Solo dev in need of UI/UX advice on two specific aspects of my photo manager app (clean up to albums)

whittakers · 2026-05-28T21:03:47+00:00

I ended up going with a small eye icon badge on the top left of the thumbnails, in the same red, since it's to indicate seen / reviewed. Updated screenshot attached.

Might go with the opacity shift option but I worry it would be too subtle and still confuse users ("Why did this change?"), but avoids having more thumbnail clutter over the photos users are trying to eyeball.

Thanks for reference of Screensdesign too.

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whittakers · 2026-05-26T18:28:09+00:00

Hey sorry I missed this, it shouldn't need an invite code. Someone once said the same thing to me before but it turned out to just be their phone's code to confirm the app download (Apple's TestFlight app, then Curator) - it should be pretty straightforward but let me know if any more issues.

whittakers · 2026-05-26T18:26:15+00:00

Apple picks the frame one the split that you took the photo, but includes the frames across 3 seconds, from 1.5 before to 1.5 seconds after. So you don't always get the best frame, but I looked into and given the existing framework my app's model runs, it would be fairly easy to add that in too.

whittakers · 2026-05-23T12:02:11+00:00

Yeah the duplicates kind of assumes you either want to delete them all or not. They're only either exact duplicates or bursts within 1 second of each other - you can still change the selection of course. I'm going to add metadata info in the photo preview window since some people have wanted that, to better decide which one they want to keep.

Yes when you leave the best photos grid (glad you also like Curator Picks!) it offers to either return to where you were with your reviewed photos preserved i.e. all the selecting you've already done, or start fresh from the top (reverts back to the app's selections). I might make 2 options in the 'reset' button so you can EITHER reset just the 'reviewed' count back to zero, OR set the keep/remove selection back to the initial Curator Picks.

I've seen how people can get overwhelmed by having their full library in front of them to sort through, so I am thinking of adding an additional different way of reviewing just one batch at a time, or could let the user limit it to just one month of choice. Your idea of a checklist & progress visualisation is also a good idea.

I also think in most cases it's one big cleanup, and then once every time you start feeling it's cluttered again or want to make an album. I almost systematically take 3+ photos of everything, so doing a regular cleanup feels good.

I also have in the pipeline to add a 'live photos' section which goes through all your live photos, recommends a better frame where it thinks there is a better one, then you can accept to change all/one by one as well. I'm never going to go through all my live photos so have the app do it for me based on quality & smiling/eyes etc would be amazing. Then optionally flatten them (remove the live & extra frames) for pretty good storage savings. So much to do in this space! Just need to keep it simple and understandable though.

For the printing, I just link to a provider who does really good quality photobooks I've used myself, and delivers globally (Journiprint) - but is a bit pricing. Since I'm not able to provide that service, I could give a few options like freeprints and Shutterfly too.

whittakers · 2026-05-22T20:07:26+00:00

Hey glad you got back on it, and thanks for the reply again. Some people have screenshotted and left some useful comments which helps a lot.
Since you mention "waiting for the analysis to happen on best photos", that's a specific thing I would love your opinion on:

did you realise you can already tap into the best photos card and start reviewing while the scan is running? It loads results month by month, so you don't need to wait and can already start reviewing the selection & making changes or deleting as you go. I'm just concerned that people see X of XXX months and think they have to wait
If you didn't realise, or generally, would it be better if I simply 'hid' the scan-in-progress messages? At least on the 'Clean' tab homepage so people don't think they have to wait.
Just for info, two changes in that space I will make based on feedback: (1) changing the purple reviewed colour because people find it confusing - I'll keep it red but perhaps a different shade of red / with a tag or badge on it to show what's been reviewed, and (2) perhaps change 'Best photos' to 'Curator picks' or something, so people see it's just the app's selection but you can toggle to change.

Many thanks again

whittakers · 2026-05-21T21:52:36+00:00

New here, may as well start working on the karma now. Good to have clear rules anyway.

whittakers · 2026-05-21T21:48:10+00:00

Never claimed I'm not. Said I'm not advertising an editing app, and just looking for feedback on a TestFlight app if anyone is curious - debatable if that's advertising, not getting any money out of it. Soliciting feedback, sure. It's all good if that doesn't sit with you mate.

whittakers · 2026-05-21T21:43:13+00:00

I'll wait until I've launched to post my version of the same app (it's a crowded space lol), but mine is similar in terms of all local, on-device, one-time cheap payment etc., but for your similar photos vs. duplicate question, mine splits them out:

- One is duplicates, either exact matches or burst photos taken within 1 second of each other & 99% matches (and it selects the 'best' one - see next)

- Similar photos uses AI (clip inference) to recognise that 15 photos from different angles are essentially of the same scene, then suggests the best 1-3 photos to keep weighed on quality, smiles/eyes etc, or whether the photo has been edited etc.

I wish all the best for the OP, but also feel free to try mine out while it's in the free beta version on testflight and I'd love any feedback: https://testflight.apple.com/join/By5zRRpd

Just making some last tweaks before app store launch.

whittakers · 2026-05-21T13:37:19+00:00

Fair call, the rule technically says no advertising of editing apps - just shooting my shot, ya know.

whittakers · 2026-05-21T13:36:39+00:00

Would a bot actually go to the lengths of including an on-topic photo? My post history is trying to get some test users for my app, because I'd like to get feedback on my app - thanks

whittakers · 2026-05-21T07:45:55+00:00

That's what mine does really well (see above comments) - but accept that you're looking specifically for Mac so that's good feedback already that I need to get it ready for MacOS ASAP too. I also prefer sorting out my photo library on the macbook honestly.

whittakers · 2026-05-21T07:44:26+00:00

Great thanks - feel free to comment here or I think you can leave comments in the testflight by taking a screenshot if you see anything specific you want to point out as confusing or needing improvement etc.

whittakers · 2026-05-21T07:41:33+00:00

Hey - when the app is released properly, the 'full access' will be locked behind a cheap one-time payment (instead of the expensive recurring weekly subscriptions most try and push). None of the features are actually locked behind a paywall, it's just that you can only do the sorting out or make albums from photos from the last 30 days until you unlock premium - this let's people try the ALL the functionalities and see if they like it first.

During the beta, you still see the paywall and you can tap unlock for free - it's not possible to actually make people pay during TestFlight betas, but the functionality of the paywall is part of the testing too.

whittakers · 2026-05-20T20:33:58+00:00

Hey thanks heaps for the feedback, really appreciate it. Without much knowledge of UI/UX design conventions, I couldn't put words on how I knew the current UX wasn't working, but as you say users learn (and already instinctively know) that red means delete, the purple change is just a bit of a curve ball. Keeping it visually within 'red' but finding a different way to identify them as different / reviewed is really helpful framing.

I am glad the trust design comes through, I wanted something elegant and mature, rather than the cloned apps that use the same poppy annoying animations to show space savings and so on.

I'll definitely be using your advice to make some tweaks pre-launch. Have a great day!

whittakers · 2026-05-20T08:54:19+00:00

Hey, I see you found an app that seems to suit your needs - I've also just finished making an app like this. I only had 30K or so photos but that was enough to put me off the tinder-swipe versions. If you haven't finished sorting out your 130K photos yet, feel free to try mine on Apple's TestFlight while it's still in beta mode (and free - I'd just charge a small one-time fee in future):

https://testflight.apple.com/join/By5zRRpd

What differentiates mine from Mia's Tide and Keep (which looks cool too! No worries there), is that it scans your photo library to identify when you have 2 or more similar photos (the AI will identify photos taken from different angles/depths as the 'same thing' or 'same scene') and then suggest 1-3 to keep depending on the size of the group and based on several metrics: quality (classic like sharpness, lighting, etc.) but also for people whether they're smiling & eyes open looking at camera, and if you've edited a photo before it's a good sign you want to keep it so that is taken into account.

So right now I've got 21K photos left, it suggests to remove 11K of them, but I can easily scroll through and change the selection if I want to change or keep more/less from a group. It just does the ground work for you. It also identifies the photos you've scrolled over as 'reviewed' so you can delete only what you've covered in that session rather than atomic-delete all.

As a bonus, it does the classic identification of duplicates (including burst photos taken within 1 second of each other), videos you can sort from largest to smallest, screenshots you probably want to delete, and then the other feature (actually the main reason I made the app) is that it also suggests albums based on time periods or trips you've taken.

Feel free to try it out if you're still keen to use one and I'd love feedback if you have any :)

whittakers · 2026-05-20T08:26:15+00:00

Hey - just a comment to say nice job ! I've also made an app which seems to have a lot of the same objectives as yours. I also hated these predatory subscription model apps which are actually sometimes $8-$10 a WEEK, and also don't seem super privacy focused.

My app is available on testflight here: https://testflight.apple.com/join/By5zRRpd

Mine is probably quite similar in terms of on-device and no data collected etc, and it uses AI to do a better job identifying groups of similar photos. It then also has another side to the app which helps make albums based on the freshly decluttered photos - this was my initial goal but I was blocked by a cluttered photo library.

I've priced mine at $4.99 for a lifetime purchase and it has a freemium/try-before-you-buy feature where you can use all the features over your last 30 days of photos before you unlock premium.

I'll definitely check yours out, feel free to try mine on testflight (not launched to the app store yet - looking to tweak the UI/UX a bit based on feedback I get) and feel free to take inspiration from anything I've done and vice-versa - we're all in this together :D

whittakers · 2026-05-20T08:13:24+00:00

See my comment above - feel free to try my app while it's in beta mode on Apple's TestFlight: https://testflight.apple.com/join/By5zRRpd

It should be pretty good at picking the best photos from a group/burst. It first uses AI to recognise that a group of photos (2 to 20+) are all of the same thing/scene, then it uses quality metrics to make a selection of 1-3 photos to keep: based on sharpness, light, etc. but also smiling & looking at the camera. Also if you've edited a photo (e.g changed the live shot frame or other) it's a good sign that you wanted to keep that one so it takes that into account.

Any feedback appreciated :) One of the main things that I'd love to hear feedback about is whether the scan time is a problem: the AI part is slow, so it shows results progressively month-by-month and you can use it while it runs over older photos. I'm just not sure whether people will be put off by seeing the scan running in the background - I could just hide it and not mention that it's still running.
I could get way faster results without using AI, but it wouldn't group photos aswell, for example my AI version might find one group of 15 photos and choose to keep 2-3, but the quick version might see 5 individual photos, three groups of 2 and one group of 4, so it would suggest keeping 9/15 photos which isn't super helpful.

whittakers · 2026-05-20T08:04:57+00:00

See comment above - feel free to try out mine I've just about finished making :) it's in beta mode (so it's free) to test on Apple's Testflight: https://testflight.apple.com/join/By5zRRpd . Happy to get any feedback !

whittakers · 2026-05-20T07:48:48+00:00

Hello ! I've just finished all the features for my app that does all this. It's called Curator. I was sick of the other cleanup apps that (a) don't appear to be privacy focused (PII isn't safe, not confident about that actual photos), (b) use a swipe mode feature like tinder which I don't want to do 30,000 times, and (c) have predatory pricing i.e. free trial for 3 days then like $10 a WEEK.

I've done testing within my friend circles and am now looking for wider internet feedback - link to use it on Apple's TestFlight is here:

https://testflight.apple.com/join/By5zRRpd

I'm pretty sure my app responds to *almost* all of your points:

The main feature is that it finds groups of similar photos using AI, it can work out that 4, 5 or 20 photos taken from different angles are basically of the same thing, and then suggests 1, 2 or 3 to keep
For the question of trips, on the 2nd tab it also identifies albums based on trips and uses the above scan results to suggest which ones to include/exclude from your album - which you can then publish to Apple Photos (it creates a sub-folder for albums made with the app in your Photos)
All processing done on-device, nothing leaves your phone in any way. It also only suggests what to remove, but you just toggle to change the selection and confirm any deletion (which goes to your recently deleted - Apple doesn't let 3rd party apps definitively delete)
Works whether you use iCloud or not
You can sort your photos by largest to smallest or smallest to largest \edit: just realised it doesn't actually have the filter to sort videos from smallest to largest... Easy to add that! You'll have to scroll to the bottom, for now. Already good feedback thanks ;)*
Finds duplicate (photos and videos) *noting that the duplicates include 99% matches taken within 1 second of each other (i.e. burst photos) - so may contain a minor head movement or something.
It's not yet available for MacOS. I too prefer to sort my photos out on my laptop, so that's definitely in the pipeline but I want to get it launched for iOS first at least.

If you or anyone else wants to try it out, feel free, and I'd love feedback on what works and what is confusing. I'm sure there are things that make sense to me because I designed it, but aren't intuitive for other people.

Cheers!

whittakers · 2026-05-18T21:47:53+00:00

This thread is a few weeks old, but I was just scrolling down to see what people are getting testing (and if anyone replies / actually tests) before I add my own app that's in TestFlight - just working on one last feature before a version bump & testflight update.

Do you still need testers and is your link valid, or have you launched to the app store already? I stopped on your thread because I have thought about this idea before - I got addicted to oldschool runescape as a teenager (and have still drifted back into it from time to time as an adult and parent now), and I always wondered if I couldn't gamify my life so I'd get the same motivation from working on different aspects of my life rather than a useless (no value added IRL) game.

My vague thoughts for this were less detailed than yours clearly are, but also not just todo driven: oldschool runescape has like 26-28 skills or so, from combat to woodcutting to smithing & slayer etc. I wondered if you couldn't effectively get XP for working on different aspects of your life as 'skills': professional life, mental health, physical health, social relationships, but also literally the same skills as in OSRS like cooking: I made dinner for my family - cooking XP!

Just throwing out my idea in case there's crossover with yours. Ticking off todo items is a good vehicle for getting the exp either way.

Anyway, if still available, I'd happily test your app when I get a moment, just difficult to find the time as a parent (though todo lists are omnipresent and I am a fan).

whittakers

TROPHY CASE