Interest check: Lightroom Classic To Apple Photos bridge

T

Taospace

New Member
Joined
Apr 29, 2026
Messages
6
Location
Copenhagen
Lightroom Experience
Power User
Lightroom Version
Classic
Hi All,

I've been working on a way to sync photos from Lightroom to Apple Photos in a solid, repeatable way.
This is beginning to work really well and has quite a few features! I'm looking to see if this is something people are interested in, and if so, if anyone would be willing to beta-test this.
Obviously this is a Mac-only thing.

At high level:
- Sync any folder from Lightroom, directly in to Apple Photos (and thus iCloud Photo Library and thus to all your devices)
- Automatically syncs all RAWs as well as renders of any photo you edited. Minor edits like just changing the color profile are automatically skipped.
- Subsequent edits automatically remove the previous render from Photos and upload a new one in it's place
- Lightroom Folder names = Apple Photos album names, and you can pick which part of the Photos hierarchy you want these albums to appear in.
- Moving albums in Photos afterwards will still maintain the link with Lightroom
- Supports most RAW files, virtual copies and edits bounced via Photoshop
- Deletions of RAWs still keep RAWs in Photos, so you can clean out any (non-edited) files from Lightroom whenever you want. Assumption (for now) is you'll keep edited files in Lightroom forever, so you can get back to them.
- More stuff I forgot

Anyway, overall idea is:
1. Import shoots into Lightroom
2. Cull and edit there
3. Sync to Apple Photos for sharing and use on devices
4. Sync subsequent edits, as needed

How does this sound to you all?

Best,
-Thijs.
 
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thijs2768 said:
How does this sound to you all?
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"You all"? You must be from southern Denmark ;-)
I am of the opinion that you do not need two DAM tools. The MacOS Photos app is one and Lightroom id the other. To that end I have removed the photos app from starting on Login. and turned off and syncing to the iCloud on every mobile device that I own. The Lightroom mobile app syncs to the Adobe Cloud and this replaces any need for iCloud Photos in my workflow.

Lightroom ecosystem is the only DAM tool I use and the only DAM tool I need.

While I consider it admirable that you have managed to develop a workflow between the two DAM tools, I see it as entirely unnecessary since Lightroom mobile provides the same functionality over the whole Apple ecosystem.
 
That is a totally valid opinion. My needs are likely different. I use Classic and the inability of it to sync originals and a strong preference for Photos as a consumption tool (rather than editing) mean I like having both. They serve very different purposes for me. And no, not from southern Denmark or any part of Denmark actually :-).
 
Taospace said:
That is a totally valid opinion. My needs are likely different. I use Classic and the inability of it to sync originals and a strong preference for Photos as a consumption tool (rather than editing) mean I like having both. They serve very different purposes for me. And no, not from southern Denmark or any part of Denmark actually :-).
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Your location says Copenhagen. So it is a natural assumption. I grew up in the US South so "You All" and more often contracted to "y'all" is a natural.

I don't understand what you mean by "I use Classic and the inability of it to sync originals and a strong preference for Photos". Can you explain? I have all of my full size originals in the Adobe Cloud, but I use. Lightroom Desktop and Lightroom Mobile to get them there. I use both Lightroom and Lightroom Classic to get the best features of each app. I use the Adobe Cloud as a vehicle to integrate my albums with my website that uses Adobe Portfolio. I lost interest in any Apple Photo product when they abandoned Aperture and serious photographic processing. Conveniently about that time Adobe developed their own Cloud based product.
 
Although I don’t use Apple Photos enough to beta-test this, it seems like many people have asked about a better connection between Apple Photos and Lightroom Classic. They want to manage their photos with Lightroom Classic but need to use some of the Apple-specific sharing tools such as Shared Albums or a Projects extension. So it sounds like something a lot of people will be happy to see.
 
Conrad Chavez said:
need to use some of the Apple-specific sharing tools such as Shared Albums or a Projects extension. So it sounds like something a lot of people will be happy to see.
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Good Point.
 
Conrad Chavez said:
Although I don’t use Apple Photos enough to beta-test this, it seems like many people have asked about a better connection between Apple Photos and Lightroom Classic. They want to manage their photos with Lightroom Classic but need to use some of the Apple-specific sharing tools such as Shared Albums or a Projects extension. So it sounds like something a lot of people will be happy to see.
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Thanks that’s good feedback!
 
And to complement the theme here..

it would be super if Adobe improved the integration between their own products, Glaring omission, Populate templates in InDesign from Lightroom. This would also fill the gaps in Lightroom in relation to placing metadata on the printed page.

I recently rediscovered Apple Reminders. It is an app I was looking for all my life, tried it before and did not adopt, but now it is has evolved (in an understated way) to a perfectly formed app which sits on my iPhone and iPad and allows me integrate so much of my daily activities. So integration between apps is vip.
 
Have you looked round for other existing tools? It seems such an obvious thing to try.
 
Hi John, no such tools exist, insofar as I’ve been able to work out. Sure you can use watched folders or Lightroom exports that launch Photos, but that isn’t a proper sync and it doesn’t deal with originals vs renders nor any of the other niceties listed in my original post. Which is why I built them myself to suit my workflow.

Still looking for people with actual direct interest in this and possible willingness to try it out.
 
I am very interested in keeping up to date with any developments which may improve the interoperability of and integration from /to Lightroom Classic.

My prime interest is to be able to automate the population of templates in apps such as InDesign or Affinity Publisher, to be able to create really high quality publishing files , which have all the tools of desktop publishing , especially including a fully managed colour workflow.

I am not a good candidate to test your app as I only wish to manage a single image asset management system. I definitely do not want to have multiple copies of my images and have gone to major effort over the years to specifically avoid such scenarios.

I will monitor how you progress with this and will comment if I have anything useful.
 
I’ve spent a bit more time on it and now it is essentially ready for some other people to try.

- It now syncs entire folder structures including nested folders to a selected part of the Photos hierarchy. Folder can contain photos and other folders and this is handled correctly.
- I can decide to move the entire structure in Photos whenever I want and it continues to sync properly
- clear overview of what was synced and what is managed inside the photo library at any given time.
- I can reset the whole thing and it cleans up after itself.
- tons of corner cases and bugs resolved.
- nice UI

Basically it’s solid and stable. So I’ll ask one more time if there are any takers :)
 
I stumbled on this thread as a regular user looking for a simple solution to a problem I have after every vacation. I use Lightroom classic to edit and manage my photos. My travel companions primarily use Apple photos to take and view photos. I find it cumbersome to manage albums in Lightroom, export them to photos and then synchronize changes. So yes, I would find a simplified way to synchronize a limited number of photo albums between Lightroom (as my source of truth for edits) to Apple Photos (as a way to share my photos) beneficial). Would I be interested in beta testing? Only if you are really ready for someone who is not technical to test. I am not a techie (think a retired traveler with time but not patience)
 
judyfulk said:
I stumbled on this thread as a regular user looking for a simple solution to a problem I have after every vacation. I use Lightroom classic to edit and manage my photos. My travel companions primarily use Apple photos to take and view photos. I find it cumbersome to manage albums in Lightroom, export them to photos and then synchronize changes. So yes, I would find a simplified way to synchronize a limited number of photo albums between Lightroom (as my source of truth for edits) to Apple Photos (as a way to share my photos) beneficial). Would I be interested in beta testing? Only if you are really ready for someone who is not technical to test. I am not a techie (think a retired traveler with time but not patience)
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Hi Judy,

I’d love for you to try it. Spent a lot of time making it solid and easy to use. How can I best get in touch outside this forum?
 
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