Photo Archive Assistant
Originals to SSD or NAS
Only for Mac
Free · In‑App Purchases
Mac
Your iCloud Photos got too big. Photo Archive copies the originals to your external drive, sorted by year/month, deduplicated by SHA256 — all on your Mac, no upload.
Photo Archive Assistant copies your iCloud / Photos library to any local folder or external drive, sorted by year and month, deduplicated by SHA256. Everything runs on your Mac. No account, no server, no analytics.
Built for the moment your iCloud storage gets uncomfortable, your Mac SSD fills up, or you just want a real archive on a drive you control — not on a subscription you might cancel.
— WHAT MAKES PHOTO ARCHIVE DIFFERENT —
• AUTOMATIC ICLOUD DOWNLOAD
Photos that live only in iCloud are downloaded on demand before archiving. No "original not available on this device" surprises. PhotoKit handles the fetch the same way Photos.app does.
• YEAR / MONTH FOLDER STRUCTURE
Files land at [destination]/YYYY/MM/. No more 47,000 photos in a single Pictures folder. Browse a year, browse a month — the way a human actually navigates an archive.
• SHA256 DEDUPLICATION
Every file is hashed before write. Duplicates skipped. Re-run the archive next month against the same destination and only new photos copy over — no manual diff, no duplicate folders.
• INTEGRITY VERIFICATION
Verify-integrity re-hashes archived files against the stored hash. Catches silent disk corruption, failed external-drive writes, and the kind of bit-rot that bites you five years later when you actually need the photo.
• EXTERNAL DRIVES, FIRST-CLASS
Security-scoped bookmarks mean the app remembers your archive drive across launches. Plug in a USB SSD, archive, eject. Image Capture forgets every external drive permission you grant it.
• ALBUMS, MEDIA TYPES, DATE FILTERS
Filter by album, by photo / video / Live Photo / screenshot, by year. Archive selectively or archive everything.
• ZERO NETWORK CALLS (BEYOND ICLOUD)
No telemetry, no analytics, no third-party SDKs. iCloud fetches go through Apple's PhotoKit. Nothing else leaves your Mac.
— WHO IS PHOTO ARCHIVE FOR? —
• People at their iCloud storage limit wondering whether to keep paying or download out
• Anyone who has tried Image Capture's clunky one-folder dump and wanted real organization
• PowerPhotos users who want a focused archive tool, not a library editor
• Photographers who shoot to iPhone and need to get full-resolution originals to a NAS or external SSD
• Anyone migrating off iCloud Photos to Synology Photos, Immich, or a local-only setup
— PHOTO ARCHIVE INCLUDES —
• Archive to one destination at a time — every photo, every video, every Live Photo
• Automatic iCloud original download
• Year / month folder structure
• SHA256 deduplication
• Verify-integrity pass
• Albums, media-type, and year filters
— PHOTO ARCHIVE PRO —
One-time purchase, no subscription. Pro adds:
• Multi-destination backup — archive to your SSD and your NAS in the same run, in parallel
• CSV export of archive records and verify reports
• Out-of-app completion banners — close the feedback loop when a long run finishes while you're in another app
Family-shareable. Restorable across every Mac you sign into with the same Apple ID.
— FEEDBACK —
Made by Peter Zhang. Every email at obeliskclubclub@gmail.com is read personally. Found a Photos library edge case? Tell me.
Learn more: obelisk.club/photo-archive-assistant
Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
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The developer, 永 张, indicated that the app’s privacy practices may include handling of data as described below. For more information, see the developer’s privacy policy .
Data Not Collected
The developer does not collect any data from this app.
Accessibility
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Information
- Seller
- 永 张
- Size
- 2.5 MB
- Category
- Productivity
- Compatibility
Requires macOS 26 or later.
- Mac
Requires macOS 26 or later.
- Mac
- Languages
- English and Simplified Chinese
- Age Rating
4+
- 4+
- In-App Purchases
Yes
- Photo Archive Pro $4.99
- Copyright
- Copyright © 2026 Peter Zhang. All rights reserved.
