Your Picture Keeper is the bridge between the two devices. It does not send anything over the internet — it carries your files, so moving photos and videos from a phone or tablet to a computer happens in two passes. First you back the mobile device up to the Picture Keeper. Then you unplug the drive, connect it to the computer, and copy the files off it there.
Step 1: Back up your phone or tablet to the drive
- Connect your Picture Keeper to your phone or tablet.
- Open the Picture Keeper app.
- On the Home screen, tap Start Backup.
- Leave the drive connected until the backup finishes.
Everything the backup collects is written onto the drive itself, so once this is done your files are already off the phone and travelling with the drive.
If the drive cannot plug into your phone directly — for example a USB-C drive and a phone with a different port — turn on Manual Backup Mode first. Your files are held in your Picture Keeper account for up to 30 days, and the computer app then saves them onto the drive for you. Once the computer app has finished that, carry on with Step 2.
Step 2: Copy the files from the drive to your computer
Unplug the Picture Keeper from your phone or tablet and connect it to your computer. In the computer app, Restore copies what is on the drive onto the computer. The full steps, with screenshots, are in Copy Files from Picture Keeper to Computer.
Restoring copies your files rather than moving them, so everything stays on the drive as well.
Choosing what gets copied
Start Restore copies everything on the Picture Keeper to the computer, including backups made from your other devices. Advanced Settings lets you change the destination folder and adjust what content is included.
If you only want a few files, it is usually quicker to copy them by hand. On a Mac or Windows computer you can open the drive directly, without the app: open Finder or File Explorer, select the drive, and open the folder named Backups. Inside it you will find the content copied from each device you have backed up, kept in the same folder structure it had on that device. Drag whatever you want into any folder on the computer.
Checking what is on the drive
Before you unplug from your phone or tablet, you can tap PK Drive at the bottom of the app to browse what was just saved. On the computer, click Files on PK Drive on the left to browse the same content. There is more detail in View Files on Picture Keeper.
If you are having trouble getting your files onto your computer, contact us and we will be happy to help.