From 25152ddb61a89ea3ea29d3aef5de13343429d32a Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Christophe Besson Date: Fri, 9 Oct 2026 18:23:52 +0200 Subject: feat: back up the phone's photos to a group, once a day on Wi-Fi MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit The Android application sends the photos taken on the phone to one folder of one group chosen by the member (docs/MESHBAY_DESIGN.md §9.12). The phone lists MediaStore, keeps a ledger of what was sent and hands each photo's bytes to the page by an opaque token on the packaged origin; the page decides when a run is due and uploads through the existing path, one photo at a time under a slot. - Once a day from the last finished run, on an unmetered network only; "Back up now" asks first on mobile data. Leaving Wi-Fi stops after the file in flight. - Photos already on the phone are sent by default, newest first, under /YYYY/MM; edits are sent beside the original as -edited-. - Additive by construction: nothing is ever deleted, renamed or replaced on the node, and a photo deleted on the node is not sent again. - A confirmation names the group, owner, members, folder and size when the destination or starting point changes; a lasting refusal (disk full, folder read-only or gone, no longer a member) is said once and retried a day later. - No ACCESS_MEDIA_LOCATION, so the platform redacts photo locations. - A dataSync foreground service keeps a run going with the screen off. HEIC/HEIF photos are sent but not shown in Photos yet (§15.2). Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 --- docs/USERGUIDE.md | 37 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 37 insertions(+) (limited to 'docs/USERGUIDE.md') diff --git a/docs/USERGUIDE.md b/docs/USERGUIDE.md index 7afb77b..74dae15 100644 --- a/docs/USERGUIDE.md +++ b/docs/USERGUIDE.md @@ -378,6 +378,37 @@ coordinates are still inside the photo itself, as your phone wrote them, so anyone who downloads the original file has them. Strip them before sharing if that matters to you. +### Backing up your phone's photos + +On the Android application, **Settings → Photo backup** sends the photos taken +on your phone to a folder of one of your groups, once a day. + +- **Set up** asks for access to your photos, then for a group, a folder and the + albums to send. Only folders you may add to and that the group's Photos tab + shows are offered. The camera is ticked; screenshots and other albums are + yours to add. +- By default **the photos already on the phone are sent too**, newest first, + then each new one. Choose "Only photos taken from now on" to skip the ones + already there. +- Before anything is sent you are told where the photos go, how many members + the group has and how much will be sent. **Everyone in that group will be + able to see and download them.** You can delete what you sent afterwards, + but not the copies others have already downloaded — so pick the group with + care. Changing the group or the folder later asks again. +- It runs **on Wi-Fi only** (more exactly, on a connection that is not charged + by the amount), once a day, while the application is open — with the screen + off too. If the application was not opened all day, it runs the next time it + is. **Back up now** runs at once; on mobile data it tells you how much it is + about to send and asks first. +- Photos go into folders by year and month (`2026/10`). **A photo you delete + from the phone stays in the group**, and one deleted from the group is not + sent again. A photo you edit on the phone is sent again beside the original, + with `-edited-` and the date in its name. +- **Where a photo was taken is removed** from the copy that is sent. +- If the backup cannot go on — the node's disk is full, the folder no longer + accepts files, you left the group — it stops, says why once in a + notification and in Settings, and tries again the next day. + ### Search The magnifying glass in the sidebar searches **across every group you are in** @@ -1030,6 +1061,12 @@ Better to know now than to go looking for it: with the screen off, from one track to the next, with a notification shown while it plays. A phone browser works too. - **A node cannot be hosted on Android**, and is not planned to be. +- **Photo backup only runs while the application is open** (the screen may be + off). There is no button yet to remove everything the phone sent to a group + in one go — delete those files from the group instead. +- **Photos in the HEIC format are backed up but do not show in Photos** yet: + they are in the folder (Files lists them) and can be downloaded. Most Android + phones take JPEG unless set otherwise. - **Hubs do not talk to each other yet.** Everyone in a group needs an account on the same hub. - **Casting reaches Chromecast devices** from the desktop and Android -- cgit v1.2.3