First version mobile app for Android and iOS based on React Native

[damianmoore]

AC:

• Allow logging in to user-specified server
• Shows web UI once logged in

[nomandera]

Given the userbase it is worth considering that Allow selecting folders on user's device to auto-upload to chosen library will likely overlap with existing workflow apps like NextCloud.

This is especially true if you have a lot of users (lets say a snap happy family) and extra services like contacts/calendar.

IMHO the holes in the market for an app here is on the post process side after upload e.g. organizing into dated folders, creating XMP, tagging who took the photo and many more steps that can really enhance the experience beyond just ingesting a massive pile of pictures.

Another area I can say with some confidence is universally lacking is filtering. Almost everthing that exists seems to consider filtering as a last minute addition and anyone with enough pictures knows no matter how good a tool looks it is no use if you cant find something quickly.

Related to this is caching. DSUB is in my opinion the gold standard of app caching model. It has an elegant design whereby in online mode you see your complete library. You can tick anything to be permanently cached so it works offline. Beyond this you set cache limits locally and it will dynmically use this to maintain as many of the common assets it can tranparently i.e. if you consume 10 things and you have space it will cache these locally FIFO.

The real magic though is offline mode. In this mode you have the exact same user experience but rather than using online + cache it uses cache only.

[damianmoore]

Thanks for your ideas @anoma. Definitely some things to bear in mind. We definitely don't want to interfere with other people's setup of NextCloud etc. but want to provide auto-upload functionality in case Photonix is all that they use (or we can do a better job). For me NextCloud has often got stuck in an endless upload loop. What you mention around caching also sounds sensible. It would definitely be great if we could allow people offline access to their photos, while freeing up space on their device by moving the high-res versions to Photonix.

[damianmoore]

Work has started on this React Native app. There is a separate repo at https://github.com/damianmoore/photonix-mobile . It's very simple at the moment but it's a start at least.

[damianmoore]

Quick update: Android app has been submitted to Google Play store and is currently in review. I've enrolled in Apple's developer programme too and hope to submit there soon.