Happy New Year, self-hosters! The Immich team has kicked off 2026 with a bang, releasing version 2.5.0 – aptly named the “90,000 Stars Release” in celebration of reaching this impressive GitHub milestone. This release is packed with long-awaited features that significantly improve both the mobile and web experience. Let’s dive into what’s new.

Free Up Space: Finally Here

This feature has been one of the most requested since the early days of Immich (it has a 3-digit issue ID!). Free Up Space allows you to remove local media files from your mobile device that have already been successfully backed up to your Immich server.

The feature includes smart configuration options:

• Cutoff date: Only process photos and videos on or before a specified date
• Keep albums: Preserve specific albums (WhatsApp-related albums are kept by default)
• Keep favorites: Favorited assets stay on your device
• Keep on device: Option to always keep all photos or all videos

Before any files are removed, you’ll see a review screen showing exactly what will be deleted and how much storage you’ll reclaim. Deleted items go to your device’s native Trash, giving you a safety net.

Non-Destructive Photo Editing

Immich now supports non-destructive editing – a major enhancement for anyone who’s hesitated to edit photos for fear of losing the original. Edits are stored in the database while original files remain untouched. You can always revert to the original.

Currently supported editing operations:

• Cropping
• Rotation
• Mirroring

When downloading an edited asset, you get the edited version by default, but can also choose to download the original. Note that mobile editing still uses the old system for now – the non-destructive approach will come to mobile in a future release.

Web-Based Database Backup and Restore

Database management just got significantly easier. Previously, restoring an Immich instance required command-line access – a barrier for users new to self-hosting. Now, the entire backup and restore pipeline is built into the web UI.

You can restore from two locations:

This is particularly valuable if you’ve ever worried about database corruption from power loss or system failures.

Upload Improvements

Foreground uploads on mobile have been significantly improved. The new implementation brings back reliable upload handling while adding concurrent uploads and proper support for assets with missing file extensions (common with DJI and Fusion Camera files).

A notable improvement for iOS/iCloud users: uploads now send unique metadata to the server for faster checksum retrieval when reinstalling the app. To take advantage of this for existing uploads, go to App Settings → Sync Status and tap “Sync Cloud IDs” once.

Visual Refresh

The entire Immich experience has received a visual update across web, mobile, and documentation. A new font improves readability, especially for numbers and smaller text.

The UI library has been integrated more deeply into the web app, providing more consistent components and better visual hierarchy.

All icon buttons now include tooltips – no more guessing what a button does.

Additional Highlights

Star Rating on Mobile

Mobile users can now rate their photos with stars, bringing feature parity with the web application.

Disable Admin Setup

New environment variable IMMICH_ALLOW_SETUP=true|false lets you prevent the admin setup page from appearing after initial configuration – useful if your database ever gets accidentally reset.

Fine-Grained API Permissions

New scoped permissions for API keys include: map.read, map.search, and folder.read.

Progressive JPEGs

Image generation settings now include an option for progressive JPEGs, allowing supported browsers to render images progressively as they load.

Slideshow Loop

Web slideshows can now automatically restart when they reach the end.

Native HTTP Clients

All remote images now use optimized HTTP clients supporting HTTP/2 and HTTP/3. Images load faster, caching is improved, and the offline experience is more responsive with a larger cache size.

Important Notes

Mobile App Update Paused: As of the release, the team has temporarily halted the mobile app release due to some reported migration issues. Check the GitHub release page for the latest status.

Client Compatibility: Mobile clients must be updated to v2.5.0 to view edited versions of assets. Older clients will continue to see original images.

How to Update

Follow the standard update procedure for your deployment method. As always, ensure you have a backup before upgrading.

For the complete changelog including all bug fixes and documentation updates, check the full release notes on GitHub.

Support the Project

If you find Immich helpful, consider supporting the project by purchasing a product key at buy.immich.app or grabbing some merchandise at immich.store.