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Migrate from Google Photos

Transfer your Google Photos library to PixelUnion with Google Takeout and the in-browser migration tool

PixelUnion

Transfer all your photos and videos from Google Photos to PixelUnion

Ready to bring all your memories from Google Photos to PixelUnion? It’s easier than you think! With our friendly in‑browser migration tool—built right into your PixelUnion environment—you can seamlessly transfer your entire photo and video library, no technical skills required and no extra apps to install. Our servers handle everything for you, and because we use immich-go, your important details like dates and albums come along for the ride.

Getting started is simple: (1) export your Google Photos library with Google Takeout, (2) open Google Photos migration from Utilities in your PixelUnion environment, (3) upload your Takeout zip(s) and start the migration, and (4) sit back while our servers do the work to bring your photos and videos home!

Why is this process a bit involved?

We understand that this migration process is more complicated and time-consuming than most people would expect. Unfortunately, Google—despite being a multi-billion dollar company—has designed their platform in a way that makes exporting your photos and videos more frustrating than it needs to be. There isn’t a simple one-click option to move your data elsewhere. Instead, you’re required to use their Takeout service, download large files, and manage manual transfers.

This approach is not exclusive to Google; many large tech companies make leaving their platform or moving data to another service deliberately challenging, often to keep users locked in. If Google truly wanted to make it easy for you to migrate your content, they could provide straightforward tools or direct integrations—but they don’t. As a result, we’ve done our best to make the PixelUnion import flow as smooth as possible using the available Google Takeout exports, so you can take control of your data and bring your memories over with minimal headaches.

This migration tool is currently in open beta. We welcome your feedback and suggestions — let us know how your experience goes!

Step 1: Export your photos with Google Takeout

  1. Go to Google Takeout.
  2. Click Deselect all, then scroll down and check only Google Photos.
  3. Click Next step.
  4. Choose:
    • Export frequency: One-time export
    • File type: .zip
    • File size: 10 GB — this is the current maximum supported by our migration tool.
  5. Click Create export. Google will start zipping all your files — this may take hours for large libraries. You will receive an email with a download link once the process is finished.
  6. Download the .zip file(s) from the link in the email.
You do not need to unzip the files — the migration tool uses the Takeout zip(s) directly.

Step 2: Open Google Photos migration

  1. Log in to your PixelUnion environment (your server address, e.g. yourname.pixelunion.eu).
  2. Open Utilities in the sidebar.
  3. Click Google Photos migration, then Create migration.
The migration tool runs inside your PixelUnion environment, so there is no separate portal to log in to. An API key is created automatically for the migration and removed again when you finish or delete it.

Step 3: Upload your Takeout files and start the migration

  1. On the Google Photos migration page, upload your Google Takeout .zip file(s). If Google split your export into multiple zip files, select and upload them all at once — there is no need to add them one by one.
  2. Adjust any options if needed, then start the migration.
You can select all your Takeout zip files at once in the file picker and upload them together in a single batch. There is no need to upload them one file at a time.

Important

During the upload, keep your browser open and your computer on. If you close the tab or put your computer to sleep, the upload will stop.

The page will show the status (queued, running, completed). When the migration has completed, you can Finish migration to remove the uploaded data and API key from our servers. You can also Reset the migration if you want to run it again — this lets you retry without having to re-upload all the zip files.

Step 4: Be patient while the migration finishes

We run the migration in the background on our servers. This may take a long time — hours if your migration is large.

You will see your photos and videos start to appear in your PixelUnion environment as the import progresses. In the background, jobs are also creating thumbnails, running facial recognition, and processing metadata. All of this continues after the migration status shows completed. Please allow some time for everything to finish before expecting full functionality (e.g. search, thumbnails everywhere).

Using immich-go directly (CLI)

If you are comfortable with a terminal and the command line, you can use the immich-go CLI tool directly on your own computer, without the in-browser migration tool. This skips the upload to our servers — immich-go reads your Google Takeout export locally and sends photos and videos straight to your PixelUnion Immich instance. You need to download and run immich-go yourself, configure it with your API key and Immich URL, and point it at your exported Takeout directory. See the immich-go documentation for setup and usage instructions.

For the CLI you create the API key yourself: log in to your PixelUnion environment, open your profile (top right) → Account settings → API Key, click New API key, give it a name (e.g. “Google Photos migration”), and copy the key.

The quickest option is to grant all permissions to the key. If you prefer to limit the key, use only these permissions (do not translate these names):

Permissions: limit the key to specific permissions (optional)

These permission are required:

asset.read, asset.statistics, asset.update, asset.upload, asset.copy, asset.replace, asset.delete, asset.download, album.create, album.read, albumAsset.create, server.about, stack.create, tag.asset, tag.create, user.read, server.storage.

Need help?

If something goes wrong, try:

  • Smaller batches — If uploading all files at once causes problems, try uploading a smaller number of zip files at a time.
  • Reset and retry — If a migration fails, use Reset on the Google Photos migration page and start it again without re-uploading.
  • Correct URL — Your PixelUnion server URL ends with .pixelunion.eu.

When contacting support, please include:

  1. A screenshot of the error or the migration page.
  2. Your migration ID or any error message shown on the Google Photos migration page.
  3. A short description of what you did and what went wrong.

You can reach our support team via the Contact Us page. We will get back to you as soon as we can.

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