Photos Takeout for iCloud, Mac

Name: Photos Takeout for iCloud, Mac
Rating: 0 (0 reviews)
Author: App Initio Limited

Export Backup Organize Archive

Only for Mac

Free · In‑App Purchases

Ages

4+
Years
Category

Utilities
Developer

App Initio Limited
Language

EN
English
Size

27.3
MB

Mac

Organized iCloud & Mac backups made easy, even with "Optimize Storage". Export to external drive, NAS, or other clouds with full-resolution and metadata. Trusted by pros. Export Apple Photos Library Into Organized Folders (Even with "Optimize Mac Storage" setting). ====================================== Photos Takeout is the essential Photos app companion to get true, offline backups of your iCloud and Mac Photos library. Used by thousands of professional photographers and organizers. Apple Photos’ native File > Export feature saves everything in one big, unorganized folder. Downloading directly from iCloud.com has the same problem, plus, it only exports 1000 items at a time. Photos Takeout exports photos and videos into neat folders organized by Years, Months, Dates or Albums. It’s fast and handles even huge libraries with ease. ** A MUST FOR "OPTIMIZE STORAGE" USERS ** With “Optimize Mac Storage” setting, your full-resolution photos are in iCloud. Time Machine or direct copying can't back them up, since your Mac only has small-sized versions. Photos Takeout exports full-resolution photos and videos from iCloud with a few clicks. ** WHEN ICLOUD / MAC STORAGE IS FULL ** No need to upgrade iCloud or Mac storage. Make a full offline backup with Photos Takeout, then delete large or seldom-used photos and videos from your main library to free up gigabytes in storage. Save $$$. ** PERFECT TOOL FOR 3-2-1 BACKUPS ** iCloud Photos is a syncing service, not a backup. Your cherished family photos aren’t safe until you also maintain their full backup on external storage: Ideally two offline copies (One stored offsite), plus one in iCloud and/or your Mac. Photos Takeout makes implementing a 3-2-1 backup strategy really easy. ** HELPS KEEP BACKUPS UP-TO-DATE ** As your Photos library grows over time, you need to update your backup. With other backup methods you have to export everything all over again. Photos Takeout’s powerful "Incremental Export" feature simply scans your library and adds new and modified items to update your backup. Much faster, and you can do it anytime. ** NO 1000 PHOTOS RESTRICTION ** iCloud.com/Photos only lets you download 1000 items at a time – so exporting a library of 20,000 photos will take 20 exports, merging those 20 folders, and reorganizing. Then repeating the process every time your update your backup. Photos Takeout does it all in one session – no 1000 photos or any file count / file size limitations. ** SAFELY STORE PHOTOS ON NAS ** Apple Photos library must never be stored on NAS or cloud drives. However, once Photos Takeout exports everything into standard folders, you can safely save them anywhere—NAS (Synology, QNAP), external hard drives, USB sticks, or other cloud storage. === KEY FEATURES === • STRUCTURED FOLDERS: Export by Year, Month, Date, or Album. • FULL METADATA: Retains resolution, EXIF/IPTC, titles, and GPS. • FORMAT SUPPORT: Handles RAW, HEIC, and Live Photos. • HEAVY DUTY: Handles multi-terabyte libraries with ease. • INCREMENTAL EXPORTS: Update your backups anytime. Fast! • TOTAL PRIVACY: All processing happens locally on your Mac. === WHY CHOOSE PHOTOS TAKEOUT? === • OFFLINE SECURITY: Protect memories from accidental iCloud deletion. • SAFE EXPORTS: Our app doesn't alter anything in Photos library, only exports. • STORAGE MANAGEMENT: Offload photos to free up iCloud and Mac space. • SEAMLESS MIGRATION: Move to another photo manager or NAS. • PRO RELIABILITY: Trusted by professional organizers worldwide. Designed for robustness. • PRIVACY: No data to external servers; no personal data/photos collected. • COMPATIBILITY: High Sierra, Mojave, Catalina, Big Sur, Monterey, Ventura, Sonoma, Sequoia, Tahoe. Intel + Apple Silicon Macs. • TRUST & RELIABILITY: In Mac App Store since 2020. Enhanced continuously. Keep your memories safe. Try Photos Takeout's free version now. Super easy to use, but ANY problem, we provide prompt, 100% human-powered help. Visit our website for a detailed user guide and personalized support: www.photostakeout.com

Ratings & Reviews

This app hasn’t received enough ratings or reviews to display an overview.

Good so far!
09/23/2025

Great app just slow
I love the concept of this app, and it was easy enough to set up. And I LOVE that I can upload and keep all my specific albums and folders. The only problem is that this promoted being able to handle really large quantities, but it takes forever to upload. It seems to get stuck when I try to upload a lot at once, so I have to keep selecting individual smaller folders, then they will upload much faster but it requires me to be monitoring my computer a lot more.

Developer Response
Hi. Thanks for your feedback. Loading speed depends on many factors, e.g. where your library is located (Locally or on an external drive). Export speed depends on whether the photos are stored locally or in iCloud, and the internet speed. List View is faster than Icon View, etc. Please email us with full details and we will assist.
Good so far!
09/23/2025

Great app just slow

I love the concept of this app, and it was easy enough to set up. And I LOVE that I can upload and keep all my specific albums and folders. The only problem is that this promoted being able to handle really large quantities, but it takes forever to upload. It seems to get stuck when I try to upload a lot at once, so I have to keep selecting individual smaller folders, then they will upload much faster but it requires me to be monitoring my computer a lot more.
Developer Response 09/25/2025
Hi. Thanks for your feedback. Loading speed depends on many factors, e.g. where your library is located (Locally or on an external drive). Export speed depends on whether the photos are stored locally or in iCloud, and the internet speed. List View is faster than Icon View, etc. Please email us with full details and we will assist.
Has potential, but needs polishing before it is worth the cost
02/08/2021

Manu_9804
I was really excited with this app, because it seemed it would be the answer to something I have been wanting to do for a very long time: exporting pics from Photos in an organized and efficient fashion. But a deal-breaker for me is the impossibility to select individual pictures, which seems like a huge oversight from the developper. Right now, the apps only allows to select ALL pictures belonging to specific "groups", like Years, Albums, or Moments. But you cannot open a given group, and select individual pictures to export. This "all or nothing" approach is just not flexible enough for me for justify the cost. There are also some "annoying" things with the app that would need to be polished before I consider buying it: no dark mode support, the app always opens in full screen (every time!!!), and the app also asks for the location of the source Photos library every time it opens, as well as the Destination (the app should be able to remember these settings!). I'll definitely keep an eye on future updates, but will definitely wait to see how it gets improved before purchasing.

Developer Response
Manu, thanks for your feedback. We polled a lot of Photos users before deciding to export only complete folders. Yours is the first request we've had for drill-down selection and will see if more users want this. Your point on full screen is noted, we'll fix this. Having to specify source and destination every time is due to tightened permissions requirements in Big Sur [Update: Version 2.6 includes Dark Mode support, app window resizing and remembering window size preference.]
Has potential, but needs polishing before it is worth the cost
02/08/2021

Manu_9804

I was really excited with this app, because it seemed it would be the answer to something I have been wanting to do for a very long time: exporting pics from Photos in an organized and efficient fashion. But a deal-breaker for me is the impossibility to select individual pictures, which seems like a huge oversight from the developper. Right now, the apps only allows to select ALL pictures belonging to specific "groups", like Years, Albums, or Moments. But you cannot open a given group, and select individual pictures to export. This "all or nothing" approach is just not flexible enough for me for justify the cost. There are also some "annoying" things with the app that would need to be polished before I consider buying it: no dark mode support, the app always opens in full screen (every time!!!), and the app also asks for the location of the source Photos library every time it opens, as well as the Destination (the app should be able to remember these settings!). I'll definitely keep an eye on future updates, but will definitely wait to see how it gets improved before purchasing.
Developer Response 03/25/2021
Manu, thanks for your feedback. We polled a lot of Photos users before deciding to export only complete folders. Yours is the first request we've had for drill-down selection and will see if more users want this. Your point on full screen is noted, we'll fix this. Having to specify source and destination every time is due to tightened permissions requirements in Big Sur [Update: Version 2.6 includes Dark Mode support, app window resizing and remembering window size preference.]
Exported 25,000 Photos – No Problems!
Jan 21

NickPhotos96
I have a 25,000 photo library, a mix of RAW and Jpeg images, and t they’re all in Photos (optimized) and iCloud. Well, I don’t want all my photos in the cloud and out of my reach if something happens with iCloud or Apple. For whatever your reason, this app makes downloading all of the photos from iCloud/Photos to an external hard drive a breeze. You have to click like 4 buttons. It takes a minute for the app to figure out how many photos you have, but once you hit export, you can just leave it be while it does the work in the background. 25,000 photos took maybe 8 hours - though I’m fairly sure the limitation in speed is because of Apple’s own limitations with how quickly you can download your photos from their server. I had a question and emailed support at 8 PM EST on Sunday, and by 8:30 PM I had a response from a very helpful person. I cannot recommend this app enough.

Developer Response
Many thanks for the kind feedback. Eight hours for 25K photos is slower than we'd expect, but when you next update your archive (with our Incremental Exports setting), it will be extremely fast.
Exported 25,000 Photos – No Problems!
Jan 21

NickPhotos96

I have a 25,000 photo library, a mix of RAW and Jpeg images, and t they’re all in Photos (optimized) and iCloud. Well, I don’t want all my photos in the cloud and out of my reach if something happens with iCloud or Apple. For whatever your reason, this app makes downloading all of the photos from iCloud/Photos to an external hard drive a breeze. You have to click like 4 buttons. It takes a minute for the app to figure out how many photos you have, but once you hit export, you can just leave it be while it does the work in the background. 25,000 photos took maybe 8 hours - though I’m fairly sure the limitation in speed is because of Apple’s own limitations with how quickly you can download your photos from their server. I had a question and emailed support at 8 PM EST on Sunday, and by 8:30 PM I had a response from a very helpful person. I cannot recommend this app enough.
Developer Response Jan 23
Many thanks for the kind feedback. Eight hours for 25K photos is slower than we'd expect, but when you next update your archive (with our Incremental Exports setting), it will be extremely fast.
Correctly handles metadata
05/31/2021

Houston53
I have been using Apple Photos to add metadata to photographs i.e. Title, Correct Date, Caption, Keywords and Location. A lot of my photographs have been scanned from prints so the metadata does not exist. However, when you use the Apple Photos export option it drops metadata. I spent two hours on the phone with Apple support and they acknowledged this is a problem but for some reason they don't seem in any hurry to fix it.PhotoTakeout exports all the metadata correctly. To test I imported photographs back to Apple Photos to check.I see from other reviews some people had a problem with specifying the source directory. I initially had the same issue but figured it out and sent in a support email to flag the problem. This was on a Sunday afternoon. Sunday evening I got a very good reply explaining the issue with Big Sur permissions. Customer support is excellent!
Correctly handles metadata
05/31/2021

Houston53

I have been using Apple Photos to add metadata to photographs i.e. Title, Correct Date, Caption, Keywords and Location. A lot of my photographs have been scanned from prints so the metadata does not exist. However, when you use the Apple Photos export option it drops metadata. I spent two hours on the phone with Apple support and they acknowledged this is a problem but for some reason they don't seem in any hurry to fix it.PhotoTakeout exports all the metadata correctly. To test I imported photographs back to Apple Photos to check.I see from other reviews some people had a problem with specifying the source directory. I initially had the same issue but figured it out and sent in a support email to flag the problem. This was on a Sunday afternoon. Sunday evening I got a very good reply explaining the issue with Big Sur permissions. Customer support is excellent!

UI improvements. Updated screenshots.

Version 4.94

Feb 26

Data Not Collected

The developer does not collect any data from this app.

Privacy practices may vary, for example, based on the features you use or your age. Learn More

Supported Features
- Dark Interface
- Reduced Motion

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Version 4.94

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Data Not Collected

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Dark Interface

Reduced Motion

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