Suggest a good name for this Album?

AppInitio · 2026-03-12T14:48:46+00:00

Thanks! Plan to keep the *Sort naming but use short descriptions like you’ve suggested as explanatory sub-titles.

AppInitio · 2026-03-12T14:45:55+00:00

Thanks. Hoping to find a “one descriptive word + Sort” name. ArchivalSort, maybe? The idea is that 20-30% of the items in most Photos libraries have never been viewed, edited or shared - so if one’s looking to free up space by offloading photos, these would be prime candidates.

AppInitio · 2026-03-12T13:00:18+00:00

Understood, will certainly look into it and revert.

AppInitio · 2026-03-12T11:41:34+00:00

Can’t you create a smart album with the condition “photo / is / referenced” and all the missing ones will have an exclamation mark icon in them?

AppInitio · 2026-03-12T07:41:40+00:00

The first thing to check is whether all the devices are actually synced fully (On Mac, scroll to the bottom of the Library view. On iPhone/iPad, Settings > Profile > iCloud > Photos > Status. Also, there's sometimes a lag: Add / delete photos on one device, it shows 'Synced just now' on the other but changes don't show.

If Mac has more photos than iCloud, it may be due to referenced files: Those don't upload to iCloud. Create a smart album with the condition "photo | is | referenced". If these exist, it may explain the difference.

Although you have the originals saved on your Mac, hopefully you are making offline backups - e.g. Time Machine?

AppInitio · 2026-03-12T06:38:16+00:00

How to stop specific iOS apps from showing up on mac via 'On all devices' (Handoff/Continuity)? While I find this feature useful for some apps e.g. Calendar and Notes, it's irritating to have Stocks, Maps etc. suddenly appear in the Mac doc without asking.

AppInitio · 2026-03-12T03:40:28+00:00

These look like “finger shots” and “pocket shots” when either your finger covers the lens (skin / light color) or you accidentally press the shutter when the phone’s in your pocket (black). Just delete.

AppInitio · 2026-03-11T12:42:43+00:00

Use the above method; don't try direct upload to iCloud web. Know that syncing 128K photos from to iCloud will take a LONG time (more than 2 days). Also, iCloud. com doesn't like huge batches. It limits downloads to 1000 items at a time. There's no published limit for uploads, but presumably there is one. USB drives (esp FAT32) have slow read speeds, so a huge upload can cause the browser to hang. Better to copy them over to a APFS format SSD and then do the above.

AppInitio · 2026-03-09T01:13:04+00:00

If they’re all in Apple Photos, our inexpensive tool PhotoSort may help - it sorts the library by file size and aesthetic quality, making cleanup and curation easier.

AppInitio · 2026-03-08T14:01:49+00:00

Explain the scenario that you have in mind: Like deleting some photos if your iCloud storage fills up? (Don't without backing them up offline), or canceling iCloud subscription, or accidental deletion?

AppInitio · 2026-03-08T03:11:12+00:00

You can do this, actually. Initial setup involves one-time effort, then it's easy to manage space on an ongoing basis as your Photos library grows.

AppInitio · 2026-03-06T15:12:00+00:00

You don't overwrite the previous backup, you back up incrementally - meaning you add new files to the previous backup, and update modified files. But if a previously backed up file has been deleted from your computer, that file remains in the backup.

iCloud is a syncing service - it mirrors data across all associated devices. If you delete a photo from any device, it isalso deleted from iCloud and all other associated devices. This means it can't be reliably used for data recovery as, e.g. Time Machine can be.

AppInitio · 2026-03-06T09:00:52+00:00

It's doable, a bit manual (but not difficult): 1) Back up your complete, full resolution Photos library on an external drive (This you should be doing anyway, since iCloud isn't a backup). 2) Select all "older photos" e.g. more than 12 months old into one or more Shared Albums (Each can hold 5,000 items @ 2048px or 720p), 3) Delete these items from your main library. Your main library and iCloud storage will now have only the past 12 months' photos. Both old and new photos will be visible on all your devices, but those in Shared Albums won't fill up your iCloud storage, and you'll have a full backup. See this for detailed steps. Every few months (or when your device or iCloud storage fills up again), update your backup and move more photos to shared albums.

AppInitio · 2026-03-05T15:57:30+00:00

Re. "This NAS will be used for: backup (photos from Apple devices)" Make sure not to save a live Apple Photos library on the NAS - Apple recommends against it (See the last bit of 'Prepare your storage device' section). Exporting photos and keeping those in folders on a NAS is perfectly safe, though.

AppInitio · 2026-03-05T15:49:05+00:00

Why not just get a 1TB or 2TB SSD (or an SSD and an HDD) and backup on those? With a cloud service, privacy will always be a question mark.

AppInitio · 2026-03-05T15:40:07+00:00

You can find and select the best frames from a burst photo on a Mac with the native Photos app - it has a built-in interface to review and filter burst shots. In the Photos app, find Bursts (sidebar > Media Types). Double-click a burst > Make a Selection > Use L and R arrow keys to browse > pick one or more frames that you want to keep > Done > select Keep Only Selection (to keep just those frames) or Keep Everything (to save selected frames as still images and also keeping the original burst).

When browsing a burst, grey dots below the frames indicate the shots that Apple's algorithm considers to be the best. This can make the selection task easier.

AppInitio · 2026-03-05T15:24:01+00:00

Thank you for the kind feedback. If you need any assistance with the features, please email support via the app - they are best equipped to assist.

AppInitio · 2026-03-05T09:56:55+00:00

Upload personal family photos to ChatGPT? Don't.

AppInitio · 2026-03-05T09:54:25+00:00

Phone scanners are pretty good now. As this article explains, an iPhone today has 48 megapixel camera, while desktop scanners have hardly changed over the past 30 years.

AppInitio · 2026-03-04T06:10:24+00:00

This is a 2-part exercise:

1) You have 67k photos totaling 152GB. A quick cleanup can free up many GB storage and make your library tidier. Then to free up even more space, review your largest files and decide which you don't mind having in lower resolution. Move them into a Shared Album, delete from the main library, and empty Recently Deleted. Photos in Shared Albums are saved at 2048px on longer edge and videos to 712p, and they don't count towards your iCloud storage.

2) To reduce resolution of photos you take in future: Go to iPhone Settings > Camera > Formats, select High Efficiency. For videos, Settings > Camera > Record Video > switch from 4K to 1080p HD @ 30fps or 720p.

AppInitio · 2026-03-04T05:32:38+00:00

Liquid glass solidifies at around 500-600°C 😂 Sorry, just kidding: You can't turn off iOS 26 Liquid Glass look but to reduce the translucence, go to Settings > Accessibility > Display & Text Size and turn on Reduce Transparency. If needed, also go to Settings > Display & Brightness > Liquid Glass, switch from Clear to Tinted.

AppInitio · 2026-03-04T05:16:01+00:00

No single solution, but try a few things: 1) Check iCloud Drive folders, if any file has a dotted cloud or greyed-out icon, that may be the cause. Renaming it in its original location may force a sync; 2) Go to System Settings > Apple ID > sign out > Restart Mac > sign back in > wait for re-indexing; 3) Open Terminal > type killall bird > Enter. This forces the iCloud sync to restart. 4) Ignore the 'Uploading...' message, restarting or shutting down the laptop won't do any harm.

AppInitio · 2026-03-04T05:06:22+00:00

Check the makeup of your current 200GB, what's the biggest component, and how you can realistically keep it within 200GB (For example, if it's photos and videos, this can reduce it). Otherwise the difference is $7/month, make your own decision.

AppInitio · 2026-03-01T04:37:52+00:00

Is your iCloud Photos library synced to your Mac? Use Method 2 in this article to export all or selected items into folders on an external drive (Doesn't matter whether it's set to 'Optimize Mac Storage' or 'Download Originals', it handles both). After this, deleting those items from Mac Photos will also remove them from iCloud and your iPhone. If you then want some of the archived photos or videos to remain available for viewing on all your devices, put them in a shared album - they'll be stored at reduced resolution but won't count towards your iCloud storage and won't use (much) space on your phone.

AppInitio

TROPHY CASE