DESKTOP APP FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS · MACOS + WINDOWS FIRST

From memory card to archive.Keep control of every step.

FrameOnward is a desktop app in internal alpha. It organizes photographs, creates and verifies two local copies, handles cards one at a time, and now adds a local Sessions overview, private previews and reversible culling—with fewer repeated decisions and one clear status.

Join the desktop alpha Try the workflow demo

IN DEVELOPMENT · NOT YET AVAILABLE TO DOWNLOAD

SDW-A2

01Working copy✓ SHA-256

02Local backup✓ SHA-256

✓ Card may be removed

01Local first

02Originals stay unchanged

03Verified copies

04Resumable after interruption

WORKING IN THE INTERNAL ALPHA

The workflow now continues beyond the copy dialog.

These capabilities run locally in the current internal build. They have automated coverage, but the alpha is still awaiting the full three-device hardware test before it can be offered for real photographs.

Transactional Sessions overview

A local catalog is updated transactionally from durable session records, so a failed update cannot leave a half-updated overview. It counts each RAW, JPEG and sidecar family as one photograph.

Verified, metadata-free previews

Culling previews are generated only from a verified working copy. They are disposable JPEG derivatives with source metadata removed—not another original or backup.

Reversible family-wide culling

Keep, reject, rating and colour-label choices apply to the whole photo family and can be undone. Culling records decisions; it does not delete originals or either verified copy.

Capacity and physical-device gates

Before copying, FrameOnward checks that both destinations have room for every missing copy plus a safety margin, and requires operating-system evidence that card, archive and backup are three separate physical devices.

AFTER THE SHOOT

When the shoot ends, the most vulnerable stage begins.

Cards must be transferred, every file must be accounted for, folders and names must make sense, copies must be verified, and each card must remain identifiable. Later, edits, metadata and delivered files need protection too. Today this often depends on several tools, repeated choices and steps the photographer has to remember.

Several cards, no single status

It is easy to lose track of which card was copied, verified or is still waiting.

The structure starts from scratch

Folders, names, cameras, photographers and days often have to be organized manually after every shoot.

Copied does not mean verified

A completed copy dialog does not prove that every destination file can be read correctly.

Protection ends too early

Lightroom data, sidecars and edited versions can remain only on one computer until someone remembers the next backup.

FIRST DESKTOP ALPHA

Set up the workflow once. Confirm only what cannot be decided safely.

The first alpha focuses on the essential first stage: moving from memory cards to an organized session with a verified working copy and a local backup on another physical drive.

01
Choose your rules
Set default destinations, naming and organization. Preview the expected folder structure before real files are transferred.
02
Insert the first card
FrameOnward can suggest mounted removable media, but you select the source explicitly. It then builds an inventory without changing the originals.
03
Resolve genuine ambiguity only
If photographs may belong to different trips, days, jobs or photographers, the app asks. Otherwise it uses the saved defaults.
04
Create and verify the copies
Files are copied to the working location and another physical drive. Both copies are read back and checked against the source.
05
Remove the card when its status is clear
The app shows when the current card may be removed. Formatting always remains a separate decision.
06
Continue, review or finish
Insert the next card, or finish and open the local Sessions overview. Verified photo families can then be reviewed with private previews and reversible keep, reject and rating choices.

See it simulated in the browser →

ONE CARD AT A TIME

One card in. One clear next step.

Several cards do not have to be connected at once. FrameOnward processes them in the order they arrive: register, organize, copy, verify and release the current card—then move to the next.

FrameOnward never assumes that no additional cards exist. The photographer ends the session explicitly.

1Card registered
2Organization proposal ready
3Working copy in progress
4Backup copy in progress
5Both copies verified
6Card may be removed
7Insert the next card or finish

ORGANISATION IN THE INTERNAL ALPHA

See and approve the exact structure before files move.

The internal alpha now inspects each card, proposes groups from trustworthy capture metadata when available, and asks you to confirm what belongs together. JPEG, NEF, ARW, CR2 and DNG metadata are supported when structurally valid; other or malformed metadata is shown as review-required instead of being treated as capture truth.

Current alpha: keep matching RAW, JPEG and sidecar files together as one photo family.
Current alpha: suggest mounted removable media without selecting it or starting an ingest automatically.
Current alpha: remember the preferred language, organisation name and grouping type without storing card paths or device identities.
Current alpha: choose whether detected groups belong to the same trip or job, a different one, a separate trip on the same day, or older unrelated material.
Current alpha: see the exact destination paths and file counts before transfer.
Current alpha: bind the approved organisation plan to both verified copies, the session journal and the local Sessions overview.

PREVIEWInternal alpha preview · Coastal migration 2026 / 2026-08-11 / Card_a12b34c56d78 / DCIM / Z8_2174.NEF

RAWJPEGXMP

SAFETY BEFORE SPEED

Confidence should come from evidence—not only a green tick.

These safeguards are implemented in the internal alpha, but the browser demo does not prove them and the full physical hardware test is still pending.

✓Memory-card files are treated as read-only originals.
✓Copies are verified by reading data back from each destination.
✓The ingest is blocked when capacity cannot be confirmed or the three physical devices cannot be proven separate.
✓An interrupted transfer can resume without hidden duplicates or missing files.
✓‘The card may be removed’ never means ‘the card may be formatted.’
✓Two local copies are not by themselves a complete off-site or 3-2-1 backup.

Read about privacy and data boundaries →

DESKTOP FIRST

Built for the place where the originals already live.

macOS

Card readers, local drives and external storage.

Internal alpha · native hardware test pending

Windows

The same workflow, safety rules and session format.

Internal alpha · native app smoke-tested

Linux

The shared Wails/Go application, packaged for supported Linux desktops.

Internal alpha · package built

iOS + Android

Status, session overview and preview culling from the same Wails 3 codebase, adapted to mobile permissions.

Later alpha track

PRODUCT DIRECTION

Protection should continue after the first copy.

Product direction, not promised release dates.

01 · Alpha ingest

Card ledger · one card at a time · organization rules · two verified copies · interruption recovery

02 · Local culling

Metadata-free previews from verified copies · family-wide keep/reject, ratings and labels · undo

03 · Editing + continuous backup

Detect sidecars and edited masters · verified recovery points · metadata conflict handling

04 · Archive + recovery

Connect original, edit, export and delivery · off-site policy · version history · guided restore

INTERACTIVE SIMULATION

Try the workflow without giving access to your photographs.

The browser demo uses synthetic cards, files and drives. It cannot read, copy, verify, delete or format anything on your computer.

Wildlife / nature

Four synthetic cards from two cameras across a multi-day trip.

Open wildlife demo →02

Wedding / event

Six synthetic cards from two photographers with possible filename collisions.

Open wedding/event demo →

The simulation is not a product guarantee or a safety test involving real files.

SEPARATE AND OPTIONAL

Would you like to help shape the desktop alpha?

FrameOnward is not yet available to download. You may voluntarily request invitations to early tests and separately choose whether to receive occasional product updates. If you also use the browser demo, your email cannot be connected to your anonymous answers.