Short answer
AmberTime is an iPhone app built for this workflow. It creates backup tasks, writes original photos and videos to the selected drive, preserves Live Photos and metadata where available, and skips files already backed up on later runs.
When this is useful
This is useful when you want a second physical copy of your iPhone Photo Library on storage you control, especially while traveling, filming, or clearing space before a large shoot. It can also help if you do not want to rely only on cloud storage or do not have a Mac nearby.
AmberTime can back up photos, videos, Live Photos, RAW, ProRAW, ProRes, and selected folders exposed through the Files app. The destination is an external physical drive such as a USB-C SSD or flash drive that iOS can access through Files.
What AmberTime does
- Creates a repeatable backup task instead of a one-time manual copy.
- Transfers original PhotoKit resources where iOS exposes them.
- Keeps later backups incremental by recording completed items.
- Writes to temporary .part files before finalizing completed transfers.
- Does not require an AmberTime account or AmberTime cloud storage.
Things to know
The USB drive or SSD must be visible in the iOS Files app. If Files cannot see the drive, AmberTime cannot use it as a destination. APFS and exFAT are better choices for large videos; FAT32 has a 4 GB single-file limit.
If some originals are only in iCloud because Optimize iPhone Storage is enabled, AmberTime can fetch those originals from Apple first when you choose to include iCloud-only items. That download requires network access, but AmberTime still does not upload your files to AmberTime servers.