A little help getting started

Make yourself at home.

Grain is a native photo and video viewer for Macs with Apple silicon, running macOS 13 or later.

Install Grain

Open the downloaded disk image and drag Grain to Applications. Open Grain from Applications to start choosing your sources.

Choose your sources

Turn on Pictures, Downloads, or a connected drive, then approve that source in the macOS folder panel. Use Add folder for another location. Grain adds your media in the background.

Connect Dropbox

Turn on Dropbox in Settings → Sources, then sign in through your browser. Folders are included by default; turn off any you don’t want. Grain can browse cloud files without the Dropbox desktop app. The first import and uncached previews need an internet connection.

Show Only Locally Available in the View menu limits the gallery to downloaded originals. A Finder thumbnail does not necessarily mean its original is downloaded.

Find the source list

The Sources button at the top left shows or hides your library sidebar. All Media brings your selected sources together. Grain → Settings → Sources lets you add or turn off a source at any time.

Let search get ready

The app download stays small. Search resources download separately on first launch and need about 750 MB of network data. Keep roughly 2 GB of free space available while they install. You can browse your library as this happens. After setup, search works offline.

Reconnect a drive

Connect the drive again and Grain can resume working with its media. If macOS access has changed, select the source again in Settings → Sources. There is no need to grant access to your entire Mac.

Keep Grain current

Choose Grain → Check for Updates to look for a new version. Grain → Settings includes automatic update checks and optional diagnostic sharing.

Early testing and feedback

Start with a small folder, try browsing and search, then quit and reopen Grain. If something goes wrong, send the person who shared Grain with you your macOS version, the Grain version, what you tried, and what happened. Include a screenshot only if you are comfortable sharing everything visible in it.

Optional crash reports can help diagnose problems. Enable Share Diagnostics in Settings if you want to contribute them.