Your photos. Your drive. Your peace of mind.

Your memories,
organised
beautifully.

Turn your Google Photos export into a clean, browsable library — sorted by year and month. Real photos you can open. Nothing you don't need.

Get Off The Cloud See how it helps ↓

Works on Windows 10, 11 & Mac Your photos never leave your computer No technical knowledge needed

Before & after Off The Cloud

❌ Before

📁takeout-20260112T073654Z-3-016

📁takeout-20260112T073654Z-3-017

📄IMG_5764.HEIC.json

📄IMG_5765.HEIC.json

📄metadata.json

📄0ABD34ED-EC52-40AC...

✓ After

📁 2024→ 06, 07, 08

📁 2023→ 01, 06, 12

📁 2022

📁 2021

📁 2020

📁 2019

4,301Photos saved

11,493JSON removed

4,824Duplicates skipped

Why we built this

We wanted our photos back.
So we made it simple.

Like a lot of people, we had years of memories stored in Google Photos — holidays, milestones, everyday moments. We wanted them on our own drive. Safe, private, and accessible without depending on anyone else.

The process of getting them back was more confusing than it should have been. Hundreds of folders with no clear names. Thousands of files we didn't ask for. Photos mixed in with data we didn't recognise.

There had to be a simpler way to just... get your photos back.

So we built Off The Cloud. A tool that does exactly what it says — takes everything from your Google export and turns it into something you can actually use. Clean folders. Real photos. Sorted by date. Nothing else.

We built it for ourselves first. Then we realised everyone deserves this — not just the people who can figure out the technical parts.

Sound familiar?

Getting your photos should be straightforward.

Most people run into the same frustrations when trying to download their Google Photos library.

🗂️

Folders with unreadable names

Your export arrives as dozens of folders named with long codes. There's no easy way to tell what's inside each one without opening them all.

📄

Extra files mixed in

Alongside your photos, you get hundreds of metadata files (.json) that most people don't need and don't know what to do with.

📅

No chronological order

Photos from different years can end up in the same folder. Finding a specific memory means searching through everything.

🔁

Duplicate photos piling up

If you've downloaded before or run the process more than once, the same photos can appear multiple times with no way to sort them out.

How it works

Four steps. That's it.

Off The Cloud is designed to be as simple as possible — no experience needed.

📥

Export from Google

Request your photos from Google. They'll email you a set of download links. Save them all to one folder.

⚡

Run Off The Cloud

Open the app. Select where your downloads are and where you want the organised photos to go. Click go.

🗂️

Browse your library

Open your destination folder. Every photo and video is now sorted by year and month — exactly as you'd expect.

✅

Delete when you're ready

Once you're happy everything is on your drive, you can remove your photos from Google and stop paying for storage.

What you get

Everything handled. Nothing missed.

📅

Sorted by year and month

Every file lands in the right folder. Browse your life in order.

🧹

JSON files removed

Only your real photos and videos make it through. Nothing else.

🔁

Duplicates skipped

Run it multiple times as new downloads arrive. No doubling up.

🎬

Photos and videos

JPG, HEIC, PNG, RAW, MP4, MOV — every format organised the same way.

🔒

Stays on your computer

Nothing is uploaded anywhere. Your photos never leave your machine.

📋

Summary after every run

See exactly what was organised, what was skipped and what was removed.

Gear we actually use

What to store your photos on

Once your photos are off the cloud, you'll want somewhere reliable to keep them. Here's what we recommend — and use ourselves.

💾

Samsung T7 Shield

Compact, fast and tough. We picked ours up on sale at the local electronics shop and haven't looked back. 1TB–4TB available.

What we use

💿

WD My Passport

Reliable and widely available. A solid backup option if you want a second copy of your library somewhere separate.

Backup pick

🔐

Proton Mail

If you're thinking about privacy beyond photos, encrypted email is a natural next step. Proton is where we'd start.

Privacy

🌐

Mullvad VPN

No account needed, no logs kept. Browse and download privately while you sort your library.

Privacy

Pricing

Simple and honest.

How it works: The $29 Starter gives you one complete run — download, organise, done. Each time you have a new batch of photos to process, you use it again. When you're ready to have photos automatically synced on an ongoing basis, the $7.99/month Pro plan handles everything for you.

Starter

^$29

Per use — pay each time you run it

✓Organises your Google Photos export
✓Windows 10, 11 & Mac
✓All photo and video formats
✓Removes all JSON files
✓Duplicate detection
✓Email support included

Get Starter — $29 →

You're in good company.

A growing community of people who've taken their photos back — sharing tips, celebrating wins and helping each other along the way. All posts are reviewed before they go live.

Share your experience Ask questions Privacy tips Hard drive recommendations

Join the community →

Moderated personally. No spam. No noise.

Questions

Honest answers to the things people ask most.

Do I need to be technical to use this? +

Not at all. Every purchase includes a step-by-step setup guide sent to your email. If you can download a file and double-click it, you can use Off The Cloud. And if you get stuck, email us — a real person will help.

What's the difference between Starter and Pro? +

Starter is $29 per use — you pay it each time you have a new batch of photos to organise. This suits people who do occasional big downloads. Pro is $7.99/month and runs automatically — it checks for new photos, downloads and organises them for you each month without you having to do anything.

Will it delete my photos from Google? +

No — not unless you choose to. Off The Cloud organises everything onto your drive first. You review it, make sure you're happy, and then decide what to do with your Google Photos account. The Starter plan never touches Google. Pro can delete after verification, but only if you turn that on.

I already have a Takeout download sitting on my computer. Can it fix that? +

Yes. Whether your files are still in ZIPs or already extracted, Off The Cloud will find all the photos and videos, remove the JSON files, sort everything by date and skip any duplicates. This is exactly what it was built for.

What computer do I need? +

Windows 10, Windows 11, or Mac running macOS 10.14 (Mojave) or newer. If you're not sure, the setup guide that comes with your purchase will tell you exactly how to check.

Are my photos private? Does Off The Cloud see them? +

Completely private. Off The Cloud runs entirely on your computer. Nothing is sent to us, nothing is uploaded anywhere. We have no way to see your photos — and that's exactly how it should be.

What if I get stuck at any point? +

Email us at hello@offtheclo.ud — every purchase includes real support from a real person. Most people hear back within 24 hours. We'll walk through it with you until it's sorted.

Your memories,organisedbeautifully.

We wanted our photos back.So we made it simple.