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No. Tend Photos never deletes anything on its own. Every deletion requires you to select the photos you want to remove, review your selection, and then type the word "DELETE" to confirm. Nothing changes in your library until you complete that confirmation. If you close the app or navigate away before confirming, nothing happens.

No. All scanning, duplicate detection, quality scoring, and photo analysis happens entirely on your Mac using Apple's PhotoKit framework. Your photos, metadata, and filenames never leave your device. There is no server, no cloud processing, and no account required.

Photos deleted through Tend Photos go to your Recently Deleted album in the Photos app, where they stay for 30 days before being permanently removed. To recover a photo, open the Photos app, go to Recently Deleted in the sidebar, find the photo, and click Recover. Tend Photos also keeps a full action history so you can always see exactly what was removed and when.

The free version includes everything you need for core library cleanup: duplicate detection, quality scoring, keeper recommendations, safe deletion with typed confirmation, non-destructive photo enhancement, Smart Insights (auto-categorization and plain-language search), and album/folder organization.

Tend PRO ($19.99 one-time, $9.99 at launch) adds video duplicate detection, similarity sensitivity controls, smart organization suggestions (trips, family, bills), batch enhancement workflows, and multiple saved library profiles. PRO is a one-time purchase — no subscription, ever.

Quality scoring analyzes each photo's sharpness, exposure, and resolution to identify the best technical shot in a duplicate group. The recommendation is a starting point, not a decision. If Tend Photos recommends a photo you wouldn't choose, just tap the one you prefer to change the selection. You're always in charge of the final call.

A few possibilities: the scan may have completed and found genuinely few duplicates (some libraries are tidier than others!), the similarity threshold may be set tightly (Tend PRO lets you adjust this), or the scan may still be indexing a very large library. If you see a "Scan complete" message and the results look unexpectedly sparse, try running a new scan and checking the sensitivity settings if you have PRO. If the problem persists, email us.

Scan time depends on your library size and your Mac's processor. A library of 20,000–50,000 photos typically scans in 2–5 minutes on a recent Mac. Libraries over 100,000 photos may take 10–15 minutes. The app remains usable during a scan, and progress is shown throughout.

The scan stops cleanly and no changes are made to your library. When you reopen the app, you can start a new scan. Partial scan results are not saved between sessions — you'll need to run a full scan again.

Tend Photos currently works with your primary local Photos library — the one associated with your main iCloud account on your Mac. Support for Shared Libraries and multiple library profiles is a Tend PRO feature.

First, check your Photos access settings: open System Settings, go to Privacy & Security > Photos, and make sure Tend Photos is set to "Full Access." If it's already set to Full Access, try quitting and relaunching the app. If the problem continues, email us at [email protected] with a brief description of what you see and what macOS version you're running.

No. Tend PRO is a one-time purchase. Pay once, use it forever, and receive all future updates at no additional cost. There is no subscription, no annual renewal, and no trial period that converts to a recurring charge.