axiom-photo-library

Photo Library Access with PhotoKit

Guides you through photo picking, limited library handling, and saving photos to the camera roll using privacy-forward patterns.

When to Use This Skill

Use when you need to:

• ☑ Let users select photos from their library
• ☑ Handle limited photo library access
• ☑ Save photos/videos to the camera roll
• ☑ Choose between PHPicker and PhotosPicker
• ☑ Load images from PhotosPickerItem
• ☑ Observe photo library changes
• ☑ Request appropriate permission level

Example Prompts

"How do I let users pick photos in SwiftUI?" "User says they can't see their photos" "How do I save a photo to the camera roll?" "What's the difference between PHPicker and PhotosPicker?" "How do I handle limited photo access?" "User granted limited access but can't see photos" "How do I load an image from PhotosPickerItem?"

Red Flags

Signs you're making this harder than it needs to be:

• ❌ Using UIImagePickerController (deprecated for photo selection)
• ❌ Requesting full library access when picker suffices (privacy violation)
• ❌ Ignoring .limited authorization status (users can't expand selection)
• ❌ Not handling Transferable loading failures (crashes on large photos)
• ❌ Synchronously loading images from picker results (blocks UI)
• ❌ Using PhotoKit APIs when you only need to pick photos (over-engineering)
• ❌ Assuming .authorized after user grants access (could be .limited)

Mandatory First Steps

Before implementing photo library features:

1. Choose Your Approach

What do you need?

┌─ User picks photos (no library browsing)?
│  ├─ SwiftUI app → PhotosPicker (iOS 16+)
│  └─ UIKit app → PHPickerViewController (iOS 14+)
│  └─ NO library permission needed! Picker handles it.
│
├─ Display user's full photo library (gallery UI)?
│  └─ Requires PHPhotoLibrary authorization
│     └─ Request .readWrite for browsing
│     └─ Handle .limited status with presentLimitedLibraryPicker
│
├─ Save photos to camera roll?
│  └─ Requires PHPhotoLibrary authorization
│     └─ Request .addOnly (minimal) or .readWrite
│
└─ Just capture with camera?
   └─ Don't use PhotoKit - see camera-capture skill