PhotosMove

English | 中文

Move photos and videos from Android to your PC over local Wi-Fi — byte-perfect, zero damage, preserving the original folder structure. No cloud, no PC software to install, no account.

PhotosMove is a one-click photo & video migration tool: move 100,000+ files / 100GB+ byte-for-byte from your phone to your computer in a single tap. Whether you call it migration, backup, export, or just "get my photos off my phone onto the computer" — if you want it lossless and off the cloud, PhotosMove does it.

Demo

📺 Watch demo video

Why PhotosMove?

Most "photo transfer" apps compress, transcode, or need the cloud + an installed client. PhotosMove is different:

• 🔒 Byte-perfect — original bytes preserved (JPG/HEIC/HEIF/RAW/DNG/MP4/MOV/Live Photo). EXIF, GPS, timestamps intact. No recompression, no transcoding.
• 🖱️ One click — pick albums, download. No driver, no client app, no account on the PC side (just a browser).
• 📁 Original folder structure kept — files land in the same DCIM/Pictures layout as on the phone.
• 🚀 100GB+ in one go — single streaming ZIP download, resumable per album, ZIP64 for files > 4GB.
• ✅ Built-in integrity check — SHA-256 byte-level verify after download (runs locally, nothing uploaded).
• 🏠 100% local — transfer never leaves your Wi-Fi. No cloud, no telemetry, no servers.
• 🔓 Open source (GPL-3.0) — fully auditable.

How it works

Phone runs an HTTP server (Go + Android foreground service) → PC browser connects over LAN → enter the PIN shown on the phone → pick albums → download a single streaming ZIP via browser native download → SSE tracks progress.

Compared to alternatives

	PhotosMove	Immich	Google Photos	Syncthing	PhotoSync
Focus	one-click migration	self-hosted gallery	cloud gallery	general sync	transfer app
PC side	browser (no install)	deploy server	cloud account	install client	install app
Byte-perfect original	✅	✅	⚠️ compresses	✅	⚠️ optional
Keeps folder structure	✅	❌	❌	✅	❌
Stays local (no cloud)	✅	✅	❌	✅	⚠️
Bulk 100GB+ one download	✅	✅	❌	⚠️	❌
Open source	✅	✅	❌	✅	❌

Features

• Single streaming ZIP — all selected albums, one <a>.click(), 100% browser-compatible
• ZIP64 — single files > 4GB (DJI / GoPro / iPhone ProRes)
• Local verify — verify.js: size pre-filter + SHA-256 (WASM, runs in browser)
• 4-digit PIN auth + Bearer token; IP lockout on repeated wrong PIN
• Foreground service + wake lock so large transfers survive screen-off

Localization

PhotosMove follows your system language (Chinese or English) out of the box, with a manual switcher if you want to override it.

• Android: follows the system locale. Manually switchable from the top of the main screen. On Android 13+ you can also set it from system Settings → App language. On Android 8–12, switch only via the in-app picker (system per-app language isn't supported below Android 13).
• Web (PC browser): follows the browser's navigator.language. Manually switchable from the 🌐 globe icon at the top-right of the connect page and the dashboard.

Adding a language = one translation file, no code changes:

• Android: add android/app/src/main/res/values-xx/strings.xml and register the code in LocaleHelper.LANGUAGES.
• Web: add web/i18n/locales/xx.js (mirroring zh.js/en.js) and add the code to SUPPORTED in web/i18n/i18n.js.

Server error responses are language-neutral codes ({"code":"E_XXX"}); the front end translates them per the current UI language.

Build

Requirements: JDK 17, Android SDK (build-tools 35.0.0, platform android-35), Go 1.23+.

cd android
bash build.sh          # produces app/build/outputs/bundle/release/app-release.aab
bash build.sh -i       # install debug to a connected device

FAQ

• Is PhotosMove a cloud service? No. All transfer happens on your local Wi-Fi. No cloud, no account.
• Is this a backup or sync tool? It's a one-click migration tool today — get your photos & videos from phone to computer, lossless. Incremental sync is on the roadmap. It is not a continuous cloud backup.
• Does it compress or re-encode my photos/videos? No. Files are transferred byte-for-byte; EXIF/GPS/format are preserved.
• Can I transfer 100GB+ in one go? Yes — streaming ZIP + ZIP64, validated on large libraries.
• iOS support? Not yet — Android only for now.

Privacy

No cloud, no telemetry, no account. See Privacy Policy.

Keywords

photo transfer, video transfer, transfer photos to computer, Android photo backup, photo sync, migrate photos, export photos, move photos to PC, byte-perfect, lossless, HEIC, EXIF preserve, no cloud, Immich alternative, Google Photos alternative, open source photo transfer

License

GPL-3.0 © photosmove