Hi, I'm Theo Kim.

One-person developer in Seoul · Maker of PixLaundry

My library right now: photos and videos

How it started

First my iCloud filled up and stopped syncing. I upgraded to 2 TB and was happy for a while. Then the library outgrew that too, and the next plan up cost four times as much — in Korea, from the ₩11,000 a month I was paying to ₩44,000. I couldn't make myself click it.

I did the math instead. ₩11,000 × 12 is ₩132,000 a year. ₩44,000 × 12 is ₩528,000. That's about ₩400,000 more every year — and not for a year or two, but for as long as I stay in Apple's world. Five years is almost the price of a new iPhone; ten years is two. That's when I snapped awake. (Tim, if you ever read this: where are the ₩22,000 and ₩33,000 plans? Going straight from 2 TB to 6 TB is a big jump. Asking for a friend. The friend is me.)

At the same time my 1 TB iPhone was nearly full — even with Optimize Storage on, the media iCloud had pulled down kept piling up — and it felt sluggish. I hate lag. (Nerd note: flash storage really can slow down near full. With few free blocks left, the controller has to shuffle data around before it can write, and iOS keeps purging caches to make room. It isn't the only reason a phone feels slow, but it's a real one.) I caught myself pricing a new iPhone with more storage, north of ₩2 million, and then just sat down on the floor. Clearing space on the phone I already had was obviously cheaper. But I couldn't delete my photos either. One tap, and years of my kids growing up go back to some quantum world I can't see. I had neither the time nor the nerve.

So, slightly furious, I dusted off the developer in me.

Then the perfectionism kicked in

A transfer tool sounds simple. Mine didn't stay simple. I wanted every file fingerprint-checked on both ends. I wanted a 2.87 GB video that drops halfway to pick up where it stopped, not start over. I wanted photos that arrive late — saved from a chat months after they were taken — to be caught, not skipped. I wanted videos over 2 GB to keep their real capture date. Each of those ate a lot of my evenings. The result is the app I wished existed.

What changed for me

• The old years live at home now, and iCloud has room again. My iPhone, iPad and MacBook are back in sync.
• I used to AirDrop or message my wife every photo of the kids and of us. Now iCloud syncs them and she sees them on her iPad at home, as they're taken.
• My phone feels light again. You know that fresh feeling you only get with a new phone? I get it on my old one.

Why this site has articles

Half joking, half serious: whether or not you ever buy Pro, I'm already getting my money's worth — I built this because I needed it. While building it I kept finding the same questions from people stuck exactly where I was. So I write answers to them, with the date I checked and Apple's own sources, and I say so when paying for storage is honestly the better choice.

Theo Kim is the name I write under. PixLaundry is an independent app, not affiliated with Apple or Google.