Archive to any drive
Send your phone's photos to an external SSD, a spinning HDD or a NAS. Perfect for years of camera roll that do not belong on your Mac's main disk.
Feature · Phone Archive
Your phone's photos, off iCloud and still findable
Your camera roll fills up, and the only frictionless option is to pay iCloud a little more, every month, forever, just to hold photos you almost never open. Move them to a drive and they become impossible to find. Phone Archive breaks that loop: plug in your phone, archive to a drive you own, and keep every shot searchable, even offline.
No iCloud, no monthly feeVerified file by fileArchive to any external driveSearchable offline
The problem
The camera roll trap
Every phone fills up, and every phone offers the same easy way out: pay for more cloud storage, month after month, to keep photos you rarely look at. The moment you try to escape by moving them onto your Mac or an external drive, you lose the one thing the cloud gave you, the ability to find anything. So most people keep paying, forever, out of fear of losing their memories in a folder.
Phone Archive is the way out. It moves your phone's photos onto storage you own and keeps them just as findable as they were in the cloud, without the monthly bill and without the risk.
How it works
Plug in. Archive. Done.
It shows what's already safe, then copies only what's new
Connect your phone over USB and PhotoCore compares it against what it has already archived. In seconds you see how much is safe and how little is actually new, so a full camera roll becomes ‘225 new photos to archive’. It copies only the missing files to a folder you choose, and verifies each one after copying.
- Copies only what is new, never the whole roll again
- Verified byte-for-byte after copying
- Never deletes anything on your phone
Marco's iPhone
Everything safely archived
● Already archived 98%● New 2%
Verified
Safe enough to free up your phone
Verified, not just copied
Every file is hashed and compared after it is copied, byte for byte, the copy on your disk against the original on your phone. When PhotoCore says a photo is verified, it means the archived file is identical, so you can reclaim the space on your phone without the usual knot in your stomach.
- Hash-checked file by file
- ‘Verified’ means byte-for-byte identical
- Duplicates from AirDrop or chat are skipped
You choose where it lives
Archive to a folder you own: an internal folder, an external SSD, or a NAS. PhotoCore proposes a place outside iCloud and warns you if a destination is syncing to the cloud, so your photos land somewhere permanent instead of somewhere billed monthly.
- Any local folder, external drive or NAS
- Flags iCloud-synced destinations
- Never touches files already in the folder
External drives
Put it on a drive and still find it
Unplug it, keep searching
PhotoCore keeps the archive searchable with thumbnails even when the drive is disconnected, so the shoebox in the drawer is still a searchable library.
Reconnect for the originals
Plug the drive back in only when you need the full-resolution file. Everyday finding and browsing works without it.
This is the same offline engine behind offline photo search and finding photos on an external hard drive. Archive once, then keep finding your phone's photos for years, drive plugged in or not.
On your terms
An archive, not a backup
Start where you want
Archive everything, or only from last week, last month, or a date you pick. PhotoCore remembers the starting point for each phone, so earlier shots stay out of scope.
One way, no surprises
It archives photos and videos, one direction only. No restore, no apps, no messages, and never a deletion on your phone. Clear on purpose.
Never a duplicate
Photos that arrived by AirDrop or chat, or that you have already archived, are recognized by content and skipped, so you never end up with the same shot twice on disk.
iPhone & Android
Whichever phone you carry
iPhone, over a cable
Connect your iPhone with USB and PhotoCore recognizes it as a source with its own identity, history and a simple status light: green when everything is archived, amber when there is something new.
- Recognized as a persistent source
- A status light per phone
- Live Photos archived as a pair
Android and cameras too
Set an Android phone or a camera to photo-transfer (PTP) mode and Phone Archive reads its roll the same way. The wording adapts, so it is honest about what you plugged in.
- Works with Android in PTP mode
- Works with PTP cameras
- Same verify-and-archive flow
Keep exploring
Related pages
Offline photo search
Keep finding your images when the drive or NAS is unplugged.
Photos on external drives
Index a disk once and search it even when it is in a drawer.
Photo archive software
Build a personal photo archive designed to last for decades.
AI photo search
The search that makes every archived photo findable by meaning.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Does Phone Archive work with Android?
Yes. It works best with iPhone over USB, and it also works with Android phones and cameras set to photo-transfer (PTP) mode. PhotoCore reads the camera roll, copies what is new, and verifies each file, whichever phone you plug in.
Do I still need iCloud for my photos?
No. Phone Archive copies your photos and videos to a folder or drive you own, outside iCloud. It even flags a destination that is syncing to iCloud, so you do not accidentally send them back to the cloud you are trying to empty.
Can I still find the photos after I unplug the drive?
Yes. Archive to an external SSD, HDD or NAS, and PhotoCore keeps them searchable with thumbnails even when the drive is disconnected. Reconnect only when you want the full-resolution originals.
Does it delete anything from my phone?
Never, in any case. Phone Archive only copies. Freeing up space stays your decision, made from your phone's own settings, with the certainty that every file was verified first.
Is it a full phone backup?
No, and that is deliberate. It archives your photos and videos, one way, with no restore, no apps and no messages. That is why it is called an archive, not a backup, and why it never overwrites the files already in your destination.
Get started free
Get your photos off the cloud clock
Download PhotoCore free and archive your first photos from a phone to a drive you own, verified and searchable offline. Full access is a one-time purchase, with no subscription, ever.