How to Migrate from Google Photos to PixelUnion

PixelUnion provides a dedicated "Migrating from Google Photos" page and a Help Center to guide the process, and it runs on a forked version of Immich, which supports the native Immich mobile apps for iPhone and Android. That means migration is a two-part job: get your library out of Google Photos, then get it into PixelUnion. The exact export steps depend on what Google currently offers in your account, so treat the steps below as the general flow and confirm menu names in your own Google account.

What you need before you start

• A PixelUnion account (the site offers a free 16 GB tier and paid tiers from 150 GB upward, so you can test the workflow before committing to a large plan).
• Enough PixelUnion storage for your library. If your Google Photos library is larger than your chosen tier, either upgrade or migrate in batches.
• A destination for the Google export that isn't your phone's limited local storage — a computer or external drive is safer for large libraries.
• Time. Exports of large libraries can take hours or days to be prepared by Google, and uploads take time proportional to your library size.

Step 1: Export your library from Google Photos

Google's standard route is Google Takeout, which packages your data into downloadable archives.

1. Sign in to your Google account and open Google Takeout.
2. Deselect all services, then select only Google Photos.
3. Choose your export options — file type, archive size, and delivery method (download link or cloud destination).
4. Start the export and wait for Google to notify you that it's ready.
5. Download all archive parts and extract them on your computer.

Expected result: a set of folders containing your photos and videos, typically with JSON sidecar files holding metadata such as album names and timestamps.

Common snags:

• Large libraries are split into multiple archives; you need every part before extracting.
• Takeout sometimes flattens album structure or separates metadata into JSON files, so albums may not survive the round trip intact.
• Edited photos may appear alongside originals, and some Google-specific formats (for example Motion Photos) may not carry over cleanly.

Step 2: Get the files into PixelUnion

PixelUnion is built on a forked version of Immich and supports the native Immich apps, so you have two practical upload paths.

Option A: Upload from a computer

1. Log in to your PixelUnion account in a browser.
2. Use the upload function to select the extracted folders.
3. Upload in batches if your library is large, so a single failure doesn't force you to restart everything.
4. Verify that photos and videos appear in your library and that albums are grouped as expected.

Option B: Back up from your phone

1. Install the PixelUnion app (available for iPhone and Android).
2. Sign in with your PixelUnion account.
3. Point the app's backup at your phone's photo library and let it sync.

This path is best for photos already on your phone. It won't help with the Google Photos archive you downloaded to a computer, so most people migrating a full library use Option A for the archive and Option B for ongoing phone backups.

Step 3: Verify the migration

• Count check: compare the number of items in your PixelUnion library against the number of files you extracted.
• Spot check: open a sample of photos from different years and albums to confirm they display correctly.
• Metadata check: confirm dates and locations look right, since these often come from sidecar files rather than the images themselves.
• Album check: verify that albums you care about were recreated, and rebuild any that were lost in export.

Choosing a storage tier for your library

PixelUnion's published plans, from the site's pricing section:

Yearly billing is advertised as two months free. Larger needs scale from 4 TB to 16 TB at €19,95 per month for 4 TB, with 16 TB available on request. Match the tier to your library size plus headroom for future photos — the free 16 GB tier is enough to test the migration workflow but not for most real libraries.

Practical notes

• PixelUnion states it runs on 100% renewable energy with servers on European soil, and advertises no ads or tracking plus privacy-focused facial recognition and AI object features. These are the site's own claims; if data residency matters to you, confirm the specifics in the Help Center before migrating.
• Because PixelUnion is Immich-based, Immich's own documentation and community guides are a useful supplement for upload behavior and metadata handling, even though PixelUnion is a forked version.
• If you hit problems, the site lists a Help Center and support contact — the "Migrating from Google Photos" page is the intended starting point for this exact task.

The migration is straightforward in shape — export, upload, verify — but the fiddly parts are archive size, album structure, and metadata. Budget time for the export and check your library carefully before deleting anything from Google Photos.