Short answers to the questions people ask before trying Phoaly. If something here does not match what you see in the app, contact support and we will fix the answer.
Product and privacy
What is Phoaly?
Phoaly is a local-first photo organizer for Mac. It reads the folders you already use, builds a disposable index beside them, and lets you browse, search, dedupe, and cull without importing or uploading originals.
Does Phoaly upload my photos?
No. Photos, thumbnails, EXIF, GPS, file paths, face vectors, and visual vectors stay on your Mac. The app has no photo upload and no cloud sync.
Does it need an account?
No. Download, trial, buy, activate, and manage a license without creating an account.
Does it work offline?
Yes, after activation. License checks run at startup and periodically; when the Mac is offline, those checks are skipped quietly. Map tiles are the only optional network request.
Does it collect telemetry?
No. The app does not report in the background. It uses the network only to activate or validate a license, check for updates, load optional map tiles, and when you choose to send a diagnostic report.
Files and formats
Which photo formats are supported?
JPEG, PNG, HEIC/HEIF, TIFF, WebP, BMP, and common RAW files such as DNG, NEF, CR3, ARW, and CR2. Rotate and crop write-back is limited to JPEG, PNG, and TIFF.
Does it support RAW?
It browses and organizes RAW files. It does not develop them. Use your editor for RAW conversion and color work.
Does it support video?
Yes. Video uses system decoding for playback and covers, including Live Photo stills and motion clips.
Can it handle 100,000 photos?
The browser is built for large libraries: virtual lists, cursor pagination, and thumbnails that decode only in the viewport. The documented benchmark is a 100,000-item library.
Does it work with external drives?
Yes. If a drive disconnects, its place in the sidebar is kept. Reconnect it at the same mount point and the folder recovers.
Organization and safety
Will it move files without asking?
No. Adding a folder only builds an index. Scanning and previewing are read-only. Files move only when you confirm an organize plan, a rotate, or a crop.
How do I undo an organize plan?
The workbench writes each session to a journal. Undo a single drop or an entire session from the history.
Does it find duplicate photos?
Dedupe runs in the workbench and produces a preview. You review the groups, keep the copy you want, and confirm. Deletes go to the system Trash and the session can be undone.
Can I search in Chinese and English?
Yes. Visual search accepts Chinese and English descriptions, and file name search uses an FTS5 trigram index that matches Chinese substrings and fragments from the middle of English names.
How does face grouping work?
Face detection, embeddings, and clustering run locally. Groupings can be merged, split, renamed, or corrected by hand. A manually assigned face is locked so a re-cluster leaves it alone.
Trial and purchase
How long is the trial?
30 days with every feature, with no account or card required. A 7-day grace period follows.
What happens after the trial?
The app becomes read-only. You can still browse and export, but scanning, visual search, people management, culling, and organizing pause. Your originals and index are not changed.
How much does it cost?
$19 for one Mac and $29 for two Macs, as a one-time purchase with lifetime updates.
Is it a subscription?
No. There is no monthly or annual fee.
How many Macs can I activate?
One Mac for the solo tier and two Macs for the two-Mac tier. You can release an old device in the license portal and activate another.
Can I get a refund?
Yes. You can request a full refund within 14 days of purchase, without giving a reason. A refund revokes the license and releases its seats. The full policy is in the Terms of Service.
License and activation
How do I activate Phoaly?
Open the app and paste the key from your purchase email on the trial screen, or go to Settings > License.
I lost my license key. What now?
The key is sent by email after purchase, and the same key is shown on the checkout success page for 24 hours. If it is gone, contact support with the email used at checkout or the key prefix.
How do I move to a new Mac?
Open the license page, release the old device, then activate the new Mac with the same key.
Comparison
How is it different from Apple Photos?
Apple Photos imports into a managed library and can sync with iCloud. Phoaly reads the folders you already have, does not import, and has no cloud sync. See the full comparison.
Can it replace Lightroom?
No. Lightroom is a RAW developer and editor. Phoaly is an organizer for finding, sorting, culling, renaming, moving, and cleaning up.
Does it read my Apple Photos library?
No. It reads folders. To move photos out of Photos, export them to a folder first, then add that folder to Phoaly.