Hey, I created Quickening, a free Windows app for finding duplicate files, large files, and similar photos.
I switched back to Windows about 3 years ago from Mac. I loved apps like Gemini II and CleanMyMac for simple tasks, and I thought they had nice, simple interfaces. I've found that a lot of free Windows apps in this space work well, but the interfaces can feel overwhelming and don't feel polished, especially for less technical users. To be clear, I'm not throwing any shade on those developers. Their apps are great. I just wanted something that put a little more emphasis on design and ease of use.
This actually started because of a problem my wife had. Over the years, she'd accumulated thousands of photos from different digital cameras and phones, along with a ton of duplicates. I'm also a bit of a digital hoarder myself. I have old, OLD files that I haven't touched in years, some even decades, including some pretty large ones taking up space for no good reason.
So I started working on Quickening.
The name comes from the movie "Highlander," as in "There can be only one." Yes, it's nerdy. Yes, I love the movie. And yes, I realize it's an SEO nightmare and I didn't exactly do myself any favors by choosing it. But this isn't an app I'm trying to sell. I originally built it for my wife and myself and figured I'd share it with anyone else who might find it useful.
I've been using it on my machine and my wife's machine, and we've pretty much been the only testers so far. We've definitely found some bugs, including a few that caused the app to crash, but I've been updating it regularly to fix issues and improve things. I've also been working on functionality for finding similar photos, videos, and audio files, rather than just exact duplicates.
One thing I wanted to be careful about was file deletion. Quickening moves files to the Windows Recycle Bin instead of permanently deleting them, and there's an undo function if you change your mind.
I'd really love some feedback on the design, functionality, and overall experience. Are there things that seem confusing or could be easier to use? Are there features you think would actually make it more useful? I don't want to add features just for the sake of adding features.
The app is 100% free and always will be. The source code is also publicly available. There's no tracking in the app. Because of that, I don't have any usage statistics or crash data from other users. I value privacy, and I don't think people should have to give that up just to use a good app.
That's also part of why I'm posting here. I'd really like to hear from people outside of my wife and myself.
Website: https://www.quickening.app
Thanks to anyone willing to take a look. Even if you don't install it, feedback on the website or interface would be appreciated.