Two small apps and one drive. Everything stays on your network.

What you need

• A Mac running a current version of macOS, and one external drive formatted as exFAT.
• One or more iPhones on the same Wi-Fi as the Mac.
• Shelfroll Hub on the Mac and Shelfroll on each iPhone.

Set up

1. Format the drive as exFAT in Disk Utility (Erase, then Format: ExFAT) if it is not already. This erases the drive, so copy anything you want to keep first.
2. Open the Hub and choose the drive. Shelfroll keeps its working files in a hidden .shelfroll folder on the drive.
3. On the iPhone, open Shelfroll and scan the QR code on the Hub’s pairing screen. If scanning is not possible, enter the address, the code and check the short fingerprint by hand.
4. Allow Photos and Local Network access when the iPhone asks. Shelfroll needs both to find your Mac and read your library.

Where your photos go

One folder per phone, each a complete backup, sorted by the date the photo was taken:

Your drive/
  Anna’s iPhone/
    Photos/2026/11/IMG_0042.HEIC
    Videos/2026/11/IMG_0043.MOV
  Ben’s iPhone/
    ...

Files keep their original quality. Photos you edited after backing them up stay as they were backed up; Shelfroll does not upload them again.

Syncing

Open Shelfroll and tap Sync. The list shows each item as Synced, In progress or Not synced. If you leave the app, the sync carries on in the background. Anything that fails goes back to Not synced and is tried again next time, and the summary tells you why.

Replacing a phone

Pair the new phone and tell the Hub it replaces the old one. Photos already on the drive are recognised and are not uploaded again.

Need help? See Support.