Looking for alternative to iPhotos

I still use iPhotos - yes you read that right, iPhotos! I have an older mac that I use. I use iPhotos as my "family scrapbook" and every import I create events and name them based on the place, the event, the special memory, etc. I like that I can scroll from the top down and see every single photo, I don't have to open up different folders/albums.


Sadly, it it getting close to time to replace this macbook, and I need an option for my pictures. I do not like Photos, at all. I don't like that I can't scroll through and have each event listed. So before I upgrade to a new laptop, I want to make sure I can find something for all of my photos. Does anyone have any suggestions of a program that has a setup similar to the old iPhotos?

Posted on Nov 28, 2022 6:54 PM

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Posted on Nov 28, 2022 11:47 PM

You won't find anything that uses the Events metaphor for your photographs. But really, an event is simply a grouping in a folder, with a fancy icon. You will find many apps that will allow you to have your photos in Folders, absent the icon.


A - by no means comprehensive - list of apps to consider:


Mylio: the closest I've found in "feel" to iPhoto, but with extra bells and whistles. The Calendar view alone makes it worth considering. It's extremely good at sharing across devices.


Adobe Lightroom: there are two versions: Classic is essentially Aperture with or 8 more years development, and probably overkill for an iPhoto user. Then Lightroom, the cloud version, is more pitched at the home user, is very reliable and worth a look. Both of these are what I might call 'deep' apps: the look simple but are very very capable. Extra advantage here: there are hundreds of videos on YouTube about these apps. Worth a look.


Other contenders: On1 Photo Raw ties to mix a photo manager with a version of Photoshop, again, complex. Capture One, Exposure, and most of the others are geared towards the professional shooter.


I'd start with Mylio, kick the tyres on it, see if works for you.







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Nov 28, 2022 11:47 PM in response to megm123

You won't find anything that uses the Events metaphor for your photographs. But really, an event is simply a grouping in a folder, with a fancy icon. You will find many apps that will allow you to have your photos in Folders, absent the icon.


A - by no means comprehensive - list of apps to consider:


Mylio: the closest I've found in "feel" to iPhoto, but with extra bells and whistles. The Calendar view alone makes it worth considering. It's extremely good at sharing across devices.


Adobe Lightroom: there are two versions: Classic is essentially Aperture with or 8 more years development, and probably overkill for an iPhoto user. Then Lightroom, the cloud version, is more pitched at the home user, is very reliable and worth a look. Both of these are what I might call 'deep' apps: the look simple but are very very capable. Extra advantage here: there are hundreds of videos on YouTube about these apps. Worth a look.


Other contenders: On1 Photo Raw ties to mix a photo manager with a version of Photoshop, again, complex. Capture One, Exposure, and most of the others are geared towards the professional shooter.


I'd start with Mylio, kick the tyres on it, see if works for you.







Nov 28, 2022 7:47 PM in response to megm123

Hi there,


I'm with you. Photos is the worst. The whole things a mess including the actual behind the scenes.

In iPhoto you have folders with their names. But in Photos, it is a F******* puzzle.


So I also have a 2011 iMac running iPhoto on 10.8.5 with 32GB RAM and an SSD.

Backed x2. The computers fine holding just iPhoto but I did have a look around and tried most.


Adobe Lightroom is okay. Pretty simple and well laid out.

Photoscape is alright too but more modern and with a 1000 things to try.


Why don't you clone your drive so its bootable and buy a 2011 iMac?!


Good luck.

Nov 28, 2022 11:48 PM in response to James Phoenix

The whole things a mess including the actual behind the scenes.

In iPhoto you have folders with their names. But in Photos, it is a F******* puzzle.


Things that we don't understand are not a mess, they're things we don't understand. Like iPhoto, Photos is not designed for user access to the backend, so that you don't understand it is not especially relevant.


Sticking with iPhoto is a dead end. It makes zero sense.

Nov 29, 2022 6:02 AM in response to megm123

I don't think Photos is that bad.

While it does not have events, you just have to go to that particular area of the library to find things grouped by similar dates and times.


I find its editing is far and away better than iPhoto and makes PhotoShop Elements* only useful for compositing.


Also, if you are into that kind of thing, the iCloud integration can be very handy.


*I just did some color correction on some old slides, and Photos has tools that Adobe left out of Elements like levels sliders

Dec 6, 2022 3:30 PM in response to megm123

The Photos that comes with new Macs, i.e. running Ventura, is very powerful. It has much better editing arability and has built in use of external editors like Photoshop Elements or whatever. It also has a duplicate finder built in and when found can merge the duplicates into a single image, using the largest pixel size version and will merge all metadata from the dups.


Its use of Smart Albums opens up a whole new way or organizing images along with keywords and titles. Unless you go to a true DAM (digital asset management) app you're only using a file management system which is very old school.


Dec 7, 2022 11:59 AM in response to Keith Barkley

I like how in iPhotos you can scroll through, from your very first photo, and see all the photos - with the events title. Photos doesn't seem to have that, you have the albums, but have to click on each one. Or scrolling through the all photos, it doesn't show you the titles or what album the photo is in. I'd love to find a program that has that.


I don't edit photos, so I'm not really concerned for that.

Dec 7, 2022 12:07 PM in response to megm123

Make absolutely sure any Mac you purchase has been prepared for sale according to this Apple document: What to do before you sell, give away, or trade in your Mac - Apple Support


If it's not you probably wo't be able to configure it for your user data and use.


I would strongly suggest you check OWC (MacSales.com) first for refurbished Macs. They are second only to Apple in reliable refurbished Macs.

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Looking for alternative to iPhotos

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