WELCOME TO MYLIO PHOTOS

Self-guided onboarding

Getting started with Mylio Photos takes a little time, but it’s worth it.
You’re building a private, powerful photo library that works across all your devices, with no cloud required.

These steps will help you establish a solid foundation for using Mylio Photos with confidence.

You’ll set up your library, designate local and optional cloud storage for protection, and get introduced to the key features that make Mylio Photos powerful. From here, you can build on this setup to organize, protect, and enjoy your memories your way.

⏱️Setup time depends on your devices and the number of photos you’re organizing. Many customers spend hours completing the process, with the time increasing if they need to read documentation or contact support for help along the way.

💡What You'll Need Before You Start

Your main computer (Windows or macOS)
Any phones, tablets, or external drives you want to use
A stable internet connection

1. Install Mylio Photos

Installing Mylio Photos on your computer is the first step toward building your private photo library.

To install:

Download for your platform
Install and sign in to your account:
1. Windows: Double-click the .msix file and follow the installer instructions
2. macOS: Open the .dmg file and drag Mylio Photos into your Applications folder
Launch Mylio Photos and sign in with your email
Check your inbox to confirm your email address
Follow the instructions to add your license key and activate your subscription

Skip Guided Import

After you sign in, you’ll see a screen titled Guided Import.

This is a helpful feature that introduces different ways to bring media into Mylio Photos—from your devices, memory cards, and other web-based services.

Because you’re following this step-by-step onboarding guide, we recommend skipping Guided Import for now. We’ll walk you through media import later, in a way that’s customized to your goals and setup.

👉 Tap or click Skip to continue with the instructions on this page.

💡Having troubles with installation?

Click the chat icon ( 💬 ) in the bottom-right corner of this page to get quick help with this step.

2. Set up a vault (highly recommended)

A Vault is a device that stores everything—your full-quality originals, metadata, and catalog. It gives you maximum protection and local control. It keeps your entire library safe and intact—even if other devices are lost, disconnected, or replaced.

Why We Recommend Starting with a Vault

Setting up a Vault before adding media helps:

Minimize storage usage on smaller devices, such as phones or tablets.
Protect your files from accidental loss or device failure.
Create a central hub where your library is always complete and accessible, even outside of Mylio Photos.

💡 One Vault keeps your library safe. A second Vault ensures your files stay protected, even if one Vault is lost or disconnected.

You can have more than one Vault, and Mylio Photos keeps them in sync across your devices using a private mesh network—your devices talk directly to each other, without needing the cloud.

Recommended Vault options:

An external hard drive with a capacity of 2TB or larger is ideal for most libraries.
An always-on computer with plenty of storage space
Mylio’s private cloud option, Mylio Drive+

⚠️ NAS devices can be used as Vaults, but the setup is more technical and works best with help from a Mylio Expert.

To set up a Vault:

Connect your external drive to your computer
Open Mylio Photos → Dashboard → Add Vault → External Drive or Cloud service
Follow along the onscreen instructions

More info: https://manual.mylio.com/topic/backup-and-protect

Mylio Drive+ is the easiest way to get started with a Vault—no hardware required.

Your account includes a free trial of SecureCloud, so you can activate Mylio Drive+ immediately at no extra cost. It creates a private cloud Vault that’s always on—making it easier for your devices to stay in sync, even if they’re not available at the same time.

Mylio Drive+ is designed with privacy in mind and built to keep your files safe.

Unless you have professional or regulatory restrictions that prevent the use of cloud storage, we strongly recommend activating it now to simplify setup and syncing.

Learn more about SecureCloud and Mylio Drive+ →

To activate Mylio Drive+:

Open Mylio Photos → Dashboard → Devices → Add Vault → Mylio Drive+ and click Choose a Plan
This will open your browser to purchase a SecureCloud storage plan
After purchase, return to Mylio Photos and click Looks Good to finalize Vault setup

3. Add your mobile device

Adding your phone or tablet lets you access your Mylio Photos library on the go, and automatically backs up your mobile photos to your Mylio Photos library.

To add a mobile device (iOS, iPadOS, or Android):

On your mobile device, Open the app store and search for “Mylio Photos”
Install the Mylio Photos app on your mobile device.
Sign in using the same email you used on your computer
Give Mylio Photos permission to access the media in your Camera Roll (iOS) or Media Library (Android)

More info: https://manual.mylio.com/topic/add-a-phone-or-tablet

You can always add more devices later—this step just helps jumpstart syncing and backup.

⚠️ Note: If you have a lot of unsynced photos on your phone, keep the Mylio Photos app open and your phone connected to power. This ensures your entire mobile library can sync to your other devices—like your computer or Vault. If you switch to another app, syncing will be paused.

4. Add your media

You can bring photos and videos into Mylio Photos from nearly anywhere: Apple Photos, Google Photos, external drives, your computer’s Pictures folder, camera roll, or memory cards.

When you add media, you’ll choose how Mylio Photos handles your files:

Copy – Duplicate files into Mylio Photos-managed folders, keeping the originals where they are
Move – Relocate files entirely into Mylio Photos-managed folders, cleaning up the source location
Link – Keep files where they are; Mylio watches the folder without moving anything

⚠️ Avoid linking folders from cloud services like Dropbox, iCloud Drive, OneDrive, or Google Drive. Download those files to a local drive first.

More info: https://manual.mylio.com/topic/add-photos-videos-documents

⏳ Heads up:

Depending on the size of your photo library, the initial import may take some time—even hours. Mylio does a lot of work up front like finding faces, reading text in your images, and assigning SmartTags so organizing and browsing later is faster and easier.

5. Check sync & explore features

Once your media is added and syncing, you can start exploring what makes Mylio Photos powerful:

Start with:

Info Panel – View details about your photos, add titles/captions/keywords, edit dates, and more.
QuickFilters – Instantly filter by media type, camera, automated tags, and more.
Calendar, Map, and People Views – See your library by time, place, and face.

⚠️ Changes in Mylio Photos affect your actual file system.

We recommend moving, renaming, or deleting files from within Mylio Photos—not through your computer’s file manager.

Check that everything is syncing smoothly:

Sync Panel – Click the info icon ( ) in the right sidebar then select the Sync tab for an overview of all connected devices.
Activity Center ( ) – Monitor sync progress.

Continue learning:

📘 User Manual
👥 Mylio Community – ask questions and attend free webinars
🗓️ Live Q&A and Events
▶️ Mylio Photos Fundamentals Video Course

You’re building something lasting. We’re here to make sure it starts strong.

Expert Setup | One-on-one onboarding assistance with a member of Mylio's team of experts.

Need help?

Book your free 1-on-1 onboarding session — included with your subscription.

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