DS photo (iOS)

Version 3.12

Before using DS photo, make sure you have DSM and Photo Station installed on your Synology NAS. Basic configurations must be managed from a computer with access to Photo Station, such as setting criteria for smart albums and creating categories.

DS photo allows you to log in to Photo Station securely and effortlessly. You can protect your connection via SSL/TLS connections and verify the server certificate installed on your Synology server.

To log in to Photo Station with DS photo:

1. Do either of the following:
   • Enter the following information on the login page:
     • Address or QuickConnect ID: This can be either the internal or external IP address, DDNS hostname, or Synology QuickConnect ID. Make sure you have enabled QuickConnect in DSM > Control Panel > QuickConnect before logging in with QuickConnect ID.
     • User account and password: If you have enabled Personal Photo Station, tap next to the account field and enter your Personal Photo Station account.
   • Tap the arrow button next to the Address or QuickConnect ID field to select previous login credentials from your login history, or find Synology NAS servers in your local network. A set of credentials can be removed by swiping them leftwards.
2. If you want to secure your connection, do the following:
   • Turn on HTTPS if you want your connection to be SSL/TLS-encrypted. Before doing so, make sure the HTTPS service is activated in Control Panel > Network > DSM Settings on your DSM.
   • Enable Verify certificate by going to > Login Settings to validate the SSL certificate installed on your Synology server. This verification works if the installed certificate is trusted (the certificate needs to be purchased from a third-party issuer).

To simplify logging in:

IP addresses (or QuickConnect ID/hostnames) and user accounts are shared between the login histories of the different Synology mobile apps. To avoid entering user credentials multiple times, do either of the following:

• Tap to enable Remember IP address and account. Disable the option if you do not want to share credentials among apps.
• Enable Remember me on the login page to remember the password of your user account. You will always be automatically logged in until you log out of the app. Note that enabling this option will only save the password for DS photo but will not share it with other Synology apps.

To log out of DS photo:

Tap > Logout.

The following is an overview of the features in DS photo:

1. Check your login information, configure settings, read related documents, and log out of DS photo.
2. View the albums downloaded to DS photo.
3. View and edit photo albums.
4. View Smart Albums, which are virtual albums that automatically group photos and videos matching the defined criteria.
5. View and edit the photos you have publicly shared.
6. Monitor the upload and download progress of files.
7. Monitor the progress of backing up files from your iOS device.
8. Search albums, photos, and videos. Only the items in offline albums can be searched when DS photo is not connected to the Internet.
9. View the albums that have been organized into portfolios in Photo Station.
10. Tap on the upper-right corner to do the following:
    • Create a new album
    • Upload photos and videos
    • Select one or multiple items
    • Sort photos or albums in ascending or descending order

You can upload photos or videos from your iOS device to existing or new albums in Photo Station. The Photo Backup feature can automatically upload photos to Photo Station every time a photo is taken on your mobile device, freeing up space on your device and saving you the hassle of needing to manually upload photos one by one.

To upload manually:

Browse to the album where you would like to upload photos and videos to, and tap > Upload to upload files from your mobile device to Photo Station. In addition to uploading to existing albums, you can also tap > Create New Album to create a new album before uploading your files.

The following displays the available album permission types:

• Public Album: Album can be accessed by anyone with the link.
• Private Album: Album can be accessed only by Photo Station users with access permission.
• Password Locked: Album is password locked and can only be unlock by entering the correct password.

To upload automatically:

Enabling Photo Backup can automatically upload the photos and videos taken with your iOS device to Photo Station.
Go to Photo Backup on the left panel and tap to enable Photo Backup. Once this feature is enabled, it will upload photos and videos automatically to an album of your choice.

To upload photos in the background:

iOS apps cannot perform background tasks for more than 3 to 10 minutes. Using geofences to add locations will trigger and resume upload tasks in the background for another 3 to 10 minutes whenever you leave or re-enter the defined areas. Tap > Geofence > Create to add geofences.

To download photos to Camera Roll:

While viewing a photo, tap > Save to Camera Roll to download the photo to the Camera Roll album on your iOS device. You can share the downloaded photo with friends via emails or messages using the features provided by your device.

To download albums for offline browsing:

Browse to an album and tap > Download Album to save the album for offline browsing. Go to Downloaded Albums on the left panel to view the albums downloaded from and cached on your DS photo.

To change the viewing mode:

• Browse to an album and tap to view your photos and videos in one of the following modes:
  • Thumbnail mode
  • List mode
  • Map mode
  • Timeline
• Browse to an album, tap and choose Sort By on iPhone or tap on iPad to change file display order.

To view photos and videos on TV:

While viewing a photo or video in full screen, tap to connect to your Apple TV, Chromecast or DLNA device, and "mirror" the photo or video currently on your iOS device screen to the selected device.

To search albums, photos, and videos:

Do either of the following:

• Tap Search in the sliding menu to search the name and info of any album, photo, and video.
• Browse to an album, drag the page down and release it to reveal the filter bar. Enter keywords to find specific items.

To tag photos and videos:

Do either of the following:

• While viewing a photo or video in full screen, tap to tag an item.
• Browse to an album and tap > Select to choose and tag multiple items. Please note that you can only apply general and location tags to multiple items here.

To view a photo's or video's detailed information:

While viewing a photo or video, tap to view the detailed information, tags, and comments added to the photo.

To play slideshow:

While viewing a photo or video in full screen, tap to play the slideshow. You can change the interval and display order of the slideshow by tapping .

To delete photos or videos:

Do either of the following:

• While viewing a photo or video in full screen, tap to delete a file.
• Browse to an album, tap > Select to choose and delete multiple files.

To move photos between albums:

Do either of the following:

• While viewing a photo or video in full screen, tap to move a file.
• Browse to an album, tap > Select to choose and move multiple files.

To comment on photos or videos:

While viewing a photo or video in full screen, tap to add and view comments.

To share an album:

While viewing an album, tap > Share with the public to share this album with your friends. Newly added photos in this album will be synced and available via the same public sharing link. Tap Shared Albums to view and manage the albums you have shared publicly.

To share photos or videos:

While viewing a photo or video in full screen, tap > Share to share it with your friends with one of the three following methods:

• Share with the public: The sharing link can be copied and pasted to emails, instant messages, and web pages. Tap Shared Albums to view and manage the items you have shared publicly.
• Email Link: An email message with a link to the item you want to share will be instantly created.
• Copy Link: The internal link for this photo will be copied to your clipboard. The receiver needs to log in with an authorized account to view the photo.
• Share Photo: You can share a photo to other mobile applications (e.g., social media apps) installed on your iOS device, or save it in Camera Roll.

To print photos:

While viewing a photo or video in full screen, tap > Print to print photos. From the list of printers that appears onscreen, select an AirPrint-enabled printer within LAN.

Tap to configure the following settings.

To adjust video settings:

• Playback Quality

You can choose a playback quality that suits your current network connection: Auto, High Quality (highest quality among playable videos) and Standard Quality (lowest quality among playable videos). When Auto quality is selected, DS photo plays videos in high quality under Wi-Fi connection and in standard quality during 3G connection.

To adjust image quality:

• In Download Quality and Sharing Quality, you can choose between thumbnail and original image qualities. When thumbnail quality is selected, DS photo downloads and resizes photos in the same quality as that when browsed on your iOS device.

To manage offline settings:

Tap Cache Limit to set the maximum size limit for photos cached on your DS photo.

To protect your DS photo with a passcode:

• Once you have enabled and set up a passcode, you will be required to enter a 4-digit passcode whenever you restart DS photo or unlock your device. You can also set the frequency for DS photo to perform a re-authentication request. With passcode enabled, you can further enable Touch ID and unlock DS photo with your fingerprint. Entering the passcode is required if your fingerprint cannot be recognized.