Step-by-Step Guide: How to Backup iPhone to Synology NAS

How can you backup iPhone to Synology NAS? This guide will elaborate everything to help you backup iPhone to Synology in two ways.

Demi

By Demi / Updated on March 7, 2024

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How to  backup iPhone photos and videos to Synology NAS?

I can’t find a way to do this. Is there a convenient way to backup all photos and videos on our iPhones to the NAS? And when we switch to a new iPhone, will it be easy to transfer them from the NAS to the new iPhone?

- Question from Reddit

Since users like you pay more attention to the quality of photos and videos shot by their iPhone, Apple made a great improvement with their camera on every new iPhone series. After using your iPhone for months or years, you may find iPhone storage is full of photos, videos, and other types of files.

backup iphone to synology

To keep your photos and videos safe, you may need a good backup solution, such as the one offered by Synology NAS devices. Here comes this guide, offering you detailed steps to set up Synology NAS, as well as the way to backup iPhone to Synology NAS.

Preparation. How to set up Synology NAS on PC

Synology NAS is designed to make storing and share files within a local network, so you can store files to your Synology NAS with Windows Explorer. Therefore, you need to map an Internet location with Windows Explorer first.

Step 1. Open a Windows Explorer window and go to Computer > Click Map network drive.

Step 2. On the window appearing, choose a drive letter. In the Folder field, enter the server name of your Synology NAS and shared folder name, preceded and separated by backslashes.

Step 3. Enter your DSM username and password and click OK.

Finally, a Windows Explorer appears. Your shared folder will be mapped and accessible under Computer.

Network Position

After mapping the Internet position, you could sync iPhone data to Synology NAS in either of the two ways below. To backup iPhone to Synology, you can make use of the official DS File app or third-party backup tool - FoneTool. Keep reading, and choose either tool to backup iPhone to Synology NAS.

Way 1. Auto backup iPhone photos to Synology NAS via DS File app

Synology offers you kinds of mobile apps, like DS File app, Moment app, and DS Photo app, enabling you to automatically backup iPhone to Synology NAS. Here in this part, we'll take DS File app as an example.

The DS File app is ideal to manage files between Synology NAS and your iPhone and do some basic editing tasks. It also enables you to get access to pictures and videos when you are on the go. You can follow the steps below to get an auto iPhone backup to Synology NAS.

Step 1. Download the DS File app for iOS > sign in with your QuickConnect ID and password.

Step 2. Click on the three bars to get to the menu and click Photo Backup > You may be asked to log in again > Choose a destination folder on your Synology.

DS File Photo Backup

Step 3. Set up backup source, rule, and others optionally.

DS Photo Backup Settings

Tip: It is recommended to enable Upload on Wi-Fi only to avoid wasting your mobile data, since backing up photos involves transferring a ton of data - and even more for video backups.

You can check the progress at the top of the app. When it’s completed, you are able to take a look at photos and videos by browsing your sync folder on your computer.

Bonus: Delete the photos from your iPhone
DS File app provides you with an easy way to delete photos. Scroll down on the configuration pane, until you locate Free Up Space and click on it. To delete the backed-up photos, click Clear.

DS Free Up Space

Mapping the Internet location is kind of complicated, although you can sync iPhone photos to DS File app with ease. However, it is judged by its users that the app will stop working when runs in the background. Besides, the photo upload will only work under a certain WiFi network.

Way 2. Backup more from iPhone to NAS via FoneTool

Do only photos matter on your iPhone? The DS file app only helps you to backup photos and videos to NAS, which may fail to satisfy you. FoneTool is more recommended to you. Besides photos and videos, you can also backup iPhone contacts, messages, music, and even everything on iPhone to NAS within a few clicks.

☆ Selective process. Compared with DS File app, you can choose to backup not only the folder but also every single content from iPhone to Synology using FoneTool.
☆ Wide compatibility. FoneTool supports almost all versions of iPhone, like iPhone 15/14/13/12 series, as well as iPad and iPod.
☆ Fully or selectively backup iPhone to NAS. FoneTool offers Full Backup Selective Backup to you. Full Backup can backup everything from iPhone to NAS, while Selective Backup is an incremental backup function, which meets your daily file backup needs. 
☆ Fast transfer speed. A wired connection between iPhone and computer is much quicker and more stable than its Wi-Fi counterpart. You may just spend 3 seconds backing up 100 photos using FoneTool.

Step 1. Download and install FoneTool on your computer
Download it to your computer and follow the instructions below to backup the wanted files to Synology NAS.

Download Freeware Win 11/10/8.1/8/7
Secure Download

Step 2. Choose a backup method 
Connect your iPhone to computer > Click Phone Backup on the homepage of FoneTool > Mouse over to Selective Backup and click Get Started. Or Full Backup to backup everything from iPhone to computer.

Custom Backup

Tip: You can also try the option iPhone to PC from Phone Transfer to transfer photos, music, etc. from iPhone to Synology NAS, so that you can browse and edit them on computer.

Step 3. Choose files and start backup
Click each icon to preview and select the wanted files respectively > Click OK to continue. Change the storage path to the network location of your Synology NAS > Click Start Backup to complete the task.

Click Backup

In the screen of Backup History, you can easily browse, locate, delete, and restore the Synology iPhone backup files. To fully backup iPhone, just try the Full Backup function in FoneTool.

Conclusion

That’s all for how to backup iPhone to Synology NAS. After adding the Synology NAS to your computer, you can download DS file app on your iPhone to backup iPhone photos and videos. To backup more types of data, you can rely on FoneTool. If you find this tutorial useful, please share it with others.