Mylio Photos+ Review

If you have photos on a desktop, some saved on a smartphone and others on hard drives, it can be hard work keeping track of what’s stored where and that’s where a digital asset management tool comes into play. One such tool is the Mylio Photos+ app which will help you organise and keep track of photos as well as videos and even edit photos. There’s a free version available but we’re reviewing the subscription option, Mylo Photo+. 

Mylio Photos+ Features

As mentioned, Mylio Photos+ is a digital asset management tool which, if you’ve heard of Lightroom, you’ll have an idea of what one is. Basically, they help you manage your photo collections so it’s easier to find a specific photo when you need it. 

With Mylio Photos+ you can look for photos on desktops, tablets, smartphones, external hard drives, SD cards and via cloud storage. Once you have located your images, you can use a wide range of tools to sort, rate and apply information such as metadata to your photos. 

The free version, simply called Mylio Photos, shares some of the features as the + version but you can’t keep smartphone and desktop files synced to access on both devices and you don’t get the rather useful deduplication tool that saves time and space.

Other features include the ability to create albums, see images on a map (if the metadata is available), show photos in chronological order via a Calendar view. There are also tools to help you find and remove duplicate images, you can tag people and find similar-looking photos that aren’t exactly duplicates but are close enough that you might want to remove one to save hard drive space. 

When adding images, you can link them to Mylio Photos+, which keeps the images in the original location but you can still organise and sort the photos in the app. To free up space, you can import full-resolution copies of your files into Mylio Photos+. 

Mylio Photos+ Ease Of Use & Performance

Downloading and installing Mylio Photos+ is straightforward but with so much on offer, once you open the app up, it can take some time to get to grips with. To help you out, there are pop-up messages that will guide you through the interface and we recommend you read them as they’re really useful. You can also get more help via the Mylio website where common questions are answered and there’s a manual, too. 

Adding images is a really straightforward process and the software responds quickly. You can add media from folders or hardware, such as an external SD card, from the device you’re working on or images/video can be downloaded from online services. 

Once you have added your images, you can easily search for specific shots via various filters which are already built into the search system or you can type in a search box to find a specific filter. 

Like all good photo management tools, you can add info to images to make it easier to find and organise them. You can add star ratings and colour tags, edit metadata, add word tags (smart tags are automatically applied by the app, too), place coordinates so you can use the map feature and more. You can also batch-tag images to save time. 

If you want to review images with less distraction, you can use the QuickReview mode where you can review an image, add flags/ratings then quickly and easily move onto the next image. You can use this mode on Desktop but we found it a really good fit for when reviewing photos on a smartphone or tablet. 

The interface is split into tools on the left, an image viewing section in the middle and the options for completing specific tasks/using tools on the right. We like the dark look the interface has as it’s a very neutral colour that doesn’t distract from your images. It’s quite gentle on the eyes, too, meaning you don’t get eye strain. 

On the left, the most useful icon is the one that looks like a timer called ‘Dashboard’ as this is where you’ll find assistance for getting started as well as the various actions you can take to add media, find duplicate/similar photos, add faces and connect other devices. There’s also a notification centre, library stats (should you want to know how many images you’ve loaded etc.) and a help section. 

To further organise your photos and to save space on your hard drives, you can ask the software to find duplicate images or similar-looking images which you can then choose to delete or ignore. This can be done with images that have the same file name (multiple copies in different locations) and, more impressively, with images that have different file names but are the exact same photo. It’s a great feature that frees up valuable space. Another way space is freed up is by only keeping optimised images on the device you are working on. Original-quality files, videos, and documents will be stored on your other devices and can be synced on-demand from another device (that also has Mylio Photos+ installed and running). Space Saver is actually the default setting and is best for devices with limited storage space such as laptops, tablets, and smartphones.

When tagging faces, the software does a great job of recognising individuals and we actually didn’t get any inaccurate results when testing this feature out. 

The map view is fun to play around with and it’s cool to see where you have been with your camera but we found the calendar view (LifeCalendar) less useful. Although, some might enjoy viewing images by decade, year month or day and it’s really easy to use with a simple double-click opening images up by a specific time frame.

As well as viewing images via the Photos Map view, you can perform a web search using your photo’s GPS information to find more information about the area it was captured in and you can even use it to create driving instructions should you wish to visit again. 

As well as organising images, you can edit photos in Mylio Photos+ with a good range of editing tools available. One-click presets are built in for quick edits and there are more advanced tools for fixing, colour, tone, exposure, dynamic range and composition. There’s a handy histogram and an auto-enhance tool which actually made accurate enhancements when tested. There aren’t any masking or cloning tools on offer but what there is built-in does come in handy. 

When it comes to sharing images with others, photos can be exported via email, social media channels and more but if you don’t want others to be able to access the images metadata, you can use the SafeShare option to strip this information from your photos before sharing. 

You also get cross-platform media sync for multiple devices and automatic back-ups to SSDs, desktops, HDDs and/or Cloud services with the option to only backup your best photos to the cloud (with encryption if needed). 

Value For Money

Mylio Photos+ is priced at $9.99 per month (plus applicable taxes) which isn’t too expensive but not everyone is a fan of pay-monthly options so there’s also an option to pay $99.99 for the year. There is a free version available but the tools on offer are more limited and you don’t get access to multiple devices. Mylio Photos users have the option to trial Mylio Photos+ absolutely free for 30 days.

Mylio Photos+ Verdict

Mylio Photos+ is a really great photo management tool that will satisfy the order and structure needs of photographers. For those not already using a digital asset management tool, Mylio Photos+ will give you all of the tools and features you need to bring order to a messy collection of images with the aid of star ratings, keywords, metadata and other options coming to your rescue. If, however, you’re already using Lightroom Classic, there’s probably not enough on offer to make you want to switch but those still looking for a tool to organise their photographic life should take a look at Mylio Photos+. 

[REVIEW_FOOTER]R_features=4|R_Handling=4|R_performance=4.5|R_value=4.5|R_overall=4|A_level=4|A_text=Mylio Photos+ is a well-designed digital asset management tool that brings photos in different locations into one easy to use app. |E_id=7837[/REVIEW_FOOTER]