Alonso Vidales has built Off The Cloud, an open-source Raspberry Pi 5 project that lets users store, search and share family photos without relying on a traditional cloud photo and video -storage service. Instead of sending photos and videos to an external server for storage and AI analysis, the system keeps them on a device at home. It automatically backs up full-resolution photos and videos from phones and uses artificial intelligence (AI) to help users find pictures by searching for things such as dogs, beaches and birthday cakes. Users can also search by person, date and location using information available in their photo collection. The project aims to offer the convenience of Google Photos while giving users more control over their personal memories and avoiding a conventional cloud photo-storage subscription.
The system is built around a Raspberry Pi 5 with 8GB RAM, a microSD card for the operating system, two USB-connected storage drives and a cooler inside a 3D-printed case. The two drives use RAID 1, which keeps matching copies of stored files on both drives. If one drive fails, the system can continue using the other and rebuild the replacement drive. Optional red and green LEDs connected to the Pi's GPIO pins show the storage drives' status. For AI photo search, the Raspberry Pi runs image-tagging and face-recognition software on its own CPU, without sending photos to an external AI service for analysis. The project uses the RAM++ model with ONNX Runtime to tag images and OpenCV with YuNet and SFace for face recognition. It also encrypts stored files using AES-GCM, with a password-derived key. The device software and apps are available under the AGPL-3.0 open-source licence.
To set up Off The Cloud, users install its app on a Windows, Mac or Linux computer and use it to download the Raspberry Pi system image and prepare a microSD card. After connecting the two storage drives and powering on the Pi, they configure the device's Wi-Fi, name and password through the app. Users can then sign in through the phone app to start automatic photo backups. The project can be useful for families, photographers and anyone who wants a private photo library with AI-powered search and sharing features. However, it requires users to buy and maintain their own hardware, and photo analysis uses the Pi's processing power. The Android app is available on Google Play, while the iPhone app was still under App Store review when the project was published. Remote access from outside the home also requires additional setup through a relay service or an alternative such as a VPN. RAID 1 protects against a single drive failure but does not replace a separate backup, as accidental deletion, theft or damage to the whole device can still cause data loss. By combining Raspberry Pi, local AI, encrypted storage and automatic photo and video backup, Off The Cloud offers a DIY alternative to cloud photo services for people who want to keep their photo library under their own control.
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