Aurora Photos · A photo and video archive
Aurora Photos copies from your phone, your camera's SD card or a folder; it never touches the originals and never deletes anything from the source. It reads each copy back and verifies it with SHA-256, files it into year and month folders and groups it into events. It treats exact duplicates and similar photos separately and never selects the similar ones for you. There is no face recognition, no cloud and no online map.
Three promises
Photos are files that cannot be replaced. That is why Aurora Photos moves nothing and never deletes permanently.
The copy is first written as a temporary file, flushed to disk, read back and its SHA-256 compared with the one read from the source; only if they match is it moved into place. The source file is opened read-only.
A user file goes only to the Windows Recycle Bin; nothing is deleted from the source when importing. The delete code exists only for the program's own files and a test checks this.
An exact duplicate (identical byte for byte, SHA-256 matches) and a similar photo (a burst shot, a rotated frame) are two different things. Among exact duplicates the extras come selected; among similar photos none is selected automatically, and ★ the sharpest frame is only a suggestion.
How it looks
You move between screens with the tabs at the top. The screens below are example views of the program's real interface, taken with synthetic test files; names and numbers are sample data.
What it can do
Features with a Beta badge were coded and tested in a test environment but have not yet been fully tried in real conditions. The feature with a Coming soon badge is not in the program yet.
Copies from a folder or from the DCIM folder of a removable disk. The target is "Year\Month" folders (for example 2025\08 August); screenshots go to a separate folder; a RAW + JPEG pair stays in the same frame. The "Count" preview shows how many files were found, will be skipped and will be copied, the size and the free space.
When you connect the phone over USB in "File transfer" mode (MTP) it copies the contents, read-only. The code is written and the device list was tested with real devices on this computer; listing and copying content with a real phone has not been tried yet. If the phone does not show up, copy its DCIM folder with File Explorer and import it with "Folder".
A new event starts when there is a gap longer than the setting (3, 6, 12 or 24 hours; the default is 6) between two shots or the location changes by more than 50 km. You name the event; the suggested name comes from the date ("August 2025"). You can split an event, merge it with the previous one or export it.
The GPS data in a photo is read on this computer and used only to separate events. It is never sent to the internet and no online map is used. The "remove location when sharing" option clears the GPS and XMP data from a JPEG when exporting.
Files identical byte for byte are found by size and then SHA-256. One file in each group is kept (the one with the original name, then the oldest); the extras come selected. The selected ones are only moved to the Windows Recycle Bin and come back with "Undo".
Finds burst shots and near-identical frames; a rotated copy counts as similar, not as exact. None is selected automatically; ★ the sharpest frame is only a suggestion. This feature needs a licence.
The structure is "Year\Month\Event", "Year\Month", "Year\Event" or leave the folders alone; the name template is date_time_number or keep names. You preview first, then apply, and "undo" returns to the old state. Every move is written to an operation log first; even after a power cut, when the program is reopened the job is either entirely old or entirely new, and no file is lost. A custom template needs a licence.
The interface is available in 21 languages; Arabic and Urdu are shown right to left. The translations passed automatic checks and a back-translation check; review by native speakers is still under way.
Suggesting a city name such as "Antalya — August 2025" from a photo's GPS coordinates needs an offline city list; that list has not been added to the program yet. For now the event name is suggested from the date only.
Measured, written down
On 11 October 2026 an acceptance run was done on a real computer with normal user rights (not administrator). All tests used synthetic files made by the program itself; your own photos were never touched.
| Tested | Result | How it was verified |
|---|---|---|
| Acceptance run (normal user rights) | 18 steps passed, 0 failed, 1 skipped | The skipped step is a real phone and SD card: no device was connected |
| Importing and verification | 20 files found, 18 copied, 0 errors | A 21-file synthetic source; 2 repeated items in the source were counted |
| The source stayed unchanged | All 21 files identical before and after | SHA-256, size and timestamps were compared |
| Copies match the source | All 18 archive files are identical byte for byte to the source | File-by-file comparison |
| Second import | 20 files imported earlier were skipped | SHA-256 match; recognised even if renamed |
| Timeline and exact duplicates | 9 events; 1 group of copies, 1 extra file | The event rule and SHA-256 matching |
| Organize and undo | 19 files affected, 0 lost, contents identical; after undo the archive was exactly as before | Preview summary, content comparison and an undo check |
| Killing the program in the middle of organizing | The result was entirely old or entirely new, 0 lost | All 7 of 7 tests passed; the absence of permanent deletion was also checked in the source code |
| Recycle Bin | Moving and undoing worked | With a file in the test folder only; all 3 of 3 tests passed |
| Scale | 100,000 files: first scan 5.2 s, incremental second scan 0.8 s (0 re-read), peak memory 328 MB | The files were small (64-byte) synthetic files; with real 4 MB photos the first scan depends on the disk's read speed |
| Panel security | Foreign requests were rejected | Only 127.0.0.1, cookie sign-in, CSP; a request without the required header got 403, one without a cookie got 401 |
| Build tests and mutation run | User 40/40, Administrator 9/9, installer 61/61; all 38 of 38 inserted faults caught | Test suites that run during the build and deliberately inserted faults |
What we leave out on purpose
We leave out things that are common in photo apps but could harm your privacy or your data.
Faces in your photos are not scanned, people are not grouped and nobody is matched.
Your photos are not uploaded anywhere; location data is never sent to the internet and no map service is used. The internet is used only for licence verification and update checks.
There is no code that deletes a user file other than moving it to the Recycle Bin, and similar photos are never selected on their own. You always decide what is removed.
Limits
Knowing what an archive program cannot do matters as much as knowing what it does. We say these up front:
Aurora Photos organizes only the archive you copied into; it does not touch the originals on the phone or card. It is not a backup program: you still need to back up the archive folder yourself.
Free use and licence
Importing and verification, the timeline and events, exact duplicates and the ready-made organize templates are free. A licence is needed for similar photos, a custom name template, asking when a phone is plugged in, and more than one archive. Aurora Photos is not sold separately: it comes with the Aurora One Licence.
For everyone
Free
Import, verify and organize.
All programs, one licence
Find similar photos and customise the rule. The same licence covers every Aurora One program.
Aurora One Licence This program is covered by the Aurora One Licence: one licence for every Aurora One program.
See pricingSystem requirements
FAQ
No. Aurora Photos always copies; the source file is opened read-only and nothing is deleted from the source. Each copy is read back and verified with SHA-256. If you want to delete from the phone or card, you do that yourself.
An exact duplicate is a file identical byte for byte (the SHA-256 matches); the extras come selected. A similar photo is a different file that looks almost the same, such as a burst shot or a rotated frame; these are shown in a separate section and none is selected automatically. ★ the sharpest frame is only a suggestion.
No. There is no code that permanently deletes a user file. Removal is only a move to the Windows Recycle Bin, it is logged and "Undo" puts the file back where it was.
No. GPS data is read on this computer and used only to separate events. There is no online map and no cloud; your photos and your location are not sent to the internet. City name suggestions are not there yet (Coming soon).
No, deliberately. There is no face recognition.
Beta: the code is written and the device list was tested with real devices on this computer, but copying content from a real phone has not been tried yet. If the phone does not show up or the transfer stops halfway, copy the phone's DCIM folder to the computer with File Explorer and import it with "Folder".
Yes. Importing, the timeline, exact duplicates and ready-made organizing are free; similar photos, a custom name template, asking when a phone is plugged in and more than one archive need a licence.
Aurora Photos is not sold separately; it is used with the Aurora One Licence, which covers every Aurora One program. Download and sales are not open yet.
Our other products
All of our products are designed for Windows and are local-first.
Representative interface
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