Using Rollport

Open Options at the bottom of the window. Each choice takes effect at once, and the number of files to import changes with it. Press Esc or click outside to close Options.

• Date taken: Any date, Last 7 days, Last 30 days, Last 12 months, or Between two dates. "Last 7 days" is today and the six days before it, and both dates of "Between two dates" are included. The date range is not saved: Rollport starts at Any date each time you open it, so a forgotten range never leaves photos behind.
• Media types: All media, No Live Photo videos (the short clip that goes with each Live Photo), Photos only, or Videos only. Photos only leaves out every video, Live Photo clips too. Videos only leaves out the Live Photo clips. This choice is saved with the folder, and you can change it at any time.
• File names: saved with the folder, and set for good at its first import. See How files are named.

A new folder starts with Any date, All media, and Date and time in the name.

Until a folder's first import, you can choose how its files are named:

• Date and time in the name: 2026-09-02_15-04-11_IMG_0001.HEIC
• Year and month folders: 2026/09/IMG_0001.HEIC
• The phone's own name: IMG_0001.HEIC
• A pattern of your own: see below.

After the first import, the folder keeps that naming, so all its files are named the same way. Options then shows the naming with a lock.

The date in a name is when the photo was taken, in this computer's time zone. If two files would get the same name, the second gets _1 before its extension, the next _2, and so on.

To write a pattern of your own, choose A pattern of your own and type it, then press Enter:

• {name} is the iPhone's name for the file, with its extension, such as IMG_0001.HEIC. Every pattern needs it.
• {mtime:%Y-%m-%d} is the date the photo was taken. Between the colon and the brace, %Y is the year, %m the month, %d the day, %H the hour, %M the minute, and %S the second.
• / starts a subfolder. Rollport creates the subfolders it needs.
• Any other text is used as it is.

For example, {mtime:%Y}/{mtime:%m-%d}_{name} gives 2026/09-02_IMG_0001.HEIC. Rollport says at once when a pattern cannot work, for example when it has no {name}, or when it uses characters that Windows does not allow in file names. Rollport does not allow those characters on a Mac or Linux either, so the folder still works if you move it to Windows. An empty pattern goes back to the naming you had before.

Rollport shows each photo as it is copied, with the progress, the number of files and the amount of data left, and the time left.

You can click Stop at any time: what is already copied stays in the folder, and the next import continues from there. A partly copied file is removed and copied again next time.

If you unplug the iPhone during an import, the import stops in the same way. Plug it in again and click Continue.

Rollport tries each file three times. A file that still cannot be copied does not stop the import: Rollport lists it at the end, and the next import tries it again.

While an import runs, you cannot change the iPhone, the folder, or Options. Only one import at a time can copy into a folder, even from another computer. The exception is a network drive that does not support file locking.

When the import is done, Rollport says what it copied, and you can unplug the iPhone. Below that, it shows the next step:

• Continue imports what is left after you stopped, or after the iPhone was unplugged.
• Check again looks for photos you took since.
• Show in Finder (Mac), Show in Explorer (Windows), or Show in file manager (Linux) opens the folder.

Next time, connect the iPhone and click Import: only what is new is copied. When there is nothing new, Rollport says Up to date and when the last import was.

The folder records what it already has in rollport-library.db. Do not delete this file. While it is there, you can move and rename the photos in the folder. Without it, Rollport recognizes a file only if it has the same size and date and is still where the default naming (date and time in the name) would put it. It copies everything else again.

Rollport never deletes anything on the iPhone. To free up space there, delete the photos yourself once they are in the folder.

To use another folder, click the folder name at the top of the window, or drop a folder anywhere on the window. Rollport uses it at once.

You can import into as many folders as you like. Each folder keeps its own record, so each one gets only what it does not have yet.

Rollport remembers each iPhone's folder: when you connect an iPhone, it opens the folder that iPhone last imported into. An iPhone that has never imported gets the folder in use. With more than one iPhone connected, click the iPhone's name at the top of the window to choose one.

Rollport remembers the window size you choose. The ? button at the bottom of the window also opens this help. Hover over it to see which version of Rollport you have.

Rollport remembers the folder you used last, so it opens there next time. It also remembers which folder each iPhone imports into, and how large you made the window. It does not keep your iPhone's name.

Each folder records which photos it already has and how its files are named. You can move the folder to another disk or computer, and the next import continues from there.

This record is the file rollport-library.db in the folder. Do not delete it, or any other file whose name starts with rollport or .rollport.