Desktop app
ImageFlow AI
A Windows desktop app that brings everyday image work into one place: convert, compress, resize, clean metadata and batch-process, all offline.
- Status
- Released · v0.3.1
- Role
- Product requirements, design & testing
- Year
- 2026
- Type
- Windows desktop app
- Stack
- PythonFlaskpywebviewPillowOpenCVExifToolSQLitePyInstallerpytestPlaywright
The problem
Getting images ready for a website or a product listing usually takes several tools: one to resize, one to shrink the file, one to change the format, another to strip location data and rename the file.
The goal was one app for all of it that a non-technical person could use without getting lost, with no budget for paid API services.
My approach
5 decisions that shaped the build, and why each one was made.
- 01
One screen per task
The first version put every setting in one shared panel and people could not tell what applied to their task. It was rebuilt as category → tool → add images → adjust → save, with each tool on its own screen. An All-in-One Editor keeps every option for people who want to combine tasks.
- 02
Compress to a size, not a slider
You can ask for "under 100 KB". The app searches JPEG and WebP quality, shrinks dimensions only if needed, checks the final size after metadata is written, and reports clearly if the limit cannot be reached instead of saving a bigger file.
- 03
Originals are never touched
Every result is a new file with a unique name, checked before it is published. A failed job cleans up its half-written files.
- 04
Fixing the upside-down bug
A real product photo came out upside down after compression. The cause was an orientation value in the metadata being read as a 180° turn. The shared code now writes orientation explicitly, and tests cover all eight orientation values.
- 05
Works fully offline
Everything runs on the computer through a local Flask API inside a pywebview window, packaged with PyInstaller so it opens without installing Python. Future AI features are labelled "coming soon" rather than faked.
What it does now
- Convert JPG, PNG, WebP, TIFF and BMP
- Compress to a target size in KB
- Resize, crop, rotate and flip
- View and clean EXIF, IPTC and XMP data, including GPS
- Plain-background removal and replacement
- SEO file naming and duplicate detection
- Batch jobs with pause, retry and ZIP export
- 93 automated tests passing in v0.3.1
“More features do not make an app easier.”
The biggest improvement was not a new tool but organising the app around the job the user came to do. Separate screens, clear actions and settings that do not leak between tools made it simple, while the full editor still keeps the power.