What is DumpSock?

DumpSock is a local-first tool that pulls photos and videos off a USB-connected iPhone or iPad and writes them to a folder on your computer — or any external drive you plug in. Optionally, it deletes them from the phone afterward to free up storage.

There is no iCloud round-trip, no account, no signup, no telemetry. The bytes travel from your phone to your disk over the USB cable and nowhere else.

Who it's for

• You shoot a lot of photos / video and your iPhone storage is full.
• You don't want to pay for iCloud, OR you do pay for iCloud but want a local archive too.
• You don't trust cloud-only backups (cloud accounts get locked, providers go bust, prices climb).
• You're a professional dumping camera roll mid-shoot to an SSD.
• You're a developer / power user who wants cron over their backups.

What it's not

• Not a cloud sync. DumpSock has no cloud component. Your photos do not leave your machines.
• Not a phone replacement. It backs up the camera roll (/var/mobile/Media/DCIM/). It does not back up messages, settings, app data — for that, use Apple's encrypted backup via Finder.
• Not an iOS app. DumpSock runs on your Mac (and soon Linux / Windows). The iPhone just gets plugged in.

How it compares

Tool	Surface	Bytes route through
DumpSock	macOS GUI + CLI	iPhone → USB → your Mac. Done.
iCloud Photos	iOS Settings	iPhone → iCloud → optionally your Mac. Apple holds the keys (unless you also enable Advanced Data Protection).
icloudpd	CLI	iPhone → iCloud → your Mac. Cloud is the source of truth.
iMazing / AnyTrans	GUI	iPhone → USB → your Mac. Same idea as DumpSock, paid, closed-source.
idevicebackup2	CLI	iPhone → USB → your Mac. Full encrypted backup blob (everything), not a folder of files.

What's next

• Install — three minutes on macOS.
• Your first backup — plug in, click Back Up Now, done.
• Free up iPhone storage — the --delete-after story and the Photos.app caveat.