customer / business just feel like the main reason for buying is being ripped away with no easy alternative as mentioned in the reasoning for stopping the feature.

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Sorry for rant.

Tambien yo pague suscripcion de por vida solo por esta funcion

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PhotoSync is working good for me on iOS to sync to an SMB share but it’s a $32 CDN purchase price :frowning:

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I am in the same boat, went for the lifetime pass mainly because of my desire to go off google photos (which also became paid conveniently after they got enough material to train their models).
For me syncing stuff is not an issue i can run rsync if i have to. I wanted to have a single, web accessible, easy to share, user friendly interface, scaling the photos as they are uploaded / served as it makes sense etc. Total disappointment, Plex.

Google photos converts to paid model June 1st… this feature goes away around June. Almost too good to be true, yay!

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Plex Camera Roll Upload was never known by me

I am looking for Plex to restart this service, by showing my serious request I would pay a lifetime Plex Pass support if Camera Roll Upload development is restarted. Otherwise I will not consider paying for Plex anymore.

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I’m pretty upset about this, as I purchased a lifetime pass last year explicitly for this feature to get off the cloud. Is there a simple, elegant, solution that works as well as flickr/google photos/plex auto upload was? I really don’t want to host a nextcloud instance on my nas when it’s specifically configured for plex and smb already.

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This article just came out, may give you some ideas:

Nothing quite as convenient as Plex camera upload (when it worked), But I’ve been running nextcloud for a few months now and been happy with it.

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我也是為了相機上傳這個功能才訂閱終身通行證的,如果可以,是要讓這個功能回來吧?
真的不行,可以考慮讓我們這些因為相機上傳才訂閱終身通行證的人退費嗎?

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Also looking for an alternative here. Just like share photo button on WhatsApp to the plex app would be the most logical to me

I have been using Termux and just scp the camera folder to a pictures folder on my Plex box.

Could we get some feedback to the elegant solution for the plex camera upload feature, asking for feedback from our Plex Staff please.

Also is there an API that can be used for developers to be able to upload pictures from their devices via plex web services?

PREMIUM

Camera upload

Automatically upload photos and videos from the camera roll on your mobile device to your Plex library with Camera Upload. As soon as you connect to WiFi, your memories are safely backed up to your local storage at home (on your Plex Media Server). Now you’re free to stream your photos and videos to any Plex app for the ultimate slideshow anywhere!

Really think Plex have broken their promises. As we have paid for premium features this should be re impented for plex pass users. Or api access given to developers to create a plugin.

However, they’ve taken our money for premium, they should return the camera upload. I use all third party cloud solutions including Google photos. But who gave plex the right to remove the camera function. Will they return difference in money per app? That we paid for premium use? I am guessing not.

Plex I am not a happy customer. and I say most Plex pass user are too. Return the camera upload functionality

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i think many people not used this because it wasnt to good at any given time… but i still wanted to use it sometime when it got better… instead they discontinued it … omfg … on the other hand we got all the mostly useless stuff the past couple of years … annoying