SMBDrop

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

By Isaac Griffiths, developer of SMBDrop ·

Unraid and TrueNAS both make excellent homes for a photo library, and both speak SMB: the same file-sharing protocol Windows and macOS use, and the one the iPhone's Files app understands. That means an iPhone can write straight to your server over Wi-Fi without any extra service, container or cloud account.

The work is all on the server: export a share, give a user permission to write to it, and switch the SMB service on. Then the iPhone side takes a minute. This guide covers Unraid (6.12 and 7.x) and TrueNAS Community Edition / SCALE (24.10 and later), followed by connecting from the iPhone.

Menus move between releases. The steps below follow current versions as of October 2026. If a label differs on your server, the concepts stay the same: SMB on, a user, a share, and write permission for that user.

Unraid

1. Check SMB is on

SMB is enabled by default on Unraid, but it's worth confirming: go to Settings → SMB (under Network Services) and check Enable SMB is set to Yes. If you need to change it, Unraid may ask you to stop the array first; stop it, apply, and start the array again. Leave the workgroup and the other defaults alone unless you know you need them.

2. Create a user

Open the Users tab and click Add User. Pick a username such as iphone and a strong password. On Unraid, these users exist only to access shares over the network (they can't sign in to the web UI), so a dedicated user per device or person is cheap and tidy. Avoid using root for shares.

3. Create the share

  1. Go to Shares → Add Share, and name it, for example photos.
  2. Choose where it lives. A common setup is to write to a cache pool first and let the mover put files on the array later; for a share you'll fill with large video files, check the cache has room.
  3. Click Add Share, then scroll to SMB Security Settings for that share.
  4. Set Export to Yes (Yes (hidden) also works, but then you'll have to type the share name rather than pick it from a list).
  5. Set Security to Private (only listed users get access) or Secure (everyone can read, listed users can write). Avoid Public for a photo library.
  6. In the user access list that appears, give iphone Read/Write, then apply.

Your share is now available at smb://tower.local/photos (if your server is still called Tower) or smb://<server-IP>/photos. The IP address is shown at the top of the Unraid web UI and on your router.

TrueNAS (Community Edition / SCALE)

1. Create a user with SMB access

Go to Credentials → Users and add a user: again, something like iphone with a strong password. Make sure SMB access is enabled for it: the SMB User or SMB Access checkbox, depending on version. Without it, TrueNAS won't store the password hash SMB needs, and sign-in from the iPhone fails even with the right password.

2. Create a dataset for SMB

  1. Go to Datasets, select your pool, and click Add Dataset.
  2. Name it, e.g. photos, and set the Dataset Preset to SMB. This configures case-insensitivity and an ACL type that suit SMB clients.
  3. Recent versions offer to create the SMB share at the same time. Tick it if you see the option, and skip step 3's share creation.

3. Set permissions and create the share

  1. On the dataset, open Permissions → Edit. Add an entry for the iphone user (or a group it belongs to) with Modify or Full Control, and save.
  2. If you didn't create the share with the dataset, go to Shares → Windows (SMB) Shares → Add, choose the dataset path (e.g. /mnt/tank/photos), and give the share a name.
  3. When TrueNAS asks whether to start the SMB service, say yes. Otherwise go to System → Services, start SMB, and enable Start Automatically.

The share is now at smb://<truenas-IP>/photos.

Connect from the iPhone

Quick test with the Files app

  1. Open Files → Browse → the ⋯ menu → Connect to Server.
  2. Enter smb://192.168.1.50 (your server's IP), choose Registered User, and sign in as iphone.
  3. Open the photos share and save a test file into it.

If the file appears on the server, your share, user and permissions are right. The Files app is handy for occasional documents, but it isn't built for photo backup. See what Connect to Server can and can't do.

Sending photos with SMBDrop

Disclosure: I make SMBDrop. It's a £2.99 app that does one job, getting iPhone photos, videos and files onto SMB shares like these:

  1. Add a share in SMBDrop's Settings: the server address, then the iphone username and password. If you changed the SMB port, enter it; custom ports are supported.
  2. Tap Find Shares and pick photos from the list your server exports.
  3. Run Test Connection and save.
  4. Select photos and videos (or Select All) and tap Send, or turn on Automatic Backup so every new photo and video goes to this share.

Files land as originals: HEIC stays HEIC, videos aren't re-encoded, metadata is kept, and Live Photos arrive as both the still and the video. Transfers continue in the background, and anything that fails waits in a retry queue rather than disappearing. You can also browse the share and import files back to the iPhone; imports are verified byte-for-byte.

Prefer a photo-management app instead?

If you want a Google Photos-style timeline, face search and multi-user albums served from your Unraid or TrueNAS box, Immich is the popular self-hosted choice, and both platforms can run it as an app or container. It's a different tool: it keeps its own library and database, rather than writing plain files to a share you browse. Plenty of people use both: Immich for browsing, plain SMB for an untouched copy of the originals. The NAS backup apps comparison covers it alongside the other options.

Troubleshooting

Sign-in fails with the right password (TrueNAS)

The user probably doesn't have SMB access enabled. Edit the user, tick the SMB checkbox, and set the password again so TrueNAS stores the SMB hash.

Connected, but "permission denied" when writing

On Unraid, check the user has Read/Write in the share's SMB Security Settings. On TrueNAS, check the dataset ACL gives the user Modify, because share settings alone don't grant filesystem permission.

The share doesn't appear

On Unraid, confirm Export is Yes. On TrueNAS, confirm the share is enabled and the SMB service is running. Shares whose names end in $ are hidden and won't be listed by Find Shares.

Timeouts

Make sure the iPhone is on the same network (not a guest Wi-Fi that isolates clients), and that SMBDrop has Local Network permission in iOS Settings.

FAQ

Which SMB version do Unraid and TrueNAS use with an iPhone?

Both default to SMB2/SMB3, which is what the iPhone Files app and SMBDrop use. You don't need to enable SMB1.

Should I use a cache pool for photo uploads on Unraid?

It's usually a good idea: writes to an SSD cache are fast and the mover handles the array later. Just make sure the cache has room for large video batches, or set the share to write directly to the array.

Can I reach my Unraid or TrueNAS share from outside my home?

Use a VPN such as WireGuard or Tailscale to get back onto your home network, then connect as usual. Don't forward SMB port 445 to the internet.

Does SMBDrop need anything installed on the server?

No. It only needs a normal SMB share and a user. There's no container, plugin or account involved.

More guides

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