﻿Hi I’m Gidon from thetechnologyman.com. In this video I’ll show two methods to
get large video clips or any file off your iPhone 13 Pro, as quickly and conveniently
as possible. Both the methods I’ll discuss in this video will work with any iPhone or iPad.
Firstly I’ll show how you can connect a fast external USB SSD. If you’re offloading video
files, you can then edit them directly off this drive. In the second method we’ll send the files
wirelessly using WiFi, which is actually the fastest method I’ve found so far, apart from
AirDrop which only works with Apple devices. I’ll compare speeds with these two methods against
just using a Lightning cable and also AirDrop. As I alluded to, I'm more interested in getting
large video clips off my phone to use in my video editing software, but both methods are also useful
for freeing up space on your phone. Background
You can now buy an iPhone 13 Pro with 1TB of storage which has impressive video capabilities,
which can result in files up to 6GB in size per minute, which is huge.
What Apple doesn't mention is that you’re stuck using the 20 year old USB 2 standard
to get these files off your phone. That’s 480 Mbps or 60 MBps, which means a 5 minute clip
shot in Apple’s professional grade ProRes format would take over 8 minutes to transfer across
using the Lightning port - and that’s assuming no losses. In reality it’s a fair bit slower.
My 10.5” iPad Pro, released 5 years ago now, also has a Lightning port,
but supports USB 3 speeds, which at 5 Gbps is up to 10 times faster. And the
latest iPads have a USB-C port that supports Thunderbolt 3 and USB 4 at up to 40 Gbps.
I’m sure Apple will eventually move across to USB-C ports like on their iPad Pros,
but for now we’re stuck with the Lightning port and its USB 2 speeds.
Apple offers three options for sharing these ProRos files in this support article. The simplest
method is to use a Lightning cable with your PC or Mac. Then they suggest iCloud Photos which is not
realistic for large video files unless you have an insane broadband connection. And lastly they
recommend AirDrop, but this only works between Apple devices and if you don’t have a very recent
Apple device, AirDrop will transcode the ProRos file which would make shooting ProRes pointless.
For example if I AirDrop ProRes files from my iPhone 13 Pro to my older iPad Pro to edit in
Lumafusion they’ll be downgraded to HEVC video files. But I could AirDrop them across to my
even older 2012 MacBook Pro and then edit them in Final Cut Pro for example. It’s all a bit
confusing and doesn’t help me anyway since I do my editing on a PC in Adobe Premiere Pro.
If you shoot video with the Apple Camera app the video files will be stored in your
camera roll and when you connect your phone to your computer with a Lightning cable,
you can just copy the files across as you would with files off an SD card for example.
Although Apple does make the folder structure very confusing and if you have lots of media
on your iPhone it can be tricky finding the files you want to copy. You can also use your operating
system’s standard camera import functionality if you prefer - which is probably easier to use.
If you use a third party app like Filmic Pro to shoot video, it’s more faff getting your
files off. You’ll need to use iTunes which you’ll have to download and install if you’re on a PC.
In iTunes you need to click on the small iPhone icon in the top left of iTunes,
then on File Sharing in the left sidebar and click on the App you used to record your video files.
In my case Filmic Pro. Then you can drag files from here to your computer. In Windows at least
you won’t see any transfer progress and for larger clips it’ll appear that the File Explorer window
has crashed while the files are transferring. But it does work and for occasional
use it’s a decent option. Using the Files app and an external SSD
This is my favourite option and it’ll work with any external drive not just an SSD
drive, including a mechanical USB hard drive and a thumb drive.
But you will need at least one additional accessory and since you’re again using
the Lightning port you’re still limited to USB 2 speeds for even the latest iPhones.
The first thing you need for any external drive is Apple’s Lightning to USB 3 camera adapter
which is basically just a USB dongle for your iPhone or iPad. But it does have a
separate Lightning charging port. I’ve not had much luck with cheaper
third party adapters, so personally I’d avoid them but you may have better luck.
If you’re just using a thumb drive which doesn’t demand too much power, you probably won’t need
anything else. Just plug in the dongle, attach a Lightning to USB charging lead and plug in
the thumb drive. Then open the Files app and tap on Browse. If you don’t plug in a charging
lead you’ll most likely get a message that the device you’ve plugged in needs extra power.
The thumb drive should appear under Locations. You can drag files around using the Files app, or you
can use the Share icon and Save to File option from any app to copy media to the thumb drive.
I’d recommend scrolling to the bottom of the Share screen and tapping on Edit Actions.
Then drag the Save to Files action closer to the top of the list.
If you try plugging in an external SSD or mechanical hard drive, even with power connected,
the drive probably won’t show up. I tried plugging in an 500GB Sandisk
Extreme Pro SSD drive which works fine on my iPad Pro but the iPhone 13 Pro doesn’t
recognise it. Which is odd since Apple’s support site suggests this is possible.
However I plugged in a powered USB hub into the USB port of the dongle, and then plugged the USB
SSD into this and the drive showed up. And this USB hub supports up to 4 devices
so I was able to connect the external SSD, a mechanical Western Digital My Passport drive,
a USB card reader to copy files off my mirrorless camera, and an Insta360 One X2. And I can move
files between all these devices. This is also handy for freeing up space off my camera’s SD
card and my GoPro or an Insta360 camera for that matter, when I’m away from my computer.
The USB hub is fairly inexpensive, compact and is quite nicely constructed with an aluminium
surround. But the AC adapter is larger than the hub itself and you do need to power the hub for
this to work. Plus it’s awkward having to find mains out and about, and a portable power station
seems overkill for a 5V 2A adapter like this. I found a nice little solution to this. I
purchased a universal 5V USB to DC cable which came with a number of adapters including the
3.5mm adapter the hub needed. I can now power the hub from a small power bank and what’s more since
the hub is providing power, you don’t need to provide separate power to the USB dongle.
In fact you could probably get away with the standard Apple Lightning to USB dongle which
doesn’t have a separate charging port. But I’ve not tried this and even though it won’t
make much difference with the iPhone 13, it’s not as versatile since it’s only USB 2 speed.
I’ll provide links to the USB adapter, powered hub and universal USB to DC cable
down below if you want to try this yourself. You do need to make sure your external drive
is formatted as exFAT, which you can do on Windows or on a Mac if it isn’t already. Other formats are
possible too like FAT32, but exFAT is the most flexible. It supports larger file sizes and is
compatible with both PCs and Macs. Sharing files wirelessly
Another way of sharing files to your PC or Mac is using WiFi and you won’t need
to buy any additional dongles. Depending on your WiFi network,
this could be faster than the wired option. The iPhone 13 Pro supports WiFi 6 and if you
have a WiFi 6 network in your home you could get speeds up to 1200 Mbps, at least theoretically.
Even on my WiFi 5 network I get slightly faster speeds than using the wired option.
I’ll discuss transfer speeds shortly. All you need to do is share a folder on
your PC or Mac and use the Files app to connect to this folder. This network folder will then
appear under Shared in the Files app and you can use it like an external drive.
I’ll demonstrate this on a PC but it’s a similar process on a Mac, although you’ll
probably be using AirDrop on a Mac anyway. Make sure your network is set to private,
not public. In Windows 11, right click on the WiFi or Ethernet icon in the taskbar,
click on your Ethernet or Wireless connection and check it’s set to Private.
I’ve created a dedicated folder on my desktop PC called iPhone Video. Right click on this folder,
click on the Sharing tab, and then click on Share. Take a note of the user listed
in this dialog box and click on Share again. You’ll see a confirmation that your folder is
shared and a link to this shared folder. Take a note of the computer name and click Done.
Now in the Files app on your iPhone, tap on the 3 dots in the top right of the screen and then
tap “Connect to Server”. Enter the computer name you just noted down and tap on Connect.
You’ll be prompted for a user name and password which will be your Windows username and password.
Your Windows folder will now be listed and you can use it like an external drive.
This connection should be remembered but if not, tap on the 3 dots again
and you’ll see it listed as a recent server. You can tap on this recent server and it
should reconnect, remembering your credentials. If you don’t want to mess around sharing folders
on your network you could use something like the free Snapdrop utility which requires no setup.
Navigate to Snapdrop.net on both your iPhone browser and a web browser on your computer.
On the iPhone you’ll see your computer show up with a unique name. Tap on this name and choose
the file you want to send across. This generally works ok but is a lot slower and is less reliable
than using the network sharing just described. Speed tests
I tested the transfer speeds of the various methods with a 6GB file which
is typically just 1 minute of ProRes 4K video. The fastest transfer I got was using AirDrop to
my old MacBook Pro. The file took 1 minute and 30 seconds which works out at 533 Mbps
or 67 MBps. I’m sure it’d be even faster to a newer Mac. The next fastest time I got was using
WiFi and network sharing which transferred the file in 2 minutes and 15s or 44MBps,
but I had to be pretty close to my Unifi 802.11ac WiFi 5 wireless access point for
these speeds. With a USB connection to my Mac it took 2 minutes 30s or 40 MB/s. Transferring the
file across to the external SSD took 2 minutes 47 s or 36 MBps and the slowest transfers were with
iTunes File Sharing to a Windows PC which took a painful 3 minutes and 57 seconds or 23 MBps.
Just for comparison, transferring this file from an iPad Pro which supports USB 3 speeds
over its Lightning port took just 20 seconds or 300 MBps across to the external SSD connected
to the powered USB hub. Interestingly, even though the external SSD will work with the
iPad just using the USB 3 dongle and power from the Lightning cable, transfer speeds were 3 times
faster using the powered hub. Conclusions
If you have a Mac you’ll get the fastest transfers using AirDrop, but if you’re using a PC that’s
not an option. You might be able to get the fastest speeds setting up a network share,
but that will depend on your network. The most convenient method is to use the Files
app and an external drive. You will need to spend up to £40 or $40 to get this working,
depending on what you already have. And it’s frustrating you’re limited to USB 2 speeds.
But it’s very convenient and I like being able to directly edit off the fast external SSD
on a PC or my iPad Pro. It’s a completely portable solution too and is also useful
for offloading files from your mirrorless camera’s SD card or other devices like a GoPro.
But I am still reluctant to fully embrace shooting in ProRes until Apple offers a
faster wired interface to its iPhone range. Shooting in the standard H265 format files
sizes are much smaller and transfer speeds using all these options are far more acceptable.
If you’ve found a better solution for getting files off your iPhone I’d love
to hear about it. Let me know down below. And as always, if you have any questions,
please ask - I read every comment and will do my best to respond.
I do hope you found this video useful. Please like the video if you did. I’m releasing videos every
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