That's a different feature. This page is about sharing your library with your own devices at home. Sending photos to other people →

What library sharing means

Your Mac is the server. While library sharing is on, Raza Photos or Raza Songs announces your library on your home network and serves it to the iPhones, iPads, and other Macs that ask for it. While library sharing is off, nothing is announced and the app works as a local viewer on your Mac. Either way, nothing is uploaded anywhere.

In Raza Photos, receiving photos from an iPhone is a separate switch, Allow incoming transfers, which stays off until you turn it on. How Transfer works →

Turning it on and off

Sharing runs while the app is running on your Mac. Once it's on, closing the app's window doesn't stop it: the app keeps running in the menu bar, so the library stays available while the window is out of the way.

Publish this library to your home network is the whole thing. Turn it on and any device on your home network can browse your library. Turn it off and the app is a local viewer on your Mac. Shown here in Raza Photos; Raza Songs has the same panel.

  • One switch starts and stops sharing
  • Give the library a name and an icon. Connected devices show the icon next to it, which helps when you share from more than one Mac. Changes take effect after restarting the app
  • Launch at login keeps the library always available for the family
  • The server can be set to read-only, so remote devices can browse but not edit

What has to be true for your iPhone to see your library

Discovery is automatic and usually takes a second or two after you open the app. If your library doesn't appear, one of these is almost always the reason:

  • 1The Mac is awake, the app is running (with its window closed it keeps running in the menu bar), and sharing is on
  • 2Your iPhone or iPad is on the same Wi-Fi network as the Mac. A Mac connected by Ethernet works too
  • 3The iPhone isn't on a guest network. Guest networks are isolated from your main network by design
  • 4You allowed Local Network access when iOS asked. Apple requires it before an app can look for devices on your network, and the app uses it only to find your Mac
  • 5Your router isn't blocking device-to-device traffic. Settings called AP isolation or multicast filtering stop discovery from working

If it still doesn't show up

Quit and reopen the app on the Mac. Discovery sometimes needs a nudge after the Mac wakes from sleep. If your Mac is usually asleep, turning on Wake for network access in Energy settings keeps it reachable, or you can set it not to sleep while it's charging. If the problem persists, check your router for AP isolation or multicast filtering. Our troubleshooting guide goes through every cause in order. iPhone can't find your Mac? →

That's expected. By default your library is available everywhere in the house and nowhere outside it. If you want it to follow you, there's an optional, off-by-default way to do that. How remote access works →

Who can see your library

Anyone on your main Wi-Fi who installs the app will find your library automatically. If that includes people you'd rather not share with, put visitors on your guest network, or set the server to read-only so they can browse but not change anything. The full security model →