Apple’s native Preview app works fine as an Image Viewer on macOS. However, it still has its fair share of shortcomings. For starters, it doesn’t provide a GIF playback option. As a Mac user, this got me looking for Preview alternatives for my MacBook Air. I’m looking for lightweight, fast and simple options like the top 5 alternatives to the Photos app in Windows 10.
For experienced Mac users, Preview is the default option, but they often feel overwhelmed and frustrated for new conversions from Windows. With that in mind, I aim to strike a balance with the shortlisted apps. Also, I would not recommend those who bother you with “Buy Pro Plan” warnings as soon as you start the application. If it bothers me, I can imagine how much it will bother you. So let’s check out the options.
You will need to select different image files (PNG, JPG, BMP and others) to use any of the options as the default viewer. Right-click on them and select Get Info. From the information window, you need to click on the drop-down list under Open With and select a relevant application from the list. After that, click Change All to apply the tweaks to the relevant files in the system.
Let’s take a look at the best Image Viewer apps for Mac.
1. Peanuts
The free version of Phiewer lets you view one image at a time. When you open a photo, it shows the main image with a collection of thumbnails on the left. Phiewer is one of the fastest image viewers to open a photo as well as showing thumbnails on the left with the option to start a slideshow directly. However, the blur effect that presents the background may grab your attention for a while.
Phiewer stands out by prominently showing the essential details of a photo in its interface. Besides photos, it also supports various media formats. This will appear as soon as you sync your media folders with the app. You can enjoy a bouquet of ready-made options such as different effects to try on photos. You can pay for the Pro version to unlock alignment, crop controls, apply filters, adjust detailed properties and more.
You could call it a simpler version of XnView MP and use accordingly.
2. Xee
Xee is a pretty simple alternative to Preview. Despite their similarities, the Xee stands out with a few unique features. As expected, the Previews and Forward buttons are placed in the upper left corner for navigating through images. Other options appear at the top neatly placed next to them.
Xee’s status bar shows additional details about the image such as its dimensions, file type, file size, color details, and more. The only thing I found strange was that Xee wasn’t picking up Dark on my macOS. I had to go to Xee’s Preferences > Style and then select Black.
Xee is just an Image Viewer. This means that if you’re looking for an Image Viewer with editing options, you’re out of luck here. This app is fluid, fast and highly responsive.
Unfortunately, Xee is not free and you will have to pay $3.99 to purchase it from the App Store on your Mac.
3. XnView MP
XnView is more than an image viewer. It is a popular cross-platform media management software and Windows users love it so much that many want to set XnView as the default image viewer in Windows 10. With support for 500+ image formats, developers lock a bunch of useful features behind it. paywall. However, the app allows you to customize the layout of the app.
With the app open go to Appearance>Layout and select Free from the next menu. After that you can click on irrelevant x-shaped windows. In short, you get enough viewing and sorting modes that you can constantly switch between them to suit your needs. The app’s performance tweak allows you to squeeze the maximum out of your onboard GPU chip. This means processing and caching will be faster on powered MacBook Pros.
4. Lynn
Lyn is like a convenient replacement for the Photos app with its built-in Image Viewer features. The interface of the Lyn application is very familiar, so you will not feel like a stranger at all. When you first launch it, you’ll see the basic settings options at the top – they’ll remind you of Preview.
Besides viewing options, you can also connect other cloud-based services such as Flickr, Facebook, Dropbox and more. The i-shaped button is the hidden information panel that will bring you the details of the image, from resolution to measurement mode. Lyn is a convenient image viewer app if you control clicked photos using your digital camera, DSLR or Mirrorless. Of course, you can always customize the layout from preferences for quick access to frequently used folders. Lyn supports a variety of image formats, and you can quickly share photos with friends via email, Flickr, or even Smugmug. The basic version comes with a 15-day trial which is good enough to try. Otherwise, you will have to pay $20 as a one-time payment to avoid the trial period limitation.
5. qView
If you are looking for a sensible image viewer for all your photos and screenshots, this is the best option. Without short, qView is one of those minimalist photo viewers on macOS that looks great with a dark theme.
qView is also available on Windows, making it an excellent cross-platform tool to use to view photos on both platforms. It works best as a no-nonsense photo viewer on your Mac. Of course, it doesn’t offer editing or tweaking options.
6. Apollo One
ApolloOne is one of the rare apps that uses Core Image graphics and hardware features like multi-threading to deliver the best photo gallery and organizational experience.
It can also process RAW photos and support 1000+ digital cameras. It also allows you to tinker with EXIF details. You can always try Slideshow to view a series of photos. This feature-rich image viewer can be purchased to unlock support and other helpful settings.
7. Pixel
For those who like the minimalist interface and support for a wide variety of image formats, Pixea is the perfect photo viewer app for macOS. Pixea offers histogram, EXIF data, photo rotation, image flip and more in the package for people who like to control more details. One of its amazing features is that Pixea shows images of ZIP or RAR archives without having to open them. This is great for checking your backup data or new archives.
For macOS supports, Pixea lets you view many image formats, ranging from JPG, PNG, GIF, TIFF, PSD, BMP, WebP, and more, without any hassle. It even supports viewing camera-specific RAW images such as Leica DNG and RAW, Sony ARW, Olympus ORF, Minolta MRW, Nikon NEF, Fuji RAF, Canon CR2 and CRW and Hasselblad 3FR. However, if you make any changes, note that Pixea only allows you to export the final image in JPEG, JPEG-2000, PNG, BMP and TIFF formats only. This should be good enough for editing your photos and sharing them with everyone. The best part of this great app is the keyboard shortcuts support. After spending an hour or two, you can master them and easily scroll through the pictures. Pixea can be used for free without any conditions.
Change is good
While Apple’s Preview does the basic work, it leaves a lot to be desired. Especially for people who upgrade to or use macOS as well as Windows 10. ApolloOne is my favorite as it supports a variety of cameras for directly importing images and I usually use qView only to browse photos on my Mac. So which one will you choose?
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