Publish from Lightroom, like any publish service.
Installs in under a minute. No terminal, no scripts.
Seconds later: the same shots in Apple Photos, in an album named after your collection.
Hit Publish in Lightroom Classic and your finished photos land in Apple Photos — organised into albums, synced to every Apple device, ready to post. No exporting, no dragging, no duplicates.
Why it exists
10+ minutes per gallery, every time
Done. Albums created, files cleaned up, iPhone synced.
How it works
Open Lightroom's Plug-in Manager, click Add, and point it at the plugin. Under a minute, no restart needed.
Just like Flickr or SmugMug — pick your album settings once. A live preview shows exactly where photos will land.
Your photos appear in Apple Photos, in albums matching your collections, with live progress in Lightroom's progress bar.
Features
Re-publish a collection and unchanged photos are skipped automatically. Re-edit a shot and the old version is collected in an "Out of date" album for one-click cleanup.
Photos sync to your iPhone via iCloud the moment you publish. Post to Instagram, share to WhatsApp, AirDrop to clients — while the shoot is still fresh.
Your Lightroom collections become Apple Photos albums automatically, with optional folders to keep client work, Instagram picks, and family shots separate.
Rendered photos go straight into Apple Photos and the temporary files are cleaned up automatically. Nothing lands on your desktop, ever.
Publish stills and video files alike, with original filenames preserved so everything stays searchable in Photos.
No Xcode, no Homebrew, no command line. A built-in connection test and guided permission setup get you publishing in minutes.
One-time purchase for all the Macs you own. No subscription.
From the maker
"I edit everything in Lightroom Classic, and I was sick of exporting photos to a folder just to drag them into Apple Photos for sharing. I built the tool I wanted: hit Publish, and they're on my phone before I've made the coffee."
Dan — photographer & maker of LR to Photos
FAQ
Yes — if iCloud Photos is turned on, anything published to Apple Photos on your Mac syncs to your iPhone, iPad and Apple TV automatically.
Nothing bad. Unchanged photos are detected and skipped automatically, so you'll never fill your library with duplicates. Only genuinely re-edited photos are sent again.
The new version is published into your albums, and the old version is gathered into an "Out of date" album so you can review and delete old copies in one place. (Apple doesn't allow plugins to delete photos — a safety feature we think is a good thing.)
Lightroom Classic — the desktop app with the catalog. Not the cloud-based Lightroom (Lr). Tested on macOS Sequoia and Lightroom Classic 14; recent versions of both should work fine.
No — Apple Photos is a macOS/iOS app, so the plugin is Mac only.
Never. Removing a photo from Lightroom leaves it untouched in Apple Photos. The plugin can only add — it cannot delete anything from your library.
Yes. By default each Lightroom collection becomes an Apple Photos album, and you can nest albums inside a folder (e.g. /Client Work or /Instagram). A live preview in the settings shows exactly where photos will go. You can also send everything to a single album, or skip albums entirely.
No. Add the plugin via Lightroom's Plug-in Manager and you're done. The only setup is clicking "Allow" when macOS asks for permission — and the plugin walks you through it, with a built-in connection test.
Any Mac you personally own — one licence covers your desktop and your laptop.
Email hello@lrtophotos.com and we'll get you running — and if we can't, we'll refund you. You won't be left out of pocket for a plugin that doesn't work.
Your next gallery could be on your iPhone in one click.
Get LR to Photos — £25One-time purchase · Instant download · If it won't run on your Mac, we'll fix it or refund you