I got to page 4 of making a photo book, gave up, and built this instead
Every photo book tool I tried handed me a blank spread and 300 thumbnails and said "go on then." I got four pages in and closed it.
The photos went back to the folder. That was two years ago and they're still there.
So I built the opposite. PhotoBooks (macOS + iOS) takes an Apple Photos album or a folder and gives you a finished book first - curated, laid out, cover, spine text, back cover - before you've made a single decision. Then you argue with it. Make this one bigger, swap that, drag it there, write on the page, change the book size at the very end. The whole thing reflows around you.
Two rules I refused to break: it never crops a photo to fit a template, and nothing leaves your machine.
Scoring runs on device, your book is a plain file in whatever folder you keep it in, no account.
It's out now and I'm launching it here soon. Before I do, I want the part I can't test alone:
What actually killed your last photo book attempt - the layout work, the printing, or just never starting?
And if you've printed one you were happy with - what service, and did the print match the preview?
Happy to hand a build to anyone who wants to break it.
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