SMBDrop

Your photos.
Straight to //your‑nas.

SMBDrop moves photos, videos and files between your iPhone and your own SMB shares: NAS, Windows, macOS or Samba. No account. No cloud. No subscription.

Download SMBDrop on the App Store
£2.99 once · no subscription · iOS 17+ No in-app purchases, no ads. Needs an SMB server on your network.
SMBDrop's photo picker with fourteen photos selected and a Send button ready

How it works

Three steps, then it just runs

Connect a share

Enter your server's address and sign-in. Find Shares lists the names your server actually exports, so you can pick one instead of guessing. Custom ports supported.

Pick anything

Photos and videos from your library (drag to select a range) or any file from the Files picker. Live Photos keep both halves. Or use Share → SMBDrop from another app.

Send, and walk away

Transfers continue after you leave the app. Failed items wait in a durable queue and can be retried. Nothing is lost silently.

What you get

Built for people who run their own storage

Originals, untouched

SMBDrop sends the exact bytes in your library. No recompression, no renamed files, no stripped metadata.

Automatic Backup

Sends every new photo and video to one share when you open the app, and overnight while your iPhone charges. Or use Select All to send a whole album in one go.

Import back

Browse your shares and pull files onto your iPhone, verified byte-for-byte and never overwriting a local file, into an imports library you can preview, share or save to Photos.

Keychain-only credentials

Server passwords live in your iPhone's Keychain and nowhere else. Deleting a share deletes its password.

No middleman

Transfers go device-to-server over your network. Your files never touch anyone else's infrastructure, including ours.

Works with your gear

Synology, QNAP, TrueNAS, UGREEN, Unraid and most NAS devices, plus Windows and macOS file sharing and Samba on Linux.

See it in action

Four screens, one job

Selecting fourteen photos in SMBDrop with a Send button ready The Import tab listing two connected SMB shares The photo library grid with photos and videos ready to send Settings with saved SMB shares and transfer history

Analytics, tracking, accounts: none

The privacy policy is one sentence long, more or less

The app has no account system, no analytics and no tracking. The only thing it ever sends the developer is a feedback message you choose to submit from Settings, with the app and iOS version attached. Read the policy.

Guides

Getting iPhone files onto your own storage

All guides

Best ways to back up iPhone photos to a NAS

SMBDrop, Synology Photos, PhotoSync, Immich, Nextcloud, the Files app and more, compared honestly.

iPhone photos to a Synology NAS

Turn on SMB in DSM, create a user and shared folder, and send your originals.

iPhone to a Windows shared folder

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

Back up an iPhone without iCloud

Every realistic option, from a Mac or PC to a NAS, and what each one actually keeps.

iPhone to Unraid or TrueNAS

Export an SMB share, create a user, and connect from iPhone.

The Files app's Connect to Server

What Apple's built-in SMB client does well, and where it runs out.

Send your first batch tonight

One purchase, yours to keep. No account to create, no subscription to cancel: just your iPhone and your own share.

Download SMBDrop on the App Store £2.99 once · no subscription · iOS 17+