FrontBack Scanner · Honest Comparison
Photomyne is a $59.99-a-year subscription photographing your prints with a phone. On a Mac with any flatbed, FrontBack Scanner does the same job free, at the scanner’s real resolution, with the backs paired automatically.
By Spencer Baker, founder of Timeline Scan · Last updated: August 3, 2026 · Photomyne facts checked against its published pricing and help pagesPhotomyne photographs prints with your phone: fast, works anywhere, $59.99/year for the suite after a 3-day auto-renewing trial[1]. One independent review measured a capture of a standard print at 768×574 pixels[4].
FrontBack Scanner drives the flatbed you already own: free forever, full optical resolution, every print auto-cropped, straightened, named, and paired with its back.
A handheld camera aimed at a glossy print: the glare, tilt, and resolution come with it.
The lid flattens the print, the lamp is sealed, and every photo gets its own named file.
Feature by feature
Numbered citations point to Photomyne’s own pricing and help pages and to independent measured reviews. See the sources below.
| Feature | Photomyne | FrontBack Scanner |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A phone app (iOS/Android, plus web account access) that photographs prints and splits the shot into pictures[1] | A native, free Mac app that batch-scans prints on any flatbed your Mac can see |
| Price | Subscription$59.99/year scanning suite after a 3-day trial that auto-renews; monthly and one-time options also listed[1][2] | $0Free forever: no account, no ads, no watermarks, no photo limits |
| Capture device | Your phone’s camera, handheld, in room light | Your flatbed’s sealed optics and lamp, up to full optical resolution (6400 dpi on an Epson V600) |
| Measured output quality | One independent review measured 768×574 pixels at 72 dpi for a standard print, scoring quality 2/5[4] | A 600 dpi flatbed pass of a 4×6 print is roughly 2500×1900 pixels, with the true DPI embedded in the file |
| Glare and distortion | Glossy prints reflect room light and flash; handheld angles add perspective and curl distortion[5] | The lid flattens the print and the lamp is sealed: no glare, no keystone, no curl |
| Several photos at once | YesMultiple photos per camera shot, split automatically[1] | YesA bedful per pass: each print auto-detected, cropped, straightened, turned upright, and named in order |
| Backs of photos | Manual: an “attach the back” step per photo, one at a time[6] | AutomaticFlip the pile where it lies and scan again: every back pairs to its front by position and saves as scan_0001_b.jpg |
| Oversized prints | Limited by what one phone frame can capture sharply | Oversized mode stitches a print bigger than the glass from overlapping passes (how it works) |
| Colorize / restore effects | YesColorization and restoration are core features of its suite[1] | NoIt scans faithfully and leaves editing to you: the archival file is the point |
| Where your photos live | In the app and your Photomyne account; full export and backup sit behind the membership[3] | Your MacFiles go straight to a folder you choose; nothing is uploaded anywhere |
After a 3-day trial that auto-renews
No account · no ads · no watermarks · no limits
The honest recommendation
Phone capture is genuinely convenient; just know what the subscription buys and what the camera can’t do.
Free forever. If it saves your Saturday you can leave an optional tip; the app never asks.
Then put the shoebox back in order
Timeline Scan, the service behind this free app, estimates when each photo was really taken (the handwriting on the backs you scanned is its best evidence) and writes the date into the file, so the whole collection sorts chronologically in Google Photos, Apple Photos, or Immich. Try it free.
Put my scans in orderSee it before you download it
Four short looping clips on the product page show a real session: detection, naming, back pairing, and oversized stitching.
See it in actionCommon questions
Photomyne’s free tier is an ad-supported preview: full-resolution export, backup, and web access sit behind the subscription, which lists at $59.99 per year for the scanning suite after a 3-day trial that auto-renews[1][3]. FrontBack Scanner takes the opposite approach: the whole app is free, with no account, no ads, no watermarks, and no photo limit.
Photomyne is built around phone-camera capture on iOS and Android, with a web account for viewing, and it lists Mac apps on the same subscription model. FrontBack Scanner is different in kind: it is a native, free Mac app that drives a real flatbed scanner, so the capture quality comes from the scanner’s optics rather than a handheld phone photo.
Four physical reasons. Resolution: a 600 dpi flatbed turns a 4×6 print into roughly a 2500×1900 pixel file, while one measured Photomyne capture of the same kind of print was 768×574 pixels[4]. Light: a flatbed’s sealed, even lamp cannot glare off glossy prints the way room light and flashes do[5]. Geometry: the lid physically flattens curled photos, so there is no perspective or curl distortion. Consistency: every scan gets identical illumination, so colors match across the whole collection.
Photomyne offers a manual add-the-back step: you flip one photo, photograph its back, and attach it, one photo at a time[6]. FrontBack Scanner pairs backs automatically: scan a bedful of fronts, flip each photo where it lies, scan once more, and every back is matched to its front by its position on the glass and saved beside it as scan_0001_b.jpg. It even detects faint handwriting on otherwise blank white backs. The full mechanics are on the front-and-back scanning guide.
Yes. If you have no Mac and no scanner, if the photos live in someone else’s album and you get one afternoon with them, or if quick shareable copies matter more than archival quality, Photomyne’s phone capture is genuinely convenient, and its colorization and restoration effects are features FrontBack Scanner does not have. For a keep-forever archive of your own prints, a flatbed and a free app produce a better file.
They save straight to a folder on your Mac: no account, no upload, no cloud. If you later want the collection dated and put in chronological order, Timeline Scan (the separate service behind the free app) reads the handwriting on the backs you scanned and estimates when each photo was taken. That service is paid and entirely optional.
Show your work
Photomyne® is a trademark of Photomyne LTD. FrontBack Scanner and Timeline Scan are made by Timeline Scan LLC, which is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Photomyne. Photomyne details on this page were checked against its public materials on August 3, 2026; if something here has gone out of date, tell us and we’ll correct it.
No subscription, no account, no watermarks. Just your flatbed doing what it was built for.
↓ Download FrontBack ScannerNew to flatbed scanning? Start with how to scan multiple photos at once or the best-settings checklist.