Building a Self-Hosted Digital Photo Frame with Immich and Immich Frame

A digital photo frame is a great way to display cherished memories dynamically. This guide walks through setting up a self-hosted photo frame using a Raspberry Pi 4 and Immich Frame. My goal was to build one for my parents, preloaded with photos of my kids — they can also upload their own images, and the frame displays the time and weather for their location.

I'm running TrueNAS to serve the photos via Immich. As an added bonus, the frame also acts as an offsite rsync backup — so a hardware failure or disaster at home wouldn't destroy all my images.

Components needed

• 15" portable computer monitor
• Raspberry Pi 4 (2GB RAM)
• Custom 3D-printed case
• HDMI micro to mini adapter
• USB-C power adapter
• 16GB USB thumb drive

Configuring the Raspberry Pi

Step 1: Configure boot order to boot from USB

To boot from the USB drive, open a terminal and run:

sudo raspi-config

Navigate to Advanced Options > Boot Order > USB Boot. Select OK, then Finish, and reboot.

Step 2: Install Raspberry Pi OS

Download the latest Raspberry Pi OS and flash it onto the 16GB USB thumb drive using Raspberry Pi Imager or Balena Etcher. Insert the USB drive and boot the Pi.

Step 3: Switch from Wayland to X11

Raspberry Pi OS defaults to Wayland, but X11 gives better compatibility for kiosk use. Run:

sudo raspi-config

Go to Advanced Options > Wayland/X11, select X11, and reboot.

Setting up the Immich Frame kiosk

Step 1: Configure auto-boot kiosk mode

To automatically launch Immich Frame in full-screen on startup, create the autostart directory if it doesn't exist:

mkdir -p ~/.config/autostart

Then create the kiosk desktop entry:

nano ~/.config/autostart/kiosk.desktop

Add the following content:

[Desktop Entry]
Type=Application
Name=Kiosk Browser
Exec=chromium-browser --kiosk --noerrdialogs --disable-infobars --incognito https://yourimmichframeinstance.com
StartupNotify=false

Save and exit with Ctrl+X, then Y, then Enter.

Step 2: Hide the cursor and disable the screen saver

Install the necessary tools:

sudo apt install unclutter -y && sudo apt install xdotool -y

Create the unclutter desktop entry:

nano ~/.config/autostart/unclutter.desktop

Add the following:

[Desktop Entry]
Type=Application
Name=Unclutter
Exec=sh -c "xset s off -dpms s noblank; xdotool mousemove $(($(xdpyinfo | awk '/dimensions/{print $2}' | cut -d 'x' -f1) / 2)) 0; unclutter --idle 0"
StartupNotify=false

Save and exit.

Setting up a power-saving schedule

To turn the display off between 11 PM and 6 AM, use cron. First install the required utilities:

sudo apt install x11-utils -y

Open the crontab editor:

crontab -e

Add these two lines:

0 23 * * * DISPLAY=:0 xset dpms force off
0 6 * * * DISPLAY=:0 xset dpms force on

Save and exit. The display will now shut off at 11 PM and come back on at 6 AM automatically.

A note on the backup setup

Beyond just displaying photos, this frame doubles as an offsite rsync backup for my entire photo library. I run Immich on TrueNAS at home, which serves the photos to the frame. The frame periodically syncs a copy back via rsync, which means a house fire or drive failure wouldn't wipe out everything. It's a nice side benefit of having a device with storage running 24/7 at a different location.

Conclusion

With these steps you'll have a self-hosted digital photo frame that updates automatically, turns itself off overnight, and keeps a live offsite backup of your photos as a bonus. It's a genuinely useful project and a meaningful gift — my parents can see updated photos of the grandkids without any app or subscription involved.