An interface built for now
Browse RAW files instantly with embedded previews, move through thousands of images without lag, and work in an app that looks and feels like modern software — not a tool frozen in 2003.
Private beta · macOS · Summer 2026
Every file copied.
Every byte verified.
Every keeper found fast.
Custos is a modern, verified workflow for photo assistants and working pros, built for the moments you can’t reshoot. It carries your shoot from checksum-verified ingest through fast culling, organizing, metadata, and geotagging, then hands off cleanly to any industry standard post-processing tool. A fast, native app that finally feels like it belongs in 2026.
Built different, from day one
The principles behind every decision in Custos.
Checksum-verified, always
Every file is hashed as it’s read and verified again at the destination — xxHash by default, SHA-256 when you need a full audit trail. If a copy doesn’t match, you’ll know immediately.
Resume is the default
Lost power mid-transfer? Pulled a cable? Custos picks up exactly where it stopped — file by file — with zero data loss and nothing to clean up by hand.
Fast, even on the real RAW
Not just embedded previews — Custos decodes and displays the actual RAW data at full resolution, so you can pixel-peep sharpness and detail and still fly through a card without waiting.
Auditable by design
Every ingest produces a verifiable record — what was copied, where it went, and the hash that proves it. Export a clean report whenever a client, insurer, or producer needs proof the files arrived intact.
Nothing leaves your Mac
Ingest, verification, and culling all run locally — no cloud round-trips, no accounts, no phone-home. Your work stays yours, on your machine, even when you’re offline on location.
What ships in v1.0
The first release is focused on nailing the fundamentals of ingest — fast, verified, and built to survive a bad day on set.
- Instant RAW previews — embedded-JPEG rendering means no waiting for thumbnails to build.
- Checksum verification — xxHash by default, SHA-256 for full audit trails.
- Automated resume — interrupted copies continue from the exact file, automatically.
- Dual-destination copies — back up to two drives in a single ingest pass.
- Concurrent multi-card ingest — offload several cards at once, each verified independently, with no waiting for one to finish.
- Guided ingest mode — a clear, step-by-step flow built for assistants and digital techs.
- IPTC metadata templates — bake in copyright and contact info as files come in.
- Smart renaming — flexible file and folder naming templates.
- Star, flag & color-label culling — a fast, keyboard-driven first pass with true 1:1 zoom.
- Live histogram & waveform — judge exposure while you cull, with scopes computed natively at full speed.
- Lightroom & Capture One compatible — culls, ratings, and metadata are written as standard XMP, so your picks and edits carry straight into any XMP-aware app — nothing to re-do.
- Capture-time correction — fix camera clock drift and time zones at ingest, so timestamps and geotags line up.
- GPX track sync — geotag a whole shoot automatically by matching capture times against a GPS track log.
- Native Apple Silicon app — built for macOS; Windows follows after launch.
Own it. No subscriptions.
Subscriptions don’t belong on a working pro’s toolbelt. Custos is a one-time purchase — own your license, use it for as long as you like, and upgrade only when you choose to.
Final pricing announced closer to launch.
Where Custos is headed
The beta is the foundation. Here’s the direction we’re building toward — shaped by feedback from photographers like you.
- Hybrid photo + video ingest — one verified workflow for mixed-media shoots.
- Smart proxy generation — edit-ready proxies created automatically during ingest.
- AI-assisted culling — local, private blur and duplicate detection, plus similar-photo grouping with automatic best-of-the-set selection to speed up your first pass.
- Panorama & stack detection — automatically recognize and group bracketed, panorama, and focus-stack sequences as they come in.
- Metadata variables & code replacement — auto-fill captions, keywords, and filenames from EXIF data and reusable shortcut codes.
- Structured keywords — controlled-vocabulary, hierarchical keyword tagging that writes straight to standard metadata.
- Reverse geocoding — turn GPS coordinates into city, state, and country names automatically.
- Team workflows — shared job templates, live card status, and handoff reports for crews and studios.
- Watermarking, batch-resize & contact sheets — produce watermarked proofs, resized deliverables, and printable contact sheets on export.
- FTP & email delivery — send finished selects straight to clients, wires, or servers from within Custos.
- Chain-of-custody audit trails — cryptographic proof of custody for high-stakes delivery.
- iPad companion — review and approve ingests on the go.
Nothing here is a promise for v1 — it’s the map. Beta feedback decides what comes first.
Be first through the door
Join the beta waitlist and we’ll email you the moment Custos is ready to install — Summer 2026.