I built google photos alternative
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Asaduzzaman Rumon
May 29, 2026
A few months ago, I shared my app, Telephoto — a privacy-focused photo backup app that uses Telegram as storage instead of traditional cloud services.
Since then, I’ve been actively improving it based on feedback, performance testing, and my own daily use.
The newest version is a huge upgrade compared to the first release
Here are some of the things that are now part of Telephoto:
✨ Faster and smarter sync
The app now handles photo syncing much more reliably and efficiently, only uploading what’s needed while keeping everything lightweight.
🔍 Improved OCR & search
You can search screenshots and photos using text inside the image — receipts, notes, passwords, documents, random screenshots… anything.
And all OCR processing still happens locally on-device for privacy.
📂 Better folder management
You now have more control over which folders get backed up and which ones stay ignored.
⚡ Parallel processing
Large libraries process much faster now thanks to parallel OCR and optimized background tasks.
🔐 Privacy-focused design
Your photos go directly to your own Telegram chat using a bot you control. No third-party cloud storage, no subscriptions, no complicated setup.
🛠 Built with Flutter
A lot of work went into performance optimization, background syncing, database handling, and making the UI feel clean and simple.
What started as a small personal tool is slowly becoming something people actually use every day — and that’s honestly the most motivating part of building it.
Find the app at:-
https://github.com/ASRumon/Telephoto
Since then, I’ve been actively improving it based on feedback, performance testing, and my own daily use.
The newest version is a huge upgrade compared to the first release
Here are some of the things that are now part of Telephoto:
✨ Faster and smarter sync
The app now handles photo syncing much more reliably and efficiently, only uploading what’s needed while keeping everything lightweight.
🔍 Improved OCR & search
You can search screenshots and photos using text inside the image — receipts, notes, passwords, documents, random screenshots… anything.
And all OCR processing still happens locally on-device for privacy.
📂 Better folder management
You now have more control over which folders get backed up and which ones stay ignored.
⚡ Parallel processing
Large libraries process much faster now thanks to parallel OCR and optimized background tasks.
🔐 Privacy-focused design
Your photos go directly to your own Telegram chat using a bot you control. No third-party cloud storage, no subscriptions, no complicated setup.
🛠 Built with Flutter
A lot of work went into performance optimization, background syncing, database handling, and making the UI feel clean and simple.
What started as a small personal tool is slowly becoming something people actually use every day — and that’s honestly the most motivating part of building it.
Find the app at:-
https://github.com/ASRumon/Telephoto