LapWhat you get
Every build is the same application, with the full feature set and no paid tier. There is no account to create, no upload step, and nothing to activate later.
- Folder-first browsing by date, folder, location, camera, lens, tag, rating and face.
- Local AI search for text prompts, visual similarity, subjects and faces.
- Duplicate cleanup with a summary of the space you can reclaim.
- Smart Albums, collections, tags and culling states.
- Built-in editing for crop, rotate, flip, resize and basic adjustments.
- 60+ photo, RAW and video formats.
Because Lap reads the folders you already have, there is no import step that copies your library into a new database. Your files stay where they are and remain ordinary files other apps can open. See features for the full list.
Where your data lives
Lap separates your files from the data it manages. Capture metadata such as EXIF date, camera, lens and GPS is read from each file when it is indexed. Everything you add in Lap — collections, tags, comments, favorites, ratings, culling picks and rejects, Smart Albums, AI search data and thumbnails — is stored in Lap's local database, not written into EXIF or sidecar files.
| Data | Stored where |
|---|---|
| Original photos and videos | Your existing folders |
| EXIF capture metadata | Inside the file |
| Collections, tags, ratings, culling | Lap's local database |
| AI index, faces, thumbnails | Lap's local database |
That database does not travel with a file when you copy or export it, so other apps will not see Lap's collections or tags. If you also rename or move files outside Lap, those changes can disrupt organization stored only in Lap. For the most reliable results, rename and move files inside Lap. You can set the database location and create a backup in Settings → Storage; the guides cover this in more detail.
First run
On first launch, Lap asks you to add a folder. You can add several folders as one library or keep them as separate libraries, and you can change this later in settings. From there you can browse by timeline or folder, search, and start tagging. Nothing is written back to your photos during indexing.
If you move files around outside Lap, use the rescan option so the catalog matches your disk again. Keeping a copy of the database and configuration alongside your photos is worth doing if you rely on collections, tags and ratings.
Free, offline and yours to keep
Lap runs as a desktop application and needs no internet connection to browse, search or edit. There is no subscription and no cloud upload. Uninstalling Lap, or deleting its database, does not delete your original photos — the library stays on disk exactly as you arranged it. The source is available under GPL-3.0; see the open source page for how it is built.