MomentStays moves Android motion photos into Apple Photos without recompressing their video

A moving photo can lose its little performance when it crosses the Android-and-iPhone divide. The still survives, which is lovely, except the extra moment was the reason you kept it. MomentStays tackles that handoff by rebuilding the pairing information around the original moving-image data instead of turning every memory into another compressed export.

The maker’s repository describes a local macOS app with a Rust conversion core and a SwiftUI interface. The important distinction is between changing a container and encoding the media again. Different jobs. Its video and audio workflow copies the original compressed samples, then checks their hashes, sizes, counts and presentation times. The wrapper changes; the recorded samples have something better to do than another lap through a compressor.

The cover frame gets separate attention. A Live Photo needs a timed marker telling it which instant belongs with the still. MomentStays maps the source timestamp to an actual video frame instead of silently grabbing the midpoint when the metadata gets awkward. Missing or ambiguous timing is reported. That is a useful refusal for a family archive, where the wrong frozen expression can make everyone wish the camera had simply stayed closed.

The README also explains the exception to a blanket “lossless” claim. Apple HEIC converted into Android JPEG needs still-image encoding, and a converted HDR gain map can change too. Keeping original compressed motion does not mean every component of every output is byte-identical. The README promises “without re-encoding the original video or audio”. A converter that distinguishes those promises saves the reader from finding the footnote after converting an entire vacation.

Files and folders can be converted, or the application can work with Photos-library resources. The documented library workflow keeps still and movie resources from the same version together, creates a new asset and lets the user choose its album. Original assets remain intact, according to the project. iCloud downloads and monitoring are opt-in for the session rather than an automatic invitation to fetch the whole library.

The format list names supported Samsung, Xiaomi, Google-compatible, Huawei/Honor, OPPO and vivo layouts, with specific restrictions on HEIC targets. Those are parser-supported layouts, not a promise covering every firmware ever shipped under each logo. The project’s own language is refreshingly clear that actual playback and receiving-device compatibility still need real end-to-end validation.

For a household moving between phone brands, the sensible trial is one ordinary sample in each direction. The useful checks are visible: does the motion play, is the cover still the one chosen, and does the recipient’s gallery show the expected brightness? Keeping the originals until those answers are clear is cheaper than discovering that a folder full of successfully written files tells only half the story.

This project is the source for its own preservation claims. It does not turn a format support table into a demonstration on your particular phone, and that last hop remains the part an export dialog cannot settle for you.

That blink deserves its original timing.