FotoElek
English
Download free

For Windows · works offline

Rescue your memories from the clutter.

Thousands of photos have piled up on old phones, drives and in WhatsApp folders. FotoElek sifts and organises them all on your own computer, and finds any of them from a single sentence. Without sending a single photo to the internet.

Download free for Windows Read the story
  • Free for up to 5,000 photos
  • No account
  • No subscription
Kept memory: picnic (illustration) Kept memory: beach (illustration) Kept memory: birthday (illustration)

Memories stay

A story

This story may sound familiar.

Nobody set out to lose their photos. They just took a few more every year, and kept a few more.

  1. 2007

    The first digital camera

    Your first shots went onto a memory card. Each one was carefully kept: DSC00001.JPG, DSC00002.JPG…

  2. 2012

    The smartphone

    Now you photographed every moment. Then you got a new phone, and the old one went into a drawer with three years still inside it.

  3. 2015

    The family group

    The same birthday photo reached you from four different groups. All four were kept.

  4. 2018

    “Storage full”

    You moved it all to the computer: “Backup”, “Backup 2”, “Phone latest”, “New folder (3)”.

  5. 2022

    The cloud, an external drive, and an old laptop

    Some went to the cloud, some to an external drive. Which is where? Nobody quite knows any more.

  6. Today

    One Sunday evening

    Tens of thousands of photos, in five different places, half of them duplicates. And your child asks: “Is there a photo of my first steps?”

Pictures › Backup 2 › Phone latest

  • IMG_20150712_181204.jpg3.1 MB
  • IMG_20150712_181204 (1).jpgduplicate
  • WhatsApp Image 2015-07-12 at 18.14.22.jpegduplicate
  • WhatsApp Image 2015-07-12 at 18.14.22 (2).jpegduplicate
  • Screenshot_20190301-221144.pngscreenshot
  • DSC00412.JPGno date
  • New folder (3)folder

After FotoElek

2015 › July › Bodrum, Muğla

  • Mum
  • Deniz
  • Birthday
  • 12 July 2015, 18:12
Birthday (illustration) Beach (illustration) Boat (illustration) Picnic (illustration)

3 duplicates and 1 screenshot set aside, waiting for your decision.

There is. It was just buried in the clutter.

FotoElek was made to find it.

How it works

Drop. Forget. Find.

Organising isn't your job. Just drop it in and let FotoElek do the rest.

  1. 1 · Drop.

    Drop everything from old phones, drives and WhatsApp folders into the Inbox. Folder structure and file names don't matter.

  2. 2 · Forget.

    FotoElek works quietly in the background: it sets aside duplicates and blurry shots, finds the date, place and faces, and moves everything into a tidy archive.

  3. 3 · Find.

    Type whatever comes to mind, in English: “mum in Bodrum, summer 2015”. There are your photos.

The sieve

The clutter goes. The memories stay.

That's where the name comes from: “elek” is Turkish for sieve. Every shot goes through it, and what's left is an archive with dates, places and named faces.

Sifted out

  • Exact duplicatesThe same file, in different folders, under different names.
  • Copies back from WhatsAppThe same photo, shrunk and sent around again.
  • Burst shotsOut of ten shots of the same moment, the best one comes to the front.
  • Blurry, dark, screenshotsPocket shots, bills, tickets: set aside in a corner of their own.

What stays

Your memories: on the right date, in the right place, with everyone named.

Nothing is ever deleted on its own. Every decision comes to you; whatever you delete goes to the trash and can be restored from FotoElek.

The first real family archive FotoElek was tried on: 63,400 photos 5,363 videos 216 people

Features

Get to know your memories again.

Growing up

19 years, 19 seconds.

FotoElek finds your child's face in every year, lines the faces up by the eyes and turns them into a single video or collage of them growing up.

  • Age 1 (illustration)
  • Age 3 (illustration)
  • Age 5 (illustration)
  • Age 8 (illustration)
  • Age 11 (illustration)
  • Age 14 (illustration)
  • Age 17 (illustration)
  • Age 19 (illustration)

  • Recognises faces

    Name each family member once, and they're found in every photo by themselves.

  • Photo spots on a map of Türkiye (sample data)

    Explore the map

    District by district in Türkiye, country by country around the world: where, when and what you photographed.

  • Find it with a sentence

    “at the beach last summer”, “Deniz's birthday”, “winter photos in the snow”. Type it in English and FotoElek understands.

  • Memories

    Every day opens with photos from “years ago today”, and the days you'd forgotten come back on their own.

  • Sharpen old photos

    Improves blurry old shots with AI. The original stays untouched, and it all happens on your own computer.

  • Make your TV a photo frame

    Turn your TV or an old tablet into a digital photo frame, and let your memories play in the heart of your home.

Also: videos with music, albums and cover design, access from your phone over your home Wi-Fi, full backup and 11 languages.

Privacy

Your photos never leave home.

FotoElek doesn't need the internet to work and never sends your photos anywhere. Everything, face recognition included, happens on your computer. No account to open, nothing to pay every month.

Cloud photo services compared with FotoElek
Cloud photo services FotoElek
Where are the photos? On the company's servers On your own drive
Payment Every month, once the free space is full Once
Internet Required Not needed
Face recognition On the server On your computer
Account Required None

How did it start?

My phone, my computer and a pile of hard drives held our family's photos and videos, along with photos and videos from my work. But I could never find what I was looking for.

“There has to be an easy way to do this,” I thought, and I decided to build FotoElek.

Today I find the photo I'm looking for by typing a sentence. I want you to find yours, too.

— İsmail Burak Yücel, founder of FotoElek

Pricing

Try it first. If you like it, pay once.

Free

0 TLno time limit

  • Up to 5,000 photos and videos
  • Every feature included
  • A small FotoElek signature on the videos, collages and covers you make
Download free

Home licence

draft price

1,490 TLone-time

Founder's price for early users: 990 TL

  • Unlimited photos and videos
  • Videos, collages and covers without the signature
  • 3 computers in your home
  • New versions for one year included; the version you have keeps working for good
  • New versions in later years are optional: 590 TL/year
Get a licence

Frequently asked questions

Will it delete my photos?

It never deletes anything on its own. It shows the files it thinks are duplicates side by side, and you decide. Whatever you delete goes to the trash and can be restored from within FotoElek.

Does it need an internet connection?

No. Everything, including face recognition, finding places and search, runs on your computer; FotoElek never sends a single photo out.

Which computers does it run on?

Windows 10 and Windows 11. macOS and Linux versions are on the way.

How do I bring over the photos on my phone?

Connect the phone with a cable and drag the folder into the Inbox, or upload straight from the phone over your home Wi-Fi.

What's the limit of the free version?

Every feature is included for up to 5,000 photos and videos. The videos, collages and covers you make carry a small FotoElek signature; your original photos are never touched.

How many computers can I use the licence on?

The Home licence covers three computers in one home.

One Sunday evening, find that photo.

Download free for Windows

Windows 10 and 11 · about 520 MB · no internet needed