Photanchor for macOS

Know what is safe before you trust the copy.

Photanchor turns iCloud Drive and Apple Photos uncertainty into a readable safety dashboard, then helps you create and verify a second copy on your own drive.

Local-first. No file or photo uploads. macOS 14 or later.

Example beta data

Safety Dashboard

83%
protected

Know what is safe before you copy.

Local scans explain what appears local, what may only be in iCloud, and what is ready for a second copy.

Photos

Needs review

6,596 items

iCloud Drive

Action

91 cloud-only

Second Copy

Pro

External ready

Verification

Next

Sample pending

The product

Sync status is not backup confidence.

iCloud keeps devices in step. Photanchor focuses on the missing question: what is actually available locally, what can be copied, and whether the second copy can be read.

Read-only safety scans

Photanchor explains what appears local, what may only be in iCloud, what is waiting, and what cannot be verified from your Mac.

External-drive second copy

Prepare and copy eligible local files into a Photanchor-owned folder without mirror-delete behavior.

Verification and restore confidence

Check that copied files can be read, then validate a small restore sample in a temporary folder.

Local-first licensing

Purchases and activation never upload paths, Photos metadata, scan results, manifests, checksums, files, or photos.

Privacy promise

Your safety data stays on your Mac.

iCloud paths never goes to licensing.
Photos metadata never goes to licensing.
scan results never goes to licensing.
backup manifests never goes to licensing.
checksums never goes to licensing.
files and photos never goes to licensing.