Immich v2.6.0: What's New and Rolling Out to PixelUnion Users Now

We are rolling out Immich v2.6.0 to all PixelUnion users today. This release is packed with meaningful improvements across the web interface, mobile apps, and the underlying platform. Below is a detailed look at everything that is new.

Map View Gets a Side Panel

The web map interface received a notable upgrade. When you click on a cluster of photos on the map, a side panel now opens showing a mini-timeline of the assets in that cluster. From there you can browse directly, mark photos as favourites, or add them to an album without leaving the map view.

This makes the map far more useful as a navigation tool. Instead of just seeing where photos were taken, you can now act on them in context.

Mobile: Album Cover Selection

You can now set a custom album cover directly from the mobile app. Previously this was only possible on the web. Pick any photo from the album and set it as the cover — no detour through the browser required.

Mobile: Shared Link Slugs and Expiration Presets

The mobile app now supports setting custom slugs when creating shared links, matching the functionality that was already available on the web. Custom slugs make your shared links shorter and easier to remember.

On the web side, the shared link expiration input has been redesigned. Instead of entering a date manually, you can now choose from a set of preset durations. This makes it immediately clear when a link will expire and reduces the chance of accidental long-lived links.

Native HTTP Clients on Mobile

Both the Android and iOS apps now use native HTTP clients, bringing tangible improvements:

• HTTP/2 and HTTP/3 — the native clients take advantage of modern protocol features for faster loading and video playback
• Background tasks — these improvements extend to background sync and upload tasks, not just foreground use

Mobile: Asset Viewer Improvements

The photo and video viewer on mobile received a round of focused improvements:

• GIF playback — GIF files now play back correctly in the asset viewer
• Video zooming — you can pinch to zoom on videos, which was not possible before
• Gradient-styled action buttons — the overlay buttons are more legible against varied backgrounds
• Restyled video controls — the playback controls have been updated to feel more polished

The inline asset details panel has also moved from a bottom sheet to an inline display, which feels more natural and uses the screen space better.

Mobile: Faster Search Results

Search results on mobile now load progressively rather than rebuilding the entire photo grid from scratch on each scroll. There are also new empty state and completion screens so it is clear when a search has returned all its results. Searches feel noticeably more responsive.

Web: Faces and Panoramas

Two smaller but welcome additions to the web interface:

• Face bounding boxes — when you hover over a face chip in the photo details panel, the corresponding face region is now highlighted in the photo itself. Useful when a photo contains multiple people.
• Panorama zoom toggle — double-clicking a panoramic photo now toggles between the fitted view and a zoomed interactive view, with a smooth animation between the two.

Cast: Videos Now Loop

Videos cast to a Chromecast or compatible device now loop automatically. Previously a video would stop at the end and leave the screen idle.

Performance

A handful of backend improvements ship with this release:

• Progressive image loading on the web for a smoother browsing experience
• Album sorting is faster
• People API response times improved through additional database indexing
• Video dimension extraction now considers the display aspect ratio, so portrait videos are handled correctly

Rolling Out Now

All PixelUnion accounts are being upgraded to v2.6.0 today. No action is required on your part. If you notice anything unexpected after the update, get in touch with us through support and we will look into it.

At PixelUnion, we track every Immich release so you do not have to. Your library runs on up-to-date, European-hosted infrastructure — maintained, monitored, and updated by us. Explore PixelUnion →