SMBDrop

How to back up iPhone photos to a Synology NAS

By Isaac Griffiths, developer of SMBDrop ·

A Synology NAS is one of the most common places to keep a photo archive, and there are two good ways to get iPhone photos onto it. One is Synology's own Synology Photos app. The other is plain SMB, the file-sharing protocol your Synology already speaks to Windows and Mac, which lets an iPhone write ordinary files into an ordinary shared folder.

This guide walks through the SMB route step by step on DSM 7, then sends photos with the Files app and with SMBDrop. At the end there's an honest look at when Synology Photos is the better choice.

Disclosure: I make SMBDrop. Steps 1 to 5 don't depend on it at all; they're the same for any SMB app.

Step 1: Check SMB is enabled in DSM

  1. Sign in to DSM and open Control Panel → File Services.
  2. On the SMB tab, make sure Enable SMB service is ticked. It's on by default in DSM 7.
  3. Click Advanced Settings. Check Maximum SMB protocol is SMB3 and Minimum SMB protocol is SMB2 (or SMB2 and Large MTU). There's no need to allow SMB1, because iPhones don't use it.
  4. Click Apply if you changed anything.

Step 2: Create a shared folder

  1. Go to Control Panel → Shared Folder → Create.
  2. Name it, for example iPhone or PhotoArchive, and choose the volume.
  3. Enabling the Recycle Bin is a good safety net for a photo archive. Leave "Hide this shared folder in My Network Places" unticked so the folder can be listed.
  4. Skip encryption unless you specifically want it (an encrypted folder has to be mounted before the iPhone can see it).
  5. Finish the wizard. If you're using Btrfs, consider turning on Snapshot Replication for this folder later. Snapshots protect against accidental deletion and ransomware in a way a single copy can't.

Step 3: Create a user for the iPhone

You can use your existing DSM account, but a dedicated user is safer: if the phone is lost, you change one password, and the account can only touch one folder.

  1. Go to Control Panel → User & Group → Create.
  2. Name it something like iphone and set a strong password.
  3. Skip adding it to administrators; the default users group is fine.
  4. On the shared-folder permissions step, give it Read/Write on the folder from step 2, and No access on everything else you don't want it to see.
  5. On the application permissions step, make sure SMB is allowed (it normally is by default).

Step 4: Find your NAS's IP address

Open Control Panel → Network → Network Interface and note the IPv4 address, e.g. 192.168.1.40. Setting a DHCP reservation for the NAS in your router (or a static IP in DSM) stops it changing later.

Step 5: Test with the Files app

  1. On the iPhone, open Files → Browse → ⋯ → Connect to Server.
  2. Enter smb://192.168.1.40, choose Registered User, and sign in as iphone.
  3. Open the iPhone folder and save a test file into it.

If that works, DSM is set up correctly. You could stop here and use Save to Files from Photos, but check the format options in the share sheet each time if you want originals, and expect Live Photos to arrive as stills. The Files app's limitations are covered in a separate guide.

Step 6: Send photos with SMBDrop

  1. Open SMBDrop → Settings → add a share. Enter the NAS's IP address and the iphone username and password. The port is 445 unless you've changed it in DSM; custom ports work too.
  2. Tap Find Shares. You'll see the shared folders the account can access. Pick iPhone. Optionally choose a subfolder.
  3. Tap Test Connection, then save.
  4. Choose photos and videos (drag across the grid to select a range, or use Select All) and tap Send.

What arrives in the shared folder is your originals: HEIC photos stay HEIC, ProRAW and videos aren't re-encoded, metadata stays in the file, and Live Photos arrive as both the still and the video. You can leave the app while it works; anything that fails stays in a queue with a retry button.

For ongoing backup, open Automatic Backup in SMBDrop, choose the Synology share, and pick Everything in My Library or Only New Photos & Videos. It runs whenever you open the app, and overnight while your iPhone is charging and on your home network. A file already on the NAS with the same name and size counts as backed up, and nothing on the NAS is ever overwritten.

The alternative: Synology Photos

Synology Photos is Synology's free photo app and server package. If you want a photo experience on your NAS (a timeline, albums, face and object grouping, sharing links with family), it's very good, and it costs nothing extra if you already own a Synology.

Choose Synology Photos if you want to browse and share your photos from the NAS like a cloud photo service, and you're happy to be in Synology's ecosystem.

Choose plain SMB (with the Files app or an app like SMBDrop) if you want an untouched, folder-based copy of your originals that works the same on any server. If you move from Synology to something else one day, nothing changes on the phone.

They aren't mutually exclusive. A common setup is Synology Photos for everyday browsing and an SMB copy of the originals into a snapshotted shared folder as the archive.

Troubleshooting

"Connection failed" or timeouts

Check the iPhone is on the same network as the NAS (not a guest network), that SMBDrop has Local Network permission in iOS Settings, and that DSM's firewall (Control Panel → Security → Firewall), if enabled, allows SMB from your local network.

Signed in, but the folder is missing

The user doesn't have permission on that shared folder, or the folder is hidden in My Network Places. Fix the permission in User & Group, or untick the hidden option.

"Permission denied" when sending

The user has Read Only rather than Read/Write on the folder.

FAQ

Do I need QuickConnect to back up iPhone photos to Synology over SMB?

No. SMB works directly on your local network using the NAS's IP address. QuickConnect is Synology's relay for its own apps and isn't used for SMB.

Which SMB version should my Synology use for an iPhone?

SMB2 minimum and SMB3 maximum. iPhones use SMB2 and SMB3, and SMB1 should stay off.

Will my photos be converted to JPEG?

Not with SMBDrop: it sends the originals from your library. With the Files app, it depends on the format option you choose in the share sheet. Synology Photos has its own backup settings; check them in the app.

Can I use Synology Photos and SMB at the same time?

Yes. They're independent. Many people use Synology Photos for browsing and a separate SMB shared folder as an untouched archive.

More guides

Try SMBDrop

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

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