A safer shore for your files

Your cloud needs a lifeboat.

Back up your Apple Photos and iCloud Drive to a drive you can hold. Lifeboat makes verified, resumable copies—with no account and no cloud in between.

See how it works Contact support

Coming soon to the Mac App Store · Requires macOS 15 or later

Lifeboat dashboard showing an iCloud Drive backup actively copying files to an SSD

No accountOpen it and back up

No subscriptionNo recurring bill

No cloud relayDevice to destination

Your storageYour files, your rules

Built for the copy that matters

Sync keeps things current. Backup keeps them yours.

A cloud library can mirror an accidental deletion just as efficiently as a new photo. Lifeboat creates an independent copy on storage you control, then checks that it arrived intact.

Copies you can trust

Verify every file after copying by size or SHA-256 checksum. Lifeboat shows you what was copied, skipped, or failed—without hiding the details.

Your originals, in full

Export full-quality Apple Photos originals, including Live Photos and RAW files, with optional edits and album manifests.

Stop. Unplug. Resume.

Interrupted backups pick up where they left off. Closing the lid or disconnecting a drive never turns a partial run into a false success.

Deleted never means vanished

When a source item disappears, its backup moves to a visible Deleted Files folder. Review it, restore it, or remove it yourself in Finder.

Control every part of the copy.

Choose what to preserve, decide how each file is verified, and keep removed items visible.

Lifeboat Photos and Metadata settings with album manifests and edited photo versions enabled — Preserve originals, edited versions, and portable album information.

Lifeboat verification settings offering file existence, size, and SHA-256 checksum checks — Verify every destination write by existence, file size, or SHA-256 checksum.

Lifeboat Deleted Files view listing two retained files and their storage usage — Keep removed source files in a visible, Finder-accessible safety net.

Private by design

From your Mac to your drive. Nowhere else.

Your photos and files never pass through a Lifeboat server. The app is sandboxed, asks only for the access it needs, and redacts file names and paths from diagnostics.

Read the privacy policy

Bring your memories safely ashore.

Choose what matters. Choose where it lives. Lifeboat takes care of the copying, verification, and safe recovery path.

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