LivePhotoSort

A fully autonomous Python script that scans your ClaudeSort-organized folders for Apple Live Photo pairs (HEIC/JPG image + MOV companion), matches them by Apple's ContentIdentifier UUID via exiftool, renames them with rich sortable names, and moves them together into a single destination folder— ready to re-import as Live Photos into Apple Photos.

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What It Does

1. Walks both source folders recursively
2. Extracts ContentIdentifier UUID from every .heic, .jpg, .jpeg, .png, and .mov file via exiftool
3. A Live Photo image is identified when LivePhotoVideoIndex (MakerNotes) AND ContentIdentifier are present
4. Matches images → companion MOVs by shared UUID
5. Renames each pair to a rich, sortable name:

   2024-06-18_183805_LivePhoto_iPhone15ProMax_CF99FFE1.heic
   2024-06-18_183805_LivePhoto_iPhone15ProMax_CF99FFE1.mov
   

6. Safely moves (copy + SHA-256 verify + delete source) both files into /Volumes/MattBook - Local/LivePhotoPairs/
7. Writes a JSON manifest for audit and Apple Photos re-import

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Requirements

• macOS (tested on macOS 14+)
• Python 3.9+
• exiftool (brew install exiftool)

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Setup

cd '/Users/mattymatt/Claude Scripts and Venvs/LivePhotoSort'
python3 -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate
# No pip packages needed — all stdlib

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Running

Dry run (scan only, no file moves)

./run.sh --dry-run

Full run (background, autonomous)

./run.sh

Watch the log

./watch_log.sh
# or manually:
tail -f logs/run_YYYYMMDD_HHMMSS.log

Stop gracefully

./stop.sh
# or:
kill $(cat logs/live_photo_sort.pid)

Force kill

kill -9 $(cat logs/live_photo_sort.pid)

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Output

• LivePhotoPairs/YYYY-MM-DD_HHMMSS_LivePhoto_<Model>_<UUID8>.heic
• LivePhotoPairs/YYYY-MM-DD_HHMMSS_LivePhoto_<Model>_<UUID8>.mov
• LivePhotoPairs/live_photo_manifest.json

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Re-importing into Apple Photos

1. Open Apple Photos
2. File → Import…
3. Select the LivePhotoPairs folder
4. Since each pair shares the same base name AND retains ContentIdentifier metadata, Photos will recognise them as Live Photos automatically

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Architecture

LivePhotoSort/
├── live_photo_sort.py   # Main: scan + pair + copy
├── triage_sort.py       # Post-process: sort by device + city
├── run.sh               # Background launcher
├── stop.sh              # Graceful shutdown
├── watch_log.sh         # Log tail helper
├── requirements.txt     # geopy + tqdm (for triage_sort)
├── venv/                # Python venv
└── logs/                # Runtime logs + PID file

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triage_sort.py

Reorganizes the LivePhoto Import Ready output into a hierarchy by device model and city, with pairs and orphans cleanly separated.

Output structure

<dest>/sorted/
  pairs/
    iPhone 14 Pro/
      Ventura, California/
        2025-02-19_LivePhoto_XXXX.jpeg
        2025-02-19_LivePhoto_XXXX.mov
  orphans/
    stills/
      iPhone 12/
        Los Angeles, California/
    movs/
      Unknown Device/
        Unknown Location/
  triage_geocache.json

Setup

source venv/bin/activate
pip install geopy tqdm

Usage

# Always dry-run first
python triage_sort.py --dry-run

# Full run
python triage_sort.py

# Skip reverse geocoding (use GPS coords as folder names)
python triage_sort.py --no-geo

# Custom paths
python triage_sort.py \
  --source "/Volumes/MattBook - Local/LivePhoto Import Ready" \
  --dest   "/Volumes/MattBook - Local/LivePhoto Sorted"

Flags

Flag	Default	Description
--source	LivePhoto Import Ready volume	Root of LivePhotoSort output
--dest	<source>/sorted	Output tree root
--manifest	Auto (newest manifest_*.json)	Explicit manifest path
--dry-run	off	Preview only
--workers	8	Parallel exiftool workers
--no-geo	off	GPS coords instead of city names
--cache	<dest>/triage_geocache.json	Geocode cache