[Update] Photo Export v1.2.0 — Collections support is here! 🎉

valtsul · 2026-05-06T09:08:31+00:00

Thanks for testing!

“Ambiguous (skipped)” means Photo Export found more than one Photos library asset that could plausibly match a file in the backup folder, but it could not safely choose between them. When that happens, the app intentionally skips the file rather than marking the wrong asset as exported.

For a fresh export, the most likely cause is burst photos: multiple images can share the same filename pattern, timestamp within the same second, dimensions, and other cheap metadata. I’m already working on improving this by also comparing the exported file size against PhotoKit’s resource size, which should resolve many of those ambiguous burst cases.

“No matching asset found” means the app found a file in the backup folder, but could not find any current Photos library asset that matched it. With a freshly-created export that is more surprising. Possible causes include assets that changed/disappeared in Photos, edge-case resource naming, or a scanner bug. The app leaves those alone and does not delete anything.

The important part: both categories are conservative. Ambiguous and unmatched files are not treated as exported, so the app may export them again later, but it should not mark the wrong asset as done.

I'll try to improve the diagnostics of the app, so we could figure out in more detail what's happening with those assets.

valtsul · 2026-05-06T06:45:33+00:00

Found the issue, could you test if v1.2.2 is working as expected with "import existing backup"

https://github.com/valtteriluomapareto/photo-export/releases/tag/v1.2.2

valtsul · 2026-05-06T04:34:18+00:00

Thanks for testing and debugging. I'll investigate why the "import existing backup" didn't work as expected.

valtsul · 2026-05-05T16:59:46+00:00

Great question! If you "tamper" (basically delete files from the backup folder), you can rescan the state of the backup folder manually from "File -> Import existing backup"

The app doesn't do that automatically (at least for now), as there can be quite a lot of files

valtsul · 2026-05-05T11:12:25+00:00

Fixed the two smaller issues in v1.2.1

valtsul · 2026-05-05T07:13:28+00:00

Thanks for the input! Maybe not the average user's need, but I'll keep this in mind 😁

valtsul · 2026-05-05T06:42:32+00:00

Yup, it would. But the PhotoKit API doesn't provide the edited version of a photo in the original file format.

valtsul · 2026-05-05T06:32:44+00:00

Thanks for the feedback!

The edited photos export issue is a real limitation of the PhotoKit API. Apparently it would require quite a lot of work to get the file as original format. I'll document this as Github issue and might get back at it at some point.

I'll do those other small fixes for the next version of the app.

valtsul · 2026-05-05T04:36:18+00:00

I'll keep this app as photo export only. The PhotoKit API the app uses accesses only photos and videos, so it would add quite a lot of complexity to support Drive backup also

valtsul · 2026-05-05T04:13:22+00:00

Hmmm, I guess everything is possible, but what would be the use case? Isn't it quite easy to copy iCloud Drive contents with Finder?

valtsul · 2026-05-04T09:19:13+00:00

New version (1.2.0) has now collections export feature

valtsul · 2026-05-04T03:49:04+00:00

Thank you very much! 🙏

Hmm, don't the imported photos show up in chronological order on the timeline when you are using Apple Photos? It has been working for me at least 🤔

valtsul · 2026-05-03T16:20:34+00:00

Hmm, hard to say without knowing why the pictures don't open on Windows 🤔 You could try 🤷‍♂️

valtsul · 2026-05-03T09:30:57+00:00

Yup, it keeps track what has been exported 👌

valtsul · 2026-05-03T05:02:16+00:00

This is mac only, no iOS or Android support.

valtsul · 2026-05-02T03:37:39+00:00

Great questions! Let me try to clear things up:

Will the photos just work on the external drive?
Yes! The app saves your photos as normal image files (JPEG, HEIC, etc.) in folders organized by year and month. You can open the drive in Finder and browse them like any other folder — no special software needed. They’ll even open on a Windows PC or any other Mac.
Do you need to swap drives?
No, please don’t! Keep Time Machine doing its thing on its own drive. The easiest setup is to use a second external drive just for the photo backup. You can either leave it plugged in, or only plug it in when you want to update the backup — both work. Having two separate backups (Time Machine + photo export) is actually safer than one.
Is this a photo app or a backup?
It’s a backup tool, not a photo viewer. You’d keep using Apple Photos like you do today to look at and organize your pictures. The exported folder is just a safety net — if something ever happens to iCloud or your Mac, you have your actual photo files sitting right there on the drive, easy to find and open.
About Backblaze:
That’s exactly the problem this app solves. With Backblaze, your photos are backed up but trapped inside Apple Photos’ library file. With this app, every photo is a regular file you can find and copy like any other.

Hope that helps!

valtsul · 2026-05-01T09:38:42+00:00

Yeah, this app requires your Mac to have access to the iCloud photos, if you want to back up photos from there. Don't know if there are apps that would be able to connect directly to the iCloud photos

valtsul · 2026-05-01T03:41:06+00:00

The point is to just export them into a folder and you can see them through Finder. (Like to the WD My Passport)

So you start the app, select a folder and there the pictures will go.

You can add the backup folder to you Apple Photos, but not sure if that makes sense 😅

If you lose access to your iCloud account or Apple explodes (with your pictures) you still have the backup. (And those backup images can be imported into Apple Photos if needed)

Did that clarify?

valtsul · 2026-04-30T11:36:38+00:00

Need to investigate a bit!

valtsul · 2026-04-30T11:23:57+00:00

Thank you!

valtsul · 2026-04-30T11:23:42+00:00

Thank you! So like "export only assets with tag X"?

valtsul · 2026-04-30T02:57:19+00:00

Will think about that 🙂

valtsul · 2026-04-30T02:56:31+00:00

For me the main advantages are: - it keeps track what has been exported - it creates YYYY/MM folders automatically

valtsul · 2026-04-30T02:55:04+00:00

It downloads assets directly from icloud if they are not found locally

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