[Feature] Improve discoverability of “Upload as Album / Sync with Album”

[DineshMN1]

I have searched the existing feature requests, both open and closed, to make sure this is not a duplicate request.

• Yes

The feature

I’m self-hosting Immich and ran into a UX friction point with album uploads.

Context:

1.Accessed Immich via Chrome on Mac
2.Also installed the official mobile app and connected to the same selfhost
3.Tried uploading multiple albums from desktop

Issue:
When uploading from desktop, albums don’t appear under “Albums”. Everything ends up inside “Photos”.

It took me a while to figure out that the mobile app has
“Upload as album / sync with album” option visible during upload (above settings).
This solves the issue, but it’s not very discoverable and easy to miss during onboarding.

Impact:

1.Harder for new users to manage large photo collections
2.Desktop-first users miss a core feature
3.Album organization becomes manual and slower
4.Confusion between “Albums” vs “Photos” behavior

Suggestion:

1.Expose “Upload as Album” & related settings earlier in the setup flow
2.Make it visible on desktop uploads
3.Consider turning it on by default
4.Allow easy editing of these preferences in settings

Why it helps:

1.Smoother onboarding
2.More intuitive desktop workflow
3.Better parity between mobile vs desktop experiences
4.Would love to hear thoughts from others on how album uploads could be made more consistent between platforms.

Platform

• Server
• Web
• Mobile

[KusAdama]

#24837

Is this the same? I can't see in sync the options named like you described.
In Android app.

[DineshMN1]

open immich > click upload button next to your profile > open settings > scroll down to see the option