📖 Chapter 05 — Mobile Uploads
Getting phone content onto the NAS without the family thinking about it.
Learning Objectives
- Choose the right upload pattern for each kind of content
- Configure Immich for transparent background uploads
- Set up a landing zone for non-photo content
- Decide whether to upload over cellular or Wi-Fi only
The three patterns
There are three ways to get content from a phone onto the NAS. Each has different tradeoffs.
Pattern 1: Immich auto-upload (photos and videos)
Best for: photos and videos you want to keep, organized, searchable, with face recognition and map view.
How it works: install the Immich mobile app, log in, enable backup. Photos upload in the background as you take them (on Wi-Fi, optionally on cellular).
Pros: zero effort after setup, photos are organized automatically, original quality, no curation needed.
Cons: the family has to install and use the Immich app (it has to displace the built-in Photos/Gallery app for "viewing my stuff").
Pattern 2: The landing zone (files you don't curate)
Best for: files you want to dump from your phone without curating: documents to scan, ad-hoc files to share, screenshots you might need later.
How it works: a SMB share called \\NAS\PhoneUploads\Tom (per-user subdataset). From the phone's file manager, you can drop files into the share.
Pros: works for any file type, no app needed (just the OS file manager), organized by user.
Cons: requires the family to know about it; the data sits there indefinitely unless you have a workflow to clean it up.
Pattern 3: Manual upload (for the few files that need it)
Best for: one-off files, large files you don't want auto-uploaded, files you want to put in a specific place.
How it works: open the file in the phone's app (Files on iOS, Files on Android), use "Save to network location" or similar, browse to the right SMB share.
Pros: full control, explicit, you know where the file is going.
Cons: friction. The family won't do this unless they have to.
Which pattern for which content
| Content | Best pattern | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Family photos | Immich auto-upload | Original quality, organized automatically, searchable |
| Family videos | Immich auto-upload | Same; transcoded for streaming automatically |
| Scanned documents | Paperless mobile app or landing zone | OCR happens in Paperless, not the phone |
| Screenshots you want to keep | Immich or landing zone | Immich if you want them searchable; landing zone if you want to manually file them |
| Ad-hoc files (a PDF someone emailed) | Landing zone or manual | Manual if you want it in a specific folder; landing zone if "just save it" |
| Large video files (a 5GB recording) | Manual over Wi-Fi | Auto-upload of huge files kills bandwidth; do it deliberately |
| Project files (work in progress) | Syncthing or manual | Different chapter; project files are not "phone uploads" |
Configuring Immich for transparent uploads
From Chapter 02: the Immich mobile app can upload in the background. The settings that matter for "zero effort":
- Wi-Fi only: on by default. Cellular uploads are an option, not a default.
- Charging only: off by default. Turn this on if you want uploads to only happen when the phone is plugged in (saves battery).
- Original quality: on. The point of the NAS is the originals.
- Create albums from phone albums: on. If you have an album called "Hawaii 2024" on your phone, Immich preserves it as an album.
- Background app refresh: must be allowed (in iOS Settings → General → Background App Refresh, or Android's battery settings). Without this, uploads only happen when the app is open.
After setup, the family doesn't think about uploads. They take photos; Immich uploads them when Wi-Fi is available.
The landing zone pattern
For non-photo content, the landing zone works. The structure:
Permissions: each user owns their subdataset (mode 700). The top-level PhoneUploads is shared by Family (mode 770) so anyone can drop a file into anyone's subdataset if they have a reason. Each user manages their own.
From a phone, the user mounts \\NAS\PhoneUploads\Tom as a network location. On iOS, this is done in Files → Connect to Server. On Android, in the file manager.
Files dropped here sit until the user (or the admin) moves them to a permanent home. Retention policy: weekly snapshots for 7 days, then nothing. The landing zone is temporary by design.
Why a landing zone and not just direct to the final destination
Two reasons:
- Phones don't know your dataset structure. Should the receipt go to
tank/Documents/Taxes/2024/ortank/Documents/Receipts/2024/? The phone can't know. The user probably can't know without checking. The landing zone defers the decision. - Phones make mistakes. Auto-upload of a 5GB video that you didn't mean to send is annoying. The landing zone forces intentional upload.
The bandwidth question
The original conversation: TK explicitly chose NOT to use the landing zone for auto-uploads, because he didn't want to use bandwidth on "junk" — screenshots, memes, accidental photos, duplicate Live Photos. That's a valid choice. For a family with a generous data plan and a willingness to curate on the phone, auto-upload to Immich is the answer. For a family on a metered connection or that doesn't want to deal with junk, the landing zone is the answer.
For most families in 2026: cellular plans are large enough that Wi-Fi-only auto-upload is the right default. Don't upload photos over cellular unless the family explicitly wants it.
Setting up the SMB share for the landing zone
- Create the
tank/PhoneUploadsdataset (already done in Volume 1). - Create the per-user subdatasets (
PhoneUploads/Tom, etc.). - Set permissions per the matrix from Volume 1, Chapter 7.
- Create an SMB share for
PhoneUploadswith Access Based Share Enumeration off (the family can see it). - Document the connection details for the family:
\\<nas>\PhoneUploadson Windows,smb://<nas>/PhoneUploadson Mac. - Walk the family through mounting the share on their phone, once, in person.
What NOT to do
Common mistakes:
- Don't auto-upload videos to the landing zone. Videos are huge and the landing zone is for files you'll process later. Use Immich for videos.
- Don't make the landing zone the only place the family puts files. If Mimi has a document to share with grandma, she shouldn't have to drop it in the landing zone first. Give her a Documents share she can write to directly.
- Don't let the landing zone grow forever. Set up a "process the landing zone" reminder. Weekly or monthly, sort the contents and delete what's not needed.
Engineering Note
The right upload pattern is the one the family actually uses. The "best" pattern academically might be Immich for everything, landing zone for the rest. The reality: the family will use whatever is least friction. If Immich is set up on the phone with background uploads enabled, photos just appear. The landing zone is for the 5% of files that aren't photos. Anything else is over-engineering.
Summary
Three patterns: Immich auto-upload (photos and videos), the landing zone (files you don't curate), manual upload (the few files that need explicit placement). Configure Immich for Wi-Fi-only background uploads. Set up a per-user landing zone share. Don't make the landing zone grow forever. The right pattern is the one the family actually uses.
Checklist
- ⬜ Verify Immich is uploading in the background on every phone (Wi-Fi only)
- ⬜ Create the PhoneUploads SMB share and document the connection
- ⬜ Walk the family through mounting the share once, in person
- ⬜ Set a monthly reminder to process the landing zone
Looking Ahead
Chapter 06 is calendar and contacts. Nextcloud replaces Google Calendar and Google Contacts. The family shares a single calendar; everyone sees everyone's events. Contacts sync across all devices. The principle is the same as the other apps: one app, used by the whole family, replacing a cloud service.