I tried a few popular apps to find the best way to organize photos on a Mac

Photo by Tran Mau Tri Tam ✪ on Unsplash

I swear I didn’t take as many selfies as I thought, but my Mac definitely disagrees. Coupled with the screenshots, stock photos, and images shared with me, I quickly ended up with a massively bloated photo collection.

Over time, it became so suffocating that even opening my Photos app was a struggle. I mean, you would agree too if you see the mess that I need to declutter. Duplicates, random photos, and screenshots that I never use were all over the place.

If you’re like me, who’s at their wits’ end trying to get their photos in order, these tools (and strategies) might help.

Apple Photos — Great all-rounder, but struggles with advanced needs

First, I tried decluttering with the features that Apple Photos provides. Because Photos is a native Mac app, it lets you move photos across folders and albums easily.

If you only have dozens of photos in your collection, Apple Photos is more than good enough.

Where it shines:

• Automated categorization of photos (portrait, panoramas, people & pets).
• Designed for simplicity. As with any Apple native tool, I could figure out how to organize photos in Apple Photos with little difficulty.
• Runs smoothly even after I’ve imported a folder with thousands of photos.

What I didn’t like:

• Even with AI, Photos doesn’t organize the images immediately. Instead, it runs the process when you’re not using the Photos app. Be prepared to wait a while if you’re trying to use Photos to sort out duplicates.
• It could pick up faces in photos, but not the person it belongs to. So, I ended up with a People album with my and others’ faces together.

Best for: Lightweight Mac users who’re not trying to organize years’ worth of photos at once.

Gemini — Deletes duplicates like a champ

Gemini is a duplicate remover that complements the Photos app. Once installed, it scans the folder you shared or the Pictures album for duplicate images.

I came across Gemini while exploring duplicate file finders several weeks ago. Never knew it would be a savior for my dozens of selfies.

Where it shines:

• It’s super easy to use. Just drag the folders containing images onto the app. Then, wait for the results.
• Gemini is fast. It took less than 10 seconds to scan 300M worth of images.
• You can review the results, including how many duplicates were detected, before deleting them.

What I didn’t like:

• It doesn’t organize photos. You still need the Photos app or similar tools.

Best for: Casual users who want to reclaim gigabytes of space from duplicate images.

PeakTo — AI-powered beast

Lastly, I tried PeakTo, an AI-powered photo organizer. Like Apple Photos, PeakTo covers all the basics, including categories, duplicates, and photo imports.

Yet, PeakTo is a much more powerful tool. Once installed, it lets me import photos from multiple sources, including Apple Photos, Adobe Lightroom, and any folders.

Where it shines:

• AI-powered smart folders that automatically filter images that match their descriptions or conditional rules.
• Precise face analysis. Unlike Photos, PeakTo can detect faces of different people and put them into separate albums.
• Lets users apply custom rules when finding duplicates.

What I didn’t like:

• Its features are overwhelming. Took me a while to figure out the controls.
• PeakTo consumes a lot of Mac resources when analyzing photos. My MacBook Air lags severely for several minutes because of that.

Best for: Photographers, creators, and professionals who are managing images from various sources.

So, how to organize photos on Mac without getting frustrated?

Start with Apple Photos. With the tool, most users should be able to remove duplicates, sort new photos, and delete unwanted images within minutes. But if you’re still stuck with tons of duplicates after spending some time, try Gemini.

For heavy users who want to bring the chaos into order instantly, PeakTo is worth a shot.

Hope you found this guide useful. If you have a better way of organizing photos, share it in the comments below!