LapWorking with the folders you already have
Mac users usually have photos spread across an Apple Photos library, a folder of camera exports, and files pulled from a phone. Lap reads those folders as they are, so you can browse and search them in one place without importing everything into a new library.
- Point Lap at one or more folders and browse them by date, folder, camera, lens or location.
- Import by drag and drop or copy and paste, and export the same way.
- Move, rename and delete files in Lap while linked assets stay together.
- Read EXIF metadata from each file as it is indexed.
Live Photos, HEIC and RAW on macOS
On a Mac, a Live Photo is usually a HEIC still with a paired MOV video. Lap recognizes the pair and treats it as one item, keeps the two files together when you move, copy or delete, and plays the motion clip. RAW files can be shown next to their JPEG or HEIC companion as a single item, and RAW thumbnails and previews can use either the RAW rendering or the camera's embedded preview, with adjustable brightness.
macOS handles HEVC and VP9 playback natively, so videos play without extra setup. HEIC and HEIF files are decoded locally with libheif.
Browsing, comparing and cleanup
After indexing, you can filter by date, folder, camera, lens, location or rating, and search with text prompts or a similar image. The timeline and folder views share the same filters, so a search narrows what you see everywhere else. The interactive map view plots geotagged photos and clusters them as you change filters, which helps sort a trip after the fact. For shoots, the four-pane viewer compares frames side by side before you pick or reject. Duplicate cleanup finds repeated files and reports the space you can reclaim, then moves unwanted copies to the trash in bulk.
Multiple libraries and network storage
You can keep more than one library and switch between them, which suits a personal set and a work set kept apart. Albums on a disconnected or network drive stay visible with cached thumbnails, so a folder that is briefly offline does not disappear from the library.
Uninstall is clean
Lap keeps its catalog separate from your files. Removing the app, or deleting its database and cache, does not delete your photos. If you installed it with Homebrew, uninstalling the cask and clearing the application support folders leaves your photo folders untouched. The build is notarized by Apple; see download for the installer and the open source page for the code.