Frequently Asked Questions

Yes! Pluto Photos offers a free tier with support for up to 500 photos, tags, ratings, albums, and export. Pro ($29 one-time) unlocks unlimited photos, AI face detection, smart albums, map view, the video editor, and more.

Only to license the product. Pluto Photos is 100% local-first. All features including AI face detection run locally on your machine. No cloud required, no subscription needed.

Pluto Photos is available for Windows 10+ (64-bit), macOS 11+ (Apple Silicon), and Linux (AppImage and .deb).

No. Pluto Photos is a one-time purchase. Buy once and own it forever, including free lifetime updates.

Each license allows activation on up to 2 devices. You can deactivate a device at any time to free up a slot.

Yes! The Pro tier includes cloud import that lets you import your Google Photos Takeout data directly. It also supports importing from iCloud exports.

All purchases of Pluto Photos are non-refundable. We strongly encourage you to try the Free 30-day Pro Trial before purchasing to make sure the software meets your needs. If you encounter a special circumstance, please email support@plutophotos.com with a description of your issue and our team will do their best to assist you.

Yes. Pluto Photos is designed as a privacy-focused Google Photos alternative. You can import your Google Photos Takeout data directly, and all AI features like face detection run locally on your machine. Unlike Google Photos, there are no monthly fees, just a one-time purchase.

Absolutely. Pluto Photos works as a full media library manager supporting photos and videos. Organize your entire collection with smart albums, tags, ratings, color labels, and folders. It's designed to manage large libraries with 10,000+ files efficiently.

Yes! The Pro tier includes a built-in multi-track video editor. Trim clips, combine multiple videos on a timeline, add audio overlays, apply transitions, and export with presets. All processed locally on your machine.

Point Pluto Photos at any folder on your computer and it automatically imports and organizes everything. Use AI face detection to group by person, smart albums to auto-sort by date or camera, tags and ratings to categorize, and the map view to browse by location. It's the easiest way to manage your photos locally without cloud storage.

The Pluto Companion app is available for Android on Google Play. There is no iPhone version yet. Installing it and browsing your full library is free. No subscription required. A $5/month subscription unlocks automatic Wi-Fi backup, remote access away from home, a private vault, and duplicate cleanup tools. Browsing works with the free desktop app; the subscription features need Pluto Photos Pro on your computer.

Yes. Switch on remote access in the desktop app and the Mobile Companion reaches your computer over the internet when home Wi-Fi is unavailable. No router setup. All remote connections use HTTPS with certificate pinning, so your photos travel encrypted end-to-end and no server of ours ever sees them. If your internet connection can't be reached directly, an encrypted relay of ours passes the traffic through automatically; it can't read it. No VPN required.

The vault lets you move sensitive photos out of your regular library and lock them behind biometrics (face unlock, fingerprint) or your phone's PIN or pattern. Vault contents are completely hidden from the main photo view and cannot be accessed without authentication, not even by someone who has your unlocked phone.

Yes. You can cache selected albums to your phone and browse them without any Wi-Fi or internet connection, useful on flights, in remote areas, or anywhere you're away from your library. Cached photos are stored at full quality and can be shared directly from your phone.

All connections use TLS 1.3 (HTTPS). On first pairing, your phone receives a cryptographic fingerprint of your desktop's self-signed certificate via QR code. From that point on, your phone verifies that fingerprint on every connection, a technique called certificate pinning, which means even a network attacker cannot impersonate your server. Away from home, if a direct connection isn't possible, traffic goes through Pluto's relay, but your phone's encrypted session ends at your computer and it refuses anything that can't prove it is your computer, so the relay cannot read your photos.

No. With remote access switched on, your computer keeps a small encrypted note of where it is that only your phone can read, and updates it whenever your home internet address changes. Open the app on your home Wi-Fi once after switching it on. No re-pairing needed.