I built a free tool to open Apple Pages/Numbers/Keynote files on Windows — 100% in-browser

Gavin Liu — Thu, 25 Jun 2026 11:02:14 +0000

How I built a free tool to open Apple iWork files on Windows (no backend)

TL;DR: I built iWorkViewer — open and convert Apple .pages, .numbers, and .keynote files right in your browser. No Mac, no iCloud, no upload, no signup. Everything runs client-side.

The problem

Someone sends you a .pages document, a .numbers spreadsheet, or a .keynote deck. You're on Windows, Android, or a Chromebook. You double-click it and… nothing. Microsoft Word throws an error, Google Docs rejects it, and every online converter wants you to upload your private file to their servers first.

The honest trick that makes it work

Here's what almost nobody tells you: a .pages / .numbers / .keynote file is secretly a ZIP archive. When Apple saves the document, it bundles a ready-made QuickLook Preview.pdf inside so Finder and Mail can show a thumbnail.

iWorkViewer just opens that ZIP in your browser with JSZip, finds the embedded Preview.pdf, and hands it to you. No rendering engine, no conversion server, no quality loss — it's the exact PDF Apple already generated.

What it does

Open .pages / .numbers / .keynote instantly in any browser
Export to PDF for reading, printing, sharing
100% private — file is unzipped locally, never uploaded
No Mac, no Apple ID, no signup, no watermark

The tech

Next.js static export on Cloudflare Pages
JSZip to unpack the iWork ZIP package in-browser
Embedded PDF rendered directly in the page
Zero backend — all processing client-side

The honest part

The embedded preview is a faithful visual copy (great for reading + PDF). If you need a fully editable .xlsx/.docx with live formulas, the most accurate route is Apple's own iCloud.com export — and I say so right on the site. No overpromising.

Try it

👉 iworkviewer.com — free, no signup.

What other file-format headaches should I solve next?

How I Built a Live Photo Converter That Works Entirely in Your Browser (No Upload, No App)

Gavin Liu — Wed, 24 Jun 2026 04:21:13 +0000

I've been building small web tools with AI coding for the past few months. Here's one that people actually use: LivePhotoKit — a free, browser-based converter for iPhone Live Photos, HEIC images, and more.

The Problem

iPhone users shoot millions of Live Photos and HEIC images every day. But when they try to:

Send a Live Photo to an Android friend → doesn't work
Upload HEIC to a web form → rejected
Convert Live Photo to GIF → need a paid app
Open HEIC on Windows → nothing happens

Existing solutions either require you to install an app, upload your private photos to someone's server, or pay a subscription.

What LivePhotoKit Does

Drop a file in. Get what you need. Done.

HEIC to JPG/PNG/WebP/PDF — instant, no upload
Live Photo to GIF — the one thing iOS can't do natively
Live Photo to MP4 video — extract the video part
Open HEIC files — view in browser, no app needed
Image compressor — shrink photos without losing quality
Batch convert — process multiple files at once

Everything runs locally in your browser. Zero server uploads. Zero sign-ups. Zero watermarks.

Tech Stack (Built Mostly by AI)

Next.js 16 (static export) — hosted on Cloudflare Pages
Canvas API — image encoding/decoding, GIF generation
gifenc — pure JS GIF encoder (no WASM, works on mobile)
jszip — unpack .livp Live Photo packages
JSZip + jsPDF — PDF generation from images

The entire conversion pipeline runs in the browser. No ffmpeg, no server-side processing. This means it works on iPhones, Androids, and any modern browser.

What I Learned

ffmpeg.wasm is too heavy for mobile — 30MB+ WASM binary crashes Safari. Switched to Canvas + pure JS encoders.
iOS file input is fragile — transparent overlays, hidden inputs, and programmatic click() all fail on Safari. The fix: a native <label htmlFor> wrapping a visible input.
Live Photo's .livp format is just a ZIP — unpack it with JSZip, grab the MOV video + HEIC still, done.
GIF encoding in pure JS works — gifenc does the job at ~3MB per animated GIF.

Try It

→ livephotokit.com

It's free. No sign-up. Everything stays on your device.

If you've got iPhone photos that won't open somewhere — give it a shot. Would love feedback.

Built with Claude Code + a lot of debugging. 18 pages, 0 dependencies on ffmpeg, 100% client-side.

DEV Community: Gavin Liu