If you’ve ever struggled with organizing your seemingly endless collection of photos, videos, and documents, you’ll be excited to hear about Mylio’s recent launch of Mylio Photos (version 24). Mylio has built their business and reputation on helping people–especially photographers and videographers–streamline their process for organizing and sharing digital media across multiple devices. The latest version of Mylio Photos seeks to take that mission to the next level, all free of the cloud. For your convenience, we’ve put together a quick overview of the new features included in Mylio Photos (version 24) so that you can get a better idea of how it can help you.
What Is Mylio Photos?
On the surface, Mylio Photos is a free photo organizer and sharing app that works on most devices, including smartphones, tablets, laptop and desktop computers, and more. At the core of what it does, Mylio Photos helps people bring all their photos, videos, and documents into one place that is accessible on any device at any time without having to rely on the cloud.
What Is New with Mylio Photos (Version 24)?
Let’s take a look at what’s new with Mylio Photos (version 24) and break down the process of using it into 5 simple pieces:
- Collect
- Select
- Reflect
- Connect
- Protect
1. Collect: Bring All Your Photos, Videos, and Documents Into One Place
The more centralized your files are, the easier it will be for you to keep track of them. For that reason, rather than storing your files on different devices and platforms, Mylio Photos lets you keep everything in one spot. Here are some of the new and improved features from Mylio Photos (version 24) to help you gather your files into one searchable library.
- Guided Import: The guided import feature allows you to quickly select a source (e.g., smartphones, social media services, camera cards, computer folders, etc.) and follow a guide to bring your content into a single library.
- DeDupe on Import: This feature allows you to avoid importing duplicate files and eliminate unnecessary clutter.
- Frame.io Import: If you have a frame.io account, you can use this feature to import media directly from your frame.io account and supported Camera to Cloud devices.
- Linked Folders: Rather than move files that already reside on your hard drive, Mylio Photos can simply scan and read the files from their current location.
2. Select: Use AI-enhanced Dynamic Search to Locate and Catalog Files
One of the most difficult tasks involved with organizing and/or sharing your files is finding them. The following advanced search and filter tools will help you locate your files more easily now, and then again later, when you need to share files from your library.
- Dynamic Search: With the help of AI-generated SmartTags, Mylio Photos can quickly identify (3-20 times faster than standard search tech) thousands of activities, objects, text, and visual properties in photos. Moreover, this search feature also uses text recognition, face detection, and an index of the camera and lens settings to create a highly-detailed local database. Frequent searches automatically get updated in the background when you add new files to the library.
- Spaces: Use this feature to apply and create subject-specific views of your library, which will allow you to more easily find specific media. To take advantage of this feature, simply categorize the file while importing it (e.g., Personal, Family, Work, etc.). You can add custom categories if you have Mylio Photos+, the premium version of Mylio Photos.
3. Reflect: Search by Person, Place, Time, and More
Every day, people load countless images and videos onto their drives and social media feeds never to be seen again. They boast a very short lifespan, one that typically only lasts long enough to collect a few likes before disappearing into cyber oblivion. Mylio Photos (version 24) includes Family History tools and Shared albums that provide useful ways to share and preserve important moments.
- Shared Albums: With Mylio Photos+, you can create semi-private albums and share them only with the people you choose. The images in the album are hosted on non-indexed web pages, and only those with a link can see the files. You can also use the SafeShare option to remove all (or part) of the metadata in your images before sharing them online.
- Family History Metadata: It’s never been easier to take on the role of family historian. Mylio Photos (version 24) allows users to add family history information to photos, videos, and documents. You can add details including dates, titles, descriptions, people tagging, geotagging, and locations. Metadata follows standards set by the Family History Metadata Working Group to ensure that files provide useful information for future generations.
- FamilySearch Memories: Take your role as family historian to even higher levels by using the Memories option to post photos of your ancestors on FamilySearch.org. You can then share this content with everyone in your family tree.
4. Connect: Get Access to Files Anywhere
We regularly maintain separate photo libraries on different devices, making each library unique, which is not what we want, really. Then, when we try to sync them, it’s often a slow and involved process. Using new features like Mylio Drive, we can better organize our files and make them universally accessible. It’s also worth noting that Mylio Photos+ users have several new choices.
Unlimited Access, Everywhere
- SpaceSaver: If you have limited storage space on your device, whether it’s your laptop, tablet, or smartphone, you can use this tool to optimize your image library. You’ll still want to keep your original files accessible on a backup device, but you can store significantly more optimized raw photos on your tablet or smartphone for portable access, wherever it is you find yourself.
- Mylio Drive: Amazingly, Mylio Drive gives you unlimited personal and private storage of optimized images on a private server. Mylio Drive’s basic purpose is to help you keep all of your devices in sync while you’re out on the go. The team at Mylio Photos notes that the Mylio Drive allows every device to “access 5×7, print-resolution images with raw photo editing.”
Additional Storage Options
- Travel Drives: The name says it all here. You can use the travel drive feature in Mylio Photos (version 24) to transform any portable hard drive or solid state drive (SSD) into a “travel drive.” What this means is that you can automatically back up recent photos while traveling and, if you have Mylio Photos+, you can access full-quality photos while you’re out and about.
- iOS Drive Access: Turn any portable hard drive or SSD into a Travel Drive, automatically backing up recent pictures on trips and providing Mylio Photos+ users easy access to full-quality photos while on the go.
- iOS Drive Access: iPad and iPhone users with Mylio Photos+ can now use external storage with iOS devices. What’s also interesting is that you can use a connected drive for import, storage, or backup. So, if you have a fast and portable SSD drive, for example, you can use it to expand your iOS device’s capacity.
Collaborate with Family and Trusted Team Members
- Remote Control: Take control remotely over the core settings, views, and image syncing capabilities of your family or team members’ devices that are connected to the Mylio Photos+ account. You can limit or expand their access as needed. Some of the ways you can do this include controlling which Spaces are available, how the images will sync, and so on. You can also make it a requirement to use a PIN to switch Spaces or adjust settings.
5. Protect: Never Lose an Important Photo, Video, or Digital Document
It’s no secret that redundancy is key to keeping files safe, yet people still tend to store their files on a single device. If/when the device fails, it’s catastrophic for the collection of files and it can prove quite costly to try to have them professionally recovered. Of course, backup devices can be stolen or destroyed in a natural disaster as well, for which there is no remedy. With Mylio Photos+, users can take advantage of the multi-device access for safe storing purposes. It’s like getting a complete backup solution that works with the devices you already have.
Mylio Photos encourages users to set up 3-2-1 Backup best practices by adding at least two physical “vault devices” and if desired, one or more offsite backups – usually a cloud service. For MP+ users, Mylio Drive serves as another emergency layer of protection, but it’s not a true backup since it only hosts optimized file copies.
- Cloud Independence: While you typically expect to use cloud storage for syncing devices, that’s not necessary with Mylio Photos+. Instead, your devices can directly communicate with each other for faster backups. It’s also more affordable because you don’t have to pay for cloud storage, which can get absurdly expensive for massive media collections.
- Precision Syncing and Encryption in the Cloud: In the event that you maintain a cloud account, you can use ratings, EXIF data, labels, and more to get precision syncing. Users can also encrypt files to further protect them from privacy breaches and data theft. Mylio Photos works with OneDrive, Google Drive, and S3-compatible cloud storage.
- Local Storage: The price of local storage drives has come down while cloud costs have gone up significantly. Mylio Photos+ uses connected local drives that signed-in devices can access to noticeably increase syncing speeds.
Setting the Standard for User Privacy
According to David Vaskevitch, CEO of Mylio, “We’ve always believed protecting cherished memories and prioritizing user privacy go hand in hand…[and] this latest release is more than just an update; it’s a testament to our commitment to protecting important memories while respecting privacy.”
As such, Mylio Photos (version 24) strictly maintains user privacy and does not use AI for the purpose of learning more about users and their families. To ensure this approach holds true, all artificial intelligence tools run locally on your device and do not transmit personal data to the company or others for alternative uses.
When Will Mylio Photos (version 24) Be Available?
Mylio Photos (version 24) is now available on all platforms (Windows, Android, macOS, iOS, iPadOS).
While Mylio Photos (version 24) is free, you can upgrade to the premium plan (Mylio Photos+) for $9.99/month or $99 (USD)/year. The premium option provides even more collaboration features, data encryption for safe cloud storage, and space-saving features that have been designed to enable users to have smaller copies of all their files available on mobile or limited-capacity devices. Mylio never touches your full-res photos and videos, which all Mylio Photos users can keep safely backed up in one or more “vault” devices if desired. It’s worth noting, however, that Mylio Photos+ users get automated local backups, which means they never have to remember to backup manually.
