Guides

Getting iPhone photos and files onto storage you own

These guides cover the parts that have nothing to do with any particular app: turning on SMB, creating the right account, finding your server's address, and knowing what a "copy" of a photo really contains. Where a free or built-in method does the job, they say so.

I make SMBDrop, so it appears in these guides, always with a note and alongside the alternatives.

Set up your server

• How to back up iPhone photos to a Synology NAS

  Turn on SMB in DSM, create a shared folder and a user, and send originals from iPhone. Plus when Synology Photos is the better pick.

• How to back up iPhone photos to a QNAP NAS

  SMB on QTS and QuTS hero step by step, and how QNAP's Qfile Pro, QuMagie and Qsync Pro compare.

• How to back up iPhone photos to a UGREEN NAS

  Turn on SMB in UGOS Pro on a NASync, set up a folder and user, and weigh up the UGREEN NAS app.

• How to send iPhone photos and files to Unraid or TrueNAS over SMB

  Export an SMB share and create a user on Unraid or TrueNAS SCALE, then connect from iPhone, with the permission fixes that usually trip people up.

• How to copy files from an iPhone to a Windows shared folder

  Share a folder on Windows 10 or 11, find the PC's address, connect from iPhone, and fix the usual sign-in and firewall errors.

• How to send iPhone photos and files to a Mac shared folder

  No NAS needed: share a folder from your Mac over SMB, keep it awake, and send from your iPhone over Wi-Fi.

• How to send iPhone photos to your NAS over Tailscale, without opening ports

  Reach your NAS from anywhere with Tailscale, without opening ports, and send photos as if you were at home.

• Use a Raspberry Pi as an iPhone photo backup target (Samba)

  A Pi, a USB drive and Samba make a cheap SMB share for iPhone photos: fstab by UUID, a one-user share, and the power and backup caveats.

Fix connection errors

• iPhone Files app can't connect to server (smb://): every fix

  "There was a problem connecting to the server" and "The operation couldn't be completed": SMB versions, addresses, firewalls and iOS bugs.

• "Socket is not connected" on iPhone: fixing SMB connection errors

  Usually the wrong address, a blocked port 445 or the wrong network. How to check each one.

• "Content Unavailable" when opening an SMB share on iPhone

  Connected, but folders won't open: stale sessions, accounts without permission, protocol mismatches and VPNs.

• iPhone Files app says the SMB share is read only: how to fix it

  The iOS 18 read-only problem: check permissions first, then the streams_xattr fix for Samba, Unraid, OpenMediaVault and QNAP.

• Synology SMB not working from iPhone: DSM 7.2 settings to check

  QuickConnect, SMB versions, signing and encryption, Auto Block, firewall and privileges, in the order worth checking.

• Why iPhone SMB transfers are slow, and how to speed them up

  Wi-Fi, small files, server signing and storage: what actually limits speed, and what you can change.

Compare your options

• Best ways to back up iPhone photos to a NAS (2026)

  Nine ways to get iPhone photos onto a NAS, compared on price, accounts, originals and background backup. There's a disclosure, since I make one of them.

• PhotoSync alternatives for backing up iPhone photos to a NAS (2026)

  Eight alternatives to PhotoSync, from free vendor apps to self-hosted Immich, with UK prices as of October 2026.

• SMBDrop vs PhotoSync

  A fair comparison from the developer of one of them: where PhotoSync is clearly stronger, and where SMBDrop's narrower focus helps.

• SMBDrop vs Synology Photos

  A free photo library with automatic backup, or plain originals in any SMB folder? When to pick each, and why many people use both.

• SMBDrop vs the iPhone Files app

  When the free, built-in Files app is all you need, and when an app that sends originals and Live Photos in the background is worth £9.99.

• The iPhone Files app's Connect to Server: what it can and can't do

  What Apple's free, built-in SMB client handles well, where it runs out for photo backup, and when a dedicated app is worth it.

• Best SMB apps for iPhone (2026): file managers, players and backup

  File managers, video players and photo backup apps for SMB shares, grouped by job, with UK prices checked in October 2026.

Back up, keep originals, free up space

• How to back up an iPhone without iCloud

  Full-device backups versus photo backups, and every realistic method for both, from a Mac or PC to a NAS on your own network.

• How to free up iPhone storage by moving photos to a NAS, safely

  Move photos off the phone without losing any: the iCloud Photos trap, how to verify a copy, and when it's safe to delete.

• How to copy iPhone videos to a NAS without compression

  Where 4K, HDR and ProRes videos get compressed, how to copy the originals, and how to prove nothing was re-encoded.

• Live Photos and original iPhone files on a NAS: what actually gets copied

  Why "Save to Files" can give you a different file, why a Live Photo is two files, and how to check with ExifTool and checksums what actually landed.

• How to move your iCloud Photos library to a NAS

  Six ways to get your originals out of iCloud Photos and onto a NAS, from the iPhone to icloudpd, and the order to verify and delete in.

• iCloud storage full? Your options, and what happens if you stop paying

  What stops when you're full, UK iCloud+ prices, what Apple's terms say about deletion, and how to downgrade without losing anything.

Send your first batch tonight

Send original photos, videos and files from your iPhone straight to your own SMB share. One purchase, no account, no subscription.

£9.99 once · no subscription · iOS 17+