AlbumRescue support
Write to support@kayabyte.dev. We answer within two working days. Please say which edition you use (Mac App Store or Direct), your macOS version and, if a backup went wrong, send the report file (AlbumRescue report.csv) from the backup folder, without any photos. The Direct edition’s setup guide is Help and setup.
Which edition do I have?
If you bought AlbumRescue: Photo Library in the Mac App Store, you have the App Store edition. If you downloaded AlbumRescue from kayabyte.dev, you have the Direct edition. The App Store edition reads the libraries, drives and backup disks you choose. The Direct edition can also search your whole Mac and Time Machine by itself, because it can use Full Disk Access.
Getting started (App Store edition)
- Click Choose Library and open your Photos library. It is usually in the Pictures folder of your home folder. For a library on another drive, an old Mac’s disk or a Time Machine backup, click Choose a Drive or Folder to Search and choose that drive.
- Click Scan. AlbumRescue shows what the library holds and what is really on the disk.
- Click Back Up, choose a drive or folder, and click Back Up.
- Next time, click Update Backup. Only what is new is copied.
To see the whole flow first, click Try the Sample Library.
“macOS blocked this folder”
The App Store edition can read only what you chose. Choose the folder that holds the library, or the whole drive, with Choose a Drive or Folder to Search. The Direct edition asks for Full Disk Access instead: see Help and setup.
A drive is “not connected”
AlbumRescue remembers libraries and backups on external drives. Connect the drive and the entry comes back by itself.
Time Machine
In the App Store edition, choose the backup disk with Choose a Drive or Folder to Search. AlbumRescue lists the libraries it finds there and saves the original files. macOS leaves the Photos database out of Time Machine backups, so albums, captions and keywords may be missing from what a backup holds. Some older backups can only be read by the Direct edition, which can use Full Disk Access. On a Time Machine disk, open an older date in Time Machine first.
Items kept only in iCloud
With Optimize Mac Storage on, Photos keeps some originals only in iCloud. They are not on your Mac, so AlbumRescue cannot save them. It lists them in the scan and in the report. To back up the full originals, let Photos download them first.
What is in a backup folder
Albums as folders, your originals, edited versions named “(edited)”, a sidecar file (.xmp) for every photo, READ ME.txt and AlbumRescue report.csv. A hidden folder named .albumrescue holds the list of what was saved, so that Update Backup copies only what is new. Leave it in place.
Refunds and purchases
The Mac App Store edition is sold by Apple. Refunds and purchase problems go through reportaproblem.apple.com; we cannot refund App Store purchases. The Direct edition is sold through Paddle with a 30-day refund: see the refund policy.