Isn’t AirDrop enough between an iPhone and a Mac?

Often, yes — with the right switch. In the share sheet, Options → “All Photos Data” sends the true original. Without it, the phone may send a converted copy. ZiggSend has no such switch to forget: it only ever moves the original bytes and proves it.

Do the files go into the Photos library?

No. They land in a plain folder — by default a ZiggSend folder in Movies, which you can change with “Change folder” (on Pro, one subfolder per source, like Camera or WhatsApp) — ready for Finder, Final Cut or a backup drive. Nothing is imported into a library unless you do it.

Is there a limit on video length or size?

No. A two-hour 4K recording goes through in one piece. We measured an 806 MB video over home Wi-Fi in 46 s.

Does it re-encode anything?

Never. The file that arrives is hashed and compared with the original; if a single byte differs it is discarded and both sides are told.

iPhone → Mac · Step by step

How to transfer videos from iPhone to a Mac or MacBook without losing quality

A video from iPhone to a Mac or MacBook is where the shortcuts hurt most: one wrong path and a sharp clip arrives blocky. Here is a path that moves the exact bytes and verifies them.

Why this usually goes wrong

AirDrop exists here, and it has a catch: when it decides the receiving device does not support HEIC or HEVC, it may send JPEG or H.264 instead, so the file that arrives is smaller than the one that left — unless you turn on “All Photos Data”. Image Capture and Photos over a cable may convert too, unless the iPhone is set to “Keep Originals”, and iCloud Photos keeps the original in the cloud, not on your disk.

Video is big, so every convenient path shrinks it: WhatsApp compresses anything sent as media, Messages may convert it, email refuses it, and cloud drives wait for an upload that can take longer than the trip. A minute of 4K on a modern phone runs to hundreds of megabytes; a family vacation is easily 30 GB. Nothing in that list was designed for that.

Before you delete the clip on the phone, check that the size on the computer matches. ZiggSend does this for you: only files that passed the SHA-256 check get their final name, and History shows each one’s fingerprint (today’s on Free, all of them on Pro).

How to do it with ZiggSend

Rather see the screens? Illustrated step by step, with the app screens →

Install ZiggSend on the Mac from ziggsend.com/mac (notarized by Apple, so no “unidentified developer” alert). It lives in the menu bar.
Install ZiggSend for iPhone from the App Store (free).
On the iPhone, open ZiggSend and tap Connect to a computer. Tap your Mac under Devices nearby (same Wi-Fi), check that the safety code matches on both screens and click Allow on the Mac. If the Mac does not show up, tap Scan the QR code and point it at the code the Mac shows under Connect phone.
Choose what to send. Files land in a folder on the Mac exactly as they were on the phone, each one verified byte for byte — no “Automatic” conversion anywhere in the path.

It works in both directions: the same pairing sends from the computer back to the phone.

Measured, not promised. 22 GB in 184 files with 0 failures from an Android to a Mac over a USB 2 cable (about 28 MB/s); an 806 MB video over home Wi-Fi in 46 s; up to 49.7 MB/s over Wi-Fi from a Mac to an iPhone. Every file is checked against the original on arrival. How we measure.

Other ways, and what each one costs you

Method	Original quality	Size limit	The catch
AirDrop	Only with “All Photos Data” on	None published	May convert HEIC/HEVC when the receiving device does not support them
Image Capture / Photos	With “Keep Originals” on the iPhone	None	Cable only; may convert on “Automatic”; Photos imports into a library, not a folder
iCloud Photos	Yes, once “Download Originals” finishes	Your iCloud space (5 GB free)	Originals may live in the cloud, not on the disk you back up
WhatsApp	No — recompressed	2 GB as a document	Goes through their servers

What people ask before they trust a transfer app

“I don’t trust my private photos to a site I don’t know.”

Neither do we. ZiggSend has no site in the middle: the file goes from one device to the other over your home Wi-Fi (or, from Android to a Mac, a cable), and no file is stored anywhere else. The computer app only contacts ZiggSend to check for updates, to register a random install ID when it opens and, if you go Pro, to activate the license and check its status once a day; the privacy policy lists exactly what goes out.

“Mine fails at 64% every time.”

A transfer that breaks resumes where it stopped. Every file is written as a temporary part and only gets its final name after the SHA-256 check passes — you never end up with a half file that looks whole.

“I’m out of space and need to empty the phone.”

Move everything to the computer first: only files that pass the SHA-256 check get their final name, and History shows each fingerprint (today’s on Free, all of them on Pro). Then delete on the phone. Originals, no size limit.

How to transfer videos from iPhone to a Mac or MacBook without losing quality

Why this usually goes wrong

How to do it with ZiggSend

Other ways, and what each one costs you

What people ask before they trust a transfer app

Free forever with 1 phone. Pro when you need it.

Questions people actually ask

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