The missing "Eject" button for macOS photographers, videographers, and content creators.
Easy Eject is a lightweight macOS menu bar utility that intelligently detects camera memory cards and lets you safely eject them with a single click or keyboard shortcut. It also scrubs hidden macOS metadata that causes errors on cameras, emulators, and PCs.
CFexpress cards are PCIe/NVMe solid-state drives under the hood. Because of this, macOS reports them as permanent external SSDs rather than removable camera media. This breaks auto-eject in Lightroom, Premiere Pro, DaVinci Resolve, and other editing apps — forcing you to open Finder every time you want to safely remove a card.
On top of that, macOS silently litters every drive with invisible metadata files (.DS_Store, ._ AppleDouble resource forks, __MACOSX folders). While hidden on your Mac, these files cause real problems on other systems:
- Cameras: Database errors and corrupted thumbnails when cards are reinserted
- Emulator consoles: Phantom game entries from
._files cluttering ROM libraries - Windows/Linux PCs: Visible
.DS_Storejunk in every folder
Instead of relying on flawed hardware flags, Easy Eject uses two detection methods:
- Hardware detection via DiskArbitration — identifies SD, CFexpress, and XQD card reader protocols
- Folder structure scanning — detects brand-specific camera directories:
- Canon (
CANONMSC) - Nikon (
NIKON) - Fujifilm (
FUJI) - GoPro (
GOPRO) - Sony & Panasonic Pro Video (
SONY,PRIVATE,M4ROOT,BPAV,XDROOT)
- Canon (
Detected camera cards are grouped under a dedicated Camera Cards section, cleanly separated from your permanent drives.
The metadata scrubber removes hidden macOS files before ejecting:
._*AppleDouble files — the #1 cause of phantom entries on emulator consoles.DS_Store— Mac folder settings that clutter Windows and Linux__MACOSXfolders — junk created when extracting zip files
The scrubber safely skips macOS-managed directories (.Spotlight-V100, .Trashes, .fseventsd) to prevent filesystem issues.
- Smart Sorting: Automatically identifies CFexpress, XQD, and SD cards — including those connected via Mac Studio's front card reader.
- One-Click Bulk Eject: Safely unmount all camera cards simultaneously.
- Clean & Eject: Scrub hidden macOS metadata before ejecting. Set as the default for camera cards, or choose per-drive for other volumes.
- Camera Card Eject Mode: Toggle between "Eject" and "Clean & Eject" as the default for all camera card buttons and the keyboard shortcut.
- Per-Drive Options: Non-camera drives (SSDs, thumb drives, emulator cards) show a submenu with both Eject and Clean & Eject options.
- Global Keyboard Shortcut: Press ⌃⌥⌘ + letter to instantly eject all camera cards from any app. Fully customizable and designed to never conflict with Adobe or editing shortcuts.
- Safety Warnings: Alerts before ejecting non-camera drives to prevent accidental disconnection.
- Launch at Login: Optionally start with your Mac so it's always ready.
- Debug Window: Built-in diagnostic log with copy-to-clipboard for troubleshooting drive detection.
- Zero Bloat: Native SwiftUI app, under 30MB memory footprint, no ads, no cost.
- Download the latest release from Releases.
- Move Easy Eject to your Applications folder.
- First launch: Right-click the app and select Open, then click Open in the dialog. You only need to do this once (required because the app is distributed outside the Mac App Store).
- Accessibility (optional): Required only for the global keyboard shortcut to work inside other apps. The app walks you through enabling it in System Settings. Manual ejection from the menu works without this.
- Full Disk Access (optional): Required for the Clean & Eject feature to scan and delete hidden metadata files. The app guides you through setup with a one-click button that opens System Settings and reveals the app in Finder for easy drag-and-drop.
For tutorials, troubleshooting, and contact: ryansmithphotography.com/easyejector
Created by Ryan Smith for the photography and videography community.