:experimental:
:docdatetime: 2022-08-08T12:19:20+02:00

= Google Photo Sync

Why give up privacy for a screensaver?

== Storytime

I recently got a new NVidia Shield with Android TV and after setting everything up I wanted to add a screen saver.
There are tons of them and some of them even can take a Google Photo album and make your TV a digital picture frame.

I thought it would be great because I already use Google Photos for sharing albums with other people.

So I tried to log in. 

And I didn't do it.

The screensaver app did not only need access to my photos.
It also wanted my personal details, email address, contact list, and other details.
This was unacceptable.

Then I thought about it: These apps normally can use images stored on the device or a connected drive.
My NAS is already connected to the Shield so...

== The Solution

I already had some experience with the Google API from projects like the link:#/project/infoscreen[Infoscreen] and the link:#/project/simple-cb[Simple Callback Server].

I decided to make it easier for users who are not familiar with the API, so I created a CLI to set everything up.

I think the `README` is pretty good so no need to explain the setup process.

== What's left

My detection for images with similar names is bad (but it works and I can only think of one edge case where it doesn't).
I could use MD5s to make it better.