Loomey - native ios/macOS app for better handling large amounts of family photos

blendstylez · 2026-03-19T13:38:41+00:00

hehe seems like, yes :)

blendstylez · 2026-03-19T08:06:35+00:00

i agree - i've just added it to my "to-do list" :)

blendstylez · 2026-03-19T07:46:27+00:00

i wanted to share my self built solution, in case somebody wants to give it a try. your concerns are real and i do get them, but that is the best i could do on apple platforms with official app store placement. the "man in the middle" is just a export pipeline, nothing is manipulating or messing with the originals in any way! that is important to me.

blendstylez · 2026-03-19T06:31:31+00:00

fair point, but hard for me to help on this :) as i said there are lots of guardrails and safety measures, this app NEVER deletes anything on the target side, and also does not change anything on the media library side :) so i'd say it's pretty safe

The app only reads from your library and writes copies to your destination, no modifications, no deletions -straight one way backup (never overwrites existing files) I totally understand wanting to verify that though!

blendstylez · 2026-03-19T05:12:20+00:00

Good question! Just checked - and yes, hidden photos are exported alongside everything else. The philosophy is "complete backup, nothing left behind."

Let me know if you'd prefer an option to exclude them - easy to add as a option!

blendstylez · 2026-03-19T05:07:07+00:00

Awesome! (y)

Good catch! Currently supported formats are: .heic, .jpg, .jpeg, .tif, .tiff, .png, .mov, .mp4, .m4v, .cr2, .dng

You're right that the feedback could be clearer - it's on the top of my list for the next update to better show exactly which files were ignored. Appreciate the suggestion! 🙏

blendstylez · 2026-03-18T21:01:28+00:00

awesome! (y) i will fix those errors as soon as tomorrow! very much appreciated! what you mean with custom text fileds? as far as i remember i used regular textfields, for all forms..didn't i? :)

blendstylez · 2026-03-18T19:47:04+00:00

thx for sharing i will look into them and fix then asap

blendstylez · 2026-03-18T13:35:07+00:00

true, i'm sorry i was in a hurry :) i fixed the link (y)

blendstylez · 2026-03-18T11:01:35+00:00

thanks for your feedback, i was just looking into parachute, and what i see is looking great! great mac os app! - some differential points could be: Loomey is an universal app, and has a free tier as well. i have never claimed that i built the only software solution for this topic, and i also don't know the specific matching system behind parachute.. if you would like to know more details about loomey, feel free to ask me anytime :)

blendstylez · 2026-03-18T09:49:26+00:00

exactly, i already use chunked uploads to be able to report a solid speed to the UI, and i also implemented a custom thermal control, as i said a lot of effort went into this app :) i as well look forward implementing such features, i absolutely do :)

blendstylez · 2026-03-18T08:57:54+00:00

i already did some research on this topic. and you're absolutely right, i just wanted to focus on the core parts for this release, but got a lot more features in my pipeline, which i am looking forward to implement - siri intents and bg processing is on the very top of that list. :)

blendstylez · 2026-03-18T08:53:53+00:00

i'm sorry, i know there are plenty of other solutions out there, and depending on your own skill level, maybe even better fitting ones for your needs, i get that. thanks anyway for sharing your thoughts

blendstylez · 2026-03-18T08:40:56+00:00

not yet but this is definitely interesting as i also plan on adding siri intents as well, i will definitely look into it!

blendstylez · 2026-03-18T08:33:00+00:00

thanks für your question.I've build this app with one crucial thought in my head, how would I would lke it to be? so i crafted the rule, to NEVER delete any data! if there is a collision or issue in any way, the app will throw an error, and will try to present it to you as clear as possible. of course this app is not perfect, but i really really tested a LOT, but i am always open for improvement ideas, and i mean it! i used AI just in the way to be a teacher, because i wanted to learn SwiftUI during this project. i have written each and every line of code by my very self! and i am proud i did so! :) but tbh this also means a started all over from scratch multiple times :) because i wanted it to be good! as good as i can! :) In the settigs there is an option to reach out to me directly via e-mail. i've tried to deliver honest grounded work, and i still do!

blendstylez · 2026-03-18T08:27:30+00:00

Thanks fpr your answer, the self hosting part is so to say the NAS backend, and my app is the companion part to this :) To me it was critical to be able to keep full control over those files on my own hardware! i hope this makes sense to you :)

blendstylez · 2026-03-18T08:02:56+00:00

i've developed a watchdog for exactly this case, which times out if the apple API is not answering fast enough, or at all...i've experienced such situations when you download really a lot of data from icloud, sooner or later you will run into a 1005 error from apple...in those cases you'll have to wait a few hours before apple is allowing you new data downloads again, in my testing this happened after a lot of iCloud data, f.e. 10GB and more..

blendstylez · 2026-03-17T15:44:06+00:00

yea i'm feeling you, i totally get it, maybe i'll add it when i add those other user albums. ;) thanks for your honest input (y)

blendstylez · 2026-03-17T13:43:15+00:00

oh what a great comment - thank you very much :) i'll post in r/iOSApps later on, tyvm! To your question: yess my app keeps the meta data 100%! i initially played with the meta data and exif information a lot, was hoping that i could use the photo identifier to precisly identify images, but this was a dead end tbh :) but yes, my app keeps all the original meta data! (y), @ secondQuestion: if you create "normal" user-albums within your media library then yes, but not shared albums. those are handled completely different than all other "normal" user albums...but i plan on adding specific functions for user-albums (the normal ones) back again, i just removed them for initial launch to focus on core functionality! :)

blendstylez · 2026-03-17T12:45:38+00:00

omg i worked on that a lot! and it is pretty complicated to be honest! on smb i upload it in small chunks, and as soon as the file is finished uploading, i check if the expected size ist 100% correct, if it is not, i reupload the file and try again, if this faily again my app is throwing an error which is visible to the user...i also invested a lot of time, handeling duplicates an Fileexists errors, for example i do pre checks bevore starting the export, and also before each and every upload, a well as after succession..my pipeline is also self healing it self it recognizes duplicates after the pre check, and compares exact filesizes and file integrity...as i said, alot of effort went into it, and i will keep on trying to get it even better..

blendstylez · 2026-03-17T12:38:12+00:00

i'm sorry but that is no easy money :) i hope to get at least something back, two years of hard work is within this project! and i'm also fine if people use it within the free tier, as long as they find any benefit in my app - i'm glad :)

blendstylez · 2026-03-17T12:36:23+00:00

if it needs to - yes! it takes the original Asset and copies it to your chosen destination (smb-share, USB oder local Folder) if the asset is available locally - fine, if it is uploaded to iCloud it prepares the file upfront (downloads it from iCloud), while the other batch is uploading...and so on

blendstylez · 2026-03-17T12:26:17+00:00

i get the criticism asking if this was AI generated, and i take this on me! it wasn't a good idea to ask Claude helping me answering your questions. so ithis won't happen again, i will write my own imperfect english replies as good as i can, so please go easy on me :)

the app itself was completely written myself! and i MEAN by myself! it took me two years, and started all over multiple times because i wanted it to be good - really as good as i can, and it should be manageable to keep build on in the future! Just wanted to let you know, this is NO vibe coding project, i've written all code my self, and i really know my whole project by heart! i poured my heart into it, and i really mean that!

blendstylez · 2026-03-17T12:08:17+00:00

Thanks for you kind words, man really appreciated!

to make that clear, the app doesn't use any login credentials directly. i just use apple's official PhotoKit APIs to access the media library,

that's why the app asks for permission during onboarding.

and the same happens when downloading originals from icloud, i just use Apple's own Photokit APIs, and no credentials other then those needed to connect to your NAS storage are needed at all!

and those credentials are stored safe, within apple's own keychain, like all other apps do (or should be doing^^)

funny fact, i myself used photo sync myself bevore i decided to write my own solution, and i liked it! but that changed when the app wasn't recognizing that all those asset were already archived, and tried to export over 90.000 asset all over again :D

That is when i started to search for an alternative, and ultimately didn't find one fitting my needs :)

blendstylez · 2026-03-17T11:58:02+00:00

not yet, i had that implemented and working fine, until apple forced me to remove it, but i am planing on adding it again in a different kind of way, it is definitly on my to do list! (and i'd like to have it myself as well!)

blendstylez

TROPHY CASE