Frequently Asked Questions

Yes! PhotoPiper offers free daily transfers—no credit card required. Transfer a set number of photos each day, and the counter resets at midnight UTC. Need unlimited transfers? A one-time purchase unlocks everything forever.

Image Capture often freezes on large libraries and does not remember what you have already transferred. AirDrop is slow for bulk transfers and can fail without warning. PhotoPiper is built specifically for reliability—it handles thousands of photos without freezing, remembers duplicates, and shows you exactly what is happening.

No. PhotoPiper transfers photos directly from your iPhone or iPad to your Mac over USB—no iCloud account or internet connection required. If you do use iCloud Photos, PhotoPiper can also read your Mac's photo library as a source and download the originals iCloud has offloaded, so photos that are no longer stored on the device still come across.

PhotoPiper requires macOS 15.2 (Sequoia) or later. It runs natively on both Intel and Apple Silicon Macs.

Apple Photos locks your images inside a library format that's hard to access directly. PhotoPiper copies original files to any folder you choose—your Pictures folder, an external drive, or a cloud-synced folder. You stay in control.

Yes. Enable the HEIC → JPEG option before transferring, and PhotoPiper will automatically convert Apple's HEIC format to universally compatible JPEG files. The conversion uses hardware acceleration for fast performance.

PhotoPiper maintains a local catalog of transferred files. When you scan your iPhone, it compares against this catalog and only shows photos that haven't been transferred yet. This means you can run transfers regularly without copying the same photos twice.

Not from the device itself. Transfers from an iPhone or iPad go over USB—by design, since USB is significantly faster and more reliable than wireless for large photo libraries. Connect your device using a Lightning to USB or USB-C cable. The iCloud Photos source works differently: it reads the photo library on this Mac and downloads originals stored in iCloud, which does use your internet connection.

Yes. PhotoPiper transfers both photos and videos from your iPhone's camera roll, including Live Photos, slow-motion videos, and time-lapse recordings.

Yes. Enable the date folder option and PhotoPiper will automatically organize your photos into a YYYY/MM folder structure based on when each photo was taken.

PhotoPiper tracks progress as it goes. If a transfer is interrupted (cable disconnected, app closed, etc.), simply restart and PhotoPiper will skip already-transferred files and continue with the remaining ones.

Yes. Connect an iPad over USB the same way as an iPhone. PhotoPiper transfers its photos and videos with the same duplicate detection, HEIC → JPEG conversion, date folders and verified copying.

Choose iCloud Photos as the source instead of the device. PhotoPiper reads the photo library on this Mac and downloads the original of each photo iCloud has offloaded, then verifies and files it like any other transfer. This is the answer when a USB scan shows far fewer photos than you expect—photos kept only in iCloud are not on the phone to be copied.

iOS requires the device to be unlocked for apps to access photos over USB. For best performance, keep your iPhone unlocked during the transfer. Some iOS versions throttle connections when the device is locked.

No. PhotoPiper runs entirely on your Mac and doesn't send any data to external servers. There are no analytics, no tracking, and no telemetry. See our Privacy Policy for details.

Use the Clear button in the app to reset the transfer catalog and quota counter. This will make PhotoPiper treat all photos as new on the next scan. You can also delete the app container folder to completely reset all settings.

The free version includes all features: HEIC conversion, date folders, duplicate detection, and verified transfers. The only limit is the number of photos you can transfer per day. The daily quota resets at midnight UTC.

No. Pay once and use it forever. No subscriptions, no recurring charges, no surprise renewals. One purchase unlocks unlimited transfers for life.

Purchases are handled by Apple through the App Store. To request a refund, visit reportaproblem.apple.com and follow Apple's refund process.