I built an app to backup Live Photos from iPhone to external hard drives
31 comments
·June 23, 2025gerdemb
Where is the link? How can iPhone backup directly to an external hard drive?
Amorymeltzer
I believe it's this: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/backigo-live-photos-backup/id6...
criddell
Plug it in to the USB port on the phone. iPhone Pro can transfer at up to 20 Gbps but the non-pro models are much slower.
The iPhone camera can also shoot directly to an attached SSD.
discostrings
> iPhone Pro can transfer at up to 20 Gbps
Citation/proof strongly needed on 20 Gbps
criddell
Right you are. I was going off my (bad) memory. It’s a 10 Gbps port.
supportengineer
I have bad news for you, that's not a real iPhone
enzanki_ars
This is a real feature of iPhones since the iPhone 15 Pro model. https://support.apple.com/en-in/109041
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gaudat
>home NAS setups aren't realistic for most users
Citation needed. Get a Synology NAS and use their Photos app which backups Live photos on both iDevices and Androids. Buy it for life.
thenaturalist
Let's be real, that's already far less approachable to 90% of consumers I know.
The simples hurdle just being knowledge.
The existence of NAS is probably an unknown unkown to a large part of the population.
Compare that to "there's an app for that" & plug USB.
Drastically simpler.
No skin in the game either way, but I can very much understand OPs reasoning and would reach the same conclusion.
HuwFulcher
You’re looking at £300ish for an entry level Synology and the storage. That isn’t a realistic expense for many users.
pdxandi
I've been doing this for many years and am pretty happy with it. I can sync from my Android and my wife's iPhone. The Photos app is nice and smooth. Backups happen automatically in the background. It can even de-dupe and clean up old photos that have been backed up. All in all, quite pleased with it.
kzisme
Or checkout https://immich.app/ !
jlarocco
I wouldn't use it personally, but I could see it being useful for my parents or family.
ifuse and rsync works fine for me.
mfa1999
Will it work with large (huge) photos libraries? Eg. 150k photos/videos - most of them in iCloud. Does it preserve album/folder structure?
SwamyM
I would love this if it allowed me to backup all photos taken with the iPhone to an external drive. Currently, Apple dumps all pictures (from the Camera, from iMessage, WhatsApp, etc.) into folder makes it difficult to backup just my pictures.
1970-01-01
How is this different from iMazing?
https://imazing.com/backup-iphone-ipad#:~:text=Choose%20iPho...
msh
It’s more like PhotoSync as it only does photos
polymatter
Thank you for including a non subscription “lifetime” payment option.
mindwork
Would immich work for this? You can run it locally in docker container
keroro
How much does it cost?
recury
In-App Purchases
BackiGo Pro Yearly (1 Year) $6.99
BackiGo Pro Monthly (1 Month) $0.99
BackiGo Pro Lifetime $14.99
er0k
I just use rsync, works great
rsync
Would you explain how you are using rsync to backup photos on an iPhone ?
I'm not aware of an iOS app named "rsync" and ... presumably you don't have a shell ... ?
slicktux
You can load the IPhone’s pictures on Linux using the folders namespace and then rsync from the loaded namespace to /local…
wood_spirit
I use a usb cable and a Linux laptop to copy to a couple of external hard drives (which I store separately). It’s all manual but not too orrenous although i ought backup more often. The biggest hassle is accessing the new heic format on pretty much everything.
Could it all be made into a sd card image for a pi zero perhaps? Even with a web ui accessible over Wi-Fi? A basic cheap sync-cable-appliance that non-techies can easily use?
trinix912
But does it work for Live Photos which is the main premise of this app?
alain34
[dead]
I noticed so many iPhone users are dealing with the same storage nightmare. Here's a common scenario that sounds familiar to a lot of people:
The widespread problem: iPhone storage fills up crazy fast, not everyone has a Mac, many don't want to pay monthly for iCloud storage, and home NAS setups aren't realistic for most users. The manual approach of creating folders and selecting photos one by one is tedious, and keeping up with new photos becomes overwhelming
So I built an app called BackiGo that addresses this exact pain point - it allows direct backup of Live Photos from iPhone to external hard drives, no Mac needed.
What makes it useful:
Backs up your Live Photos with all the motion intact
Can restore Live Photos back to your iPhone camera roll
Super easy to backup new photos
You can browse and view all your saved Live Photos directly from the external drive without having to restore them first
You can test it out with up to 500 photos & videos backup before deciding if it works for your needs