Mylio for Mac

another SUBSCRIPTION scam! Free plan Without Subscription - only for 5000 images. Today you accumulate 5000 images in 3-5 months.

Couldn't use it as it demanded that I had to link other devices via Google etc. Not interested. Waste of time.

I can see no reason to have to register an app that is simply a photo viewer. Especially when there are free apps such as Phiewer that do an admirable job. No, thanks.

This is a very good app if you have a need for what it does.

I've been looking for an easy to use DAM since the demise of Aperture. It needs to be easy to use as the people I live with aren't that interested in learning Capture One and, frankly, the performance of Lightroom is poor. This is further complicated by the range of devices used - point and shoot camera, Phone and a DSLR. 70k images in one Library, mixed Raw and Jpeg.

The very good: it's fast. I can whiz around through the library really quickly, It has 'good enough' editing tools for the Jpeg shooter and you can also use any app you prefer at all for the job, you're not limited to it and Lightroom only. I'm not impressed with the Raw processing, no problem. I can send the images to DXO PhotoLad or Luminar, process them and save them. They show up in Mylio in a few moments - as in, like less than 60seconds. So, it's not limiting in any way.

The cool: (and sometimes misunderstood)... you can share that Library to any other Mac, PC, iOS or Android device you have, and you do it over your home network, not the internet. (You can also do it over the Internet but - and some are confused by this - it is not compulsory.) The sync works and is fast. You can choose to have originals on all the devices, or small versions. You can do organising work on any device and it will sync back to all the others when you're in your own home/network. This is amazing. It just works. Apple should buy this.

To use Mylio you have to register with them. This is quite common now, you do the same with ON1 PhotoRaw for instance. It's their basic protection. It also means that adding a device simply means signing on the device. Then choosing what to sync. Libraries up to 25k items are free. From there to 100k items are about $10 per month. Yes it is a subscription app. If you don't like that, then fine, nothing here for you. If, on the other hand, you think it's good that they have a sustainable business plan... and that you won't have to move to something else if they collapse in a few months, then it might be worth it. For much larger libraries, yes it is more expensive again.

You do not pay to edit raws, you can send them to another processor without paying. If you want to process them with this app then you pay, and there's an added shortcut to Lightroom.

Your files are stored in folders in the Finder. No hidden library, no ingestion and so on. You can, for instance, easily surf that library with any app you prefer, edit and save, and the changes occur will show up in Mylio in a couple of seconds. So there is no lock in.

The bad: no stacking, there is a bit of a learning curve.

Image import is easy enough, from Apple Photos and loose images in folders. Haven't tried devices yet (cameras, etc), but that's not my focus. Basic editing, browsing, tagging, all seems familiar and snappy. The app itself can be customized within reason, from overall look to picture display. Finding an image by date is neat, and so is creating albums, managing events, etc. At first glance, the app feels mature enough to manage pictures -- something Apple doesn't seem to want to offer anymore. From the point of ease of use, I give this app praise. There doesn't seem to be a way to use the app without giving them your email and letting it connect to the internet. If I was interested in online-features, I'd say "ok", but I don't want to share my data or metrics with Mylio, and I don't let my production setup connect to the internet. Looking at the programs console and Little Snitch, Mylio wants to connect home quite often (mostly during import). I have more than 25k images, which means I either use the mobile device version (nope), or pay a MONTHLY FEE. I see no pay-once-and-done option, and I am not going to shell out about USD 250 per year to manage only 500k of my images (or about USD 100 for 100k images, or nada for just 25k). I cannot fathom what causes the difference in the number of images (which, reading forum posts around the web, had been increased in the past years, leading me to believe the limit is arbitrarily calculated). My various collections combined are way over the 500k limit (which Apple Photos can handle). I wonder what happens to my images if I stop paying, the company goes under, or [insert event here]. Yes, I could store more images without paying top tier, but I do not want them on my iDevices, where space is rather limited. You also pay for RAW stuff and Lightroom integration -- again, monthly. The same counts for the ability (!) to connect to a cloud service (which you have to pay separately). I understand that programmers need to get paid for their work, perhaps code licenses, administrative and online distribution costs (oh, and good marketing). Make me pay once, charge me for pro stuff, let me pay for upgrades down the road. So far, this program looks promising for the casual user, not if you have a rather large collection of pictures to manage (even semi-professionally). This relates directly to me disagreeing vehemently with a subscription model for desktop software capabilities (I agree with subscriptions for a valuable service, like online file storage, news services, entertainment, etc). The world may be moving towards a subscription industry, but I contend this to be the works of marketing specialists and not end users. The only use I would have for this program is image management, and it does so rather well, already so much better than Apple's Photos. Again, if you are a casual user with mobile devices, this program sounds fantastic. Every collection grows, so keep the file limit in mind.