Loupe organizes your photo library on your Mac and makes it explorable by people, places, scenes, and text. This guide takes you from your first import to a tidy library, and resolves the most common issues.
Requirements
Loupe requires a recent version of macOS (macOS 14 or later). All analysis happens on your device using Apple's Vision framework.
Loupe keeps a tidy copy of your photos in its own library. Your originals are never moved, changed, or deleted.
Import photos
Drag photos or folders directly into the app. Loupe scans subfolders, skips unsupported formats, and dedupes by SHA256 hash so the same photo is never copied twice.
- Drag and drop photos or entire folders.
- Import Android exports or other phones as folders.
- Photos are copied into an app-managed library on your Mac.
Import from iPhone
Connect your iPhone over USB and import directly, without going through the Photos app. Loupe detects iCloud placeholders (photos not yet downloaded to the device) and warns you so nothing is missed.
Organize with facets
The sidebar groups your library into five facets that stack as AND filters to narrow results instantly.
- Time — browse by year and month.
- People — faces grouped automatically; you can name them.
- Place — location grouping from GPS.
- Scene — object and scene labels (beach, food, documents…).
- Type — separate photos from screenshots.
On-device analysis
Loupe analyzes your library in the background: it detects and groups faces, labels scenes, extracts text (OCR), and turns GPS coordinates into place names. The sidebar counts update live as it progresses.
All processing is local and resumes if you quit the app midway. The only network connection is Apple's service for place names.
Find Similar
Use Find Similar to detect bursts and near-duplicates with perceptual hashing: it compares visual similarity, not metadata. It groups similar photos so you can keep the best shot and remove the rest.
Junk review and Trash
Loupe flags likely-junk photos (blurry or accidental captures) for you to decide. It never deletes on its own.
What you send to Trash is hidden but not deleted until you empty it: a two-stage deletion that prevents accidental loss.
Privacy
Loupe is local and private by design. There's no account, tracking, or cloud. Your photos and everything Loupe infers from them stay on your Mac.
The only network connection is Apple's reverse-geocoding service, which turns GPS coordinates into place names: only the coordinates are sent.
Troubleshooting
Some photos are missing when importing from iPhone.
They're probably iCloud photos not yet downloaded to the device. Download them on your iPhone (or turn on “Download and Keep Originals”) and import again.
I don't see people, places, or scenes on some photos.
Analysis runs in the background and can take a while on a large library. The counts update live; leave the app open and it will finish. Analysis resumes if you quit the app.
I hit the 750-photo limit.
The free limit only applies when importing; your existing photos are never hidden or deleted. To import without limit, unlock Loupe with the one-time purchase in Settings.
I bought Loupe on another Mac.
Open Settings and use “Restore Purchases”. The unlock is a one-time purchase and includes Family Sharing.
Need more help?
If something wasn't clear or you ran into a problem that isn't here, write to us at [email protected] and we'll gladly help. You can also check the Support page.