Release notes
Changelog
1.0.2 — July 10, 2026 · Numbered batch cards
A small quality-of-life touch for large batches.
- Numbered batch cards — every photo in the batch list now shows its position (1, 2, 3…), so it's easy to see the order at a glance and point to a specific image when you're working through a big batch. The numbers renumber themselves automatically as you add or remove photos
1.0.1 — July 9, 2026 · Intel Macs supported
Background removal now works on Intel Macs — for real.
- Intel Macs supported — 1.0.0 shipped as a universal app, but the removal relied on Apple's Vision model (
VNGenerateForegroundInstanceMaskRequest), which only runs on Apple Silicon's Neural Engine and so failed on Intel. Liftr now falls back to an on-device CoreML model (U²-Net) on Intel Macs, so removal works there too — still 100% on your Mac, nothing uploaded. Apple Silicon Macs are unchanged and keep the faster Vision path
1.0.0 — July 8, 2026 · Initial public release
The first release. Lift the subject, drop the background — entirely on your Mac.
- On-device removal — drag in a photo, or a whole batch, and Apple's Vision model (
VNGenerateForegroundInstanceMaskRequest) removes the background in about 0.2 seconds per image, at full resolution. Nothing is ever uploaded - Any background — drop the subject onto transparency, a solid color, a blurred version of the original photo, a gradient, or your own image. The matte is cached, so changing the background never re-runs Vision
- Edge refinement — tighten, feather and clean up the cut-out edge so hair and fine detail look natural
- Soft drop shadow — an adjustable shadow (blur, opacity, offset) so a cut-out sits believably on its new background
- Trim, aspect & size — trim-to-subject auto-crop, plus aspect-ratio and output-size control for product shots, avatars and social posts
- Batch with presets — process many photos at once and apply a preset to all of them: Transparent PNG, Product White, Studio Gray, Soft Shadow, Portrait Blur, Social Gradient
- Before/after compare — a slider to see exactly what changed, the original on one side and the cut-out on a checkerboard on the other
- Export PNG, JPG, HEIC & TIFF — transparent PNG, HEIC and TIFF for cut-outs, plus a flattened JPG when you need one
- Copy & Share — copy the cut-out straight to the clipboard, or send it through the macOS Share sheet
- Non-destructive by design — originals are never modified; every export is a new file, and same-name files are never overwritten unless you say so
- Private by design — everything runs on your Mac with Apple's Vision and CoreImage. No cloud, no account, no telemetry; works offline
- Signed and notarized by Apple — macOS 14 Sonoma or later, Apple Silicon & Intel
- Free for personal use forever — full resolution, unlimited batch, no watermarks; optional one-time $5-per-computer business license for commercial use