Piktures backs up new photos and videos on its own, in the background, whenever the phone is on the home network.
- Spot what's new. Piktures notices new and changed photos and videos in the phone's folders.
- Ask the server first. The phone sends a short list, without the files. For each one, the server answers: already here, here from another of your phones (linked, not sent again), or missing.
- Send what's missing. Only the missing files travel, one at a time. After a dropped Wi-Fi or a restart, an upload resumes at the exact byte where it stopped. The server checks each file's SHA-256 as it arrives.
- Keep it safe. A file counts as backed up only once the server has checked it and written it to disk. Sending the same file twice never makes a second copy.
The phone's folders become albums in the library. Favourites and folder moves on the phone follow to the server; deletions don't, unless you ask. See Deletions and mirroring.
Away from home
The phone backs up when it is home. Photos taken on a trip go to the server when you're back. See Home network only.
The protocol
Phones and the server speak DMSP, the Diune Media Server Protocol: resumable uploads, duplicate checks before anything is sent, pairing with a QR code, and TLS with the server's key pinned on the phone. The dmsp command line speaks it too.