Stowaways

What Are Stowaways?

Stowaways are the hitchhikers of your photo library - items that snuck in but probably don’t belong. A blurry shot taken by accident. That screenshot you grabbed in a hurry. Old receipts or QR codes you scanned. Files like these tend to clutter your library and make it harder to find the moments that actually matter.

Instead of leaving you to hunt them down one by one, Orbyte automatically flags these as stowaways and gathers them in one place. Think of it as a friendly cleanup crew that’s never judgmental - sometimes you’ll want to keep something Orbyte flagged, and that’s totally fine.

Note

Looking for duplicate photos? Orbyte handles those separately in the Duplicates tab, where you can compare side-by-side and pick your favorites.

How Orbyte Detects Stowaways

Orbyte runs analysis on your photos as they’re uploaded. It’s looking for patterns:

• Blurry shots - images that are out of focus or too dark to see clearly
• Screenshots - text-based images with typical screenshot signatures
• Documents and receipts - photos of paper, QR codes, or other non-photo documents

This all happens automatically. You don’t need to do anything - just keep taking photos.

Reviewing Stowaways

The Stowaways view shows you everything Orbyte flagged. You can review them one by one, or flip through them quickly to spot anything that shouldn’t be there. For each stowaway, you decide: delete it to reclaim storage, or restore it to your main library if Orbyte got it wrong.

You can also review stowaways in bulk. Mark several for deletion at once, or restore a whole batch if you want to keep them.

Restoring Items

If Orbyte flagged something you actually love - maybe that “blurry” shot has artistic value, or that screenshot is precious - just restore it. There’s no penalty and no alarm bells. Restored items go right back into your library as if nothing happened.

All Clear - No Stowaways on Board

Once you’ve cleaned up, you might reach a blissful state: a Stowaways view that says “All clear - no stowaways on board.” This isn’t an ominous warning. It’s a friendly thumbs-up. Your library is lean, meaningful, and full of moments you actually want to keep. Enjoy the clean flight.

The Philosophy Behind Stowaways

Stowaways are meant to be helpful, not stressful. This isn’t a scary warning system - it’s a helpful assistant that notices the small stuff so you don’t have to. You’re always in control, and you can always change your mind. The goal is a library that tells your story the way you want to tell it.