CineTransfer Documentation

Getting Started

What is CineTransfer?

CineTransfer is a free, native macOS application for browsing and transferring files from iOS devices (iPhone and iPad) connected via USB. It works like a Finder window for your phone — you can see your camera roll, app folders, and downloads, then drag files to your Mac or copy them with a click.

It's designed for professional media workflows where you're dealing with large files: cinema-quality video (ProRes, Apple Log), RAW photos (DNG), multi-gigabyte game recordings from CineSportCam, or any other files stored on iOS. No cloud sync, no iTunes, no waiting — just a direct USB connection and fast local transfers.

System Requirements

• macOS 14.0 (Sonoma) or later
• Intel or Apple Silicon Mac (universal binary)
• A USB cable connecting your iPhone or iPad to your Mac
• No kernel extensions, no FUSE, no additional drivers required

Installation

1. Download the CineTransfer DMG from the product page
2. Open the DMG and drag CineTransfer to your Applications folder
3. On first launch, macOS may prompt you to confirm opening an app from an identified developer — click Open

First Connection & Device Trust

The first time you connect an iOS device to CineTransfer:

1. Connect your iPhone or iPad to your Mac via USB
2. On your iOS device, you'll see a "Trust This Computer?" prompt — tap Trust and enter your passcode
3. CineTransfer detects the device automatically (within ~2 seconds) and shows it in the sidebar
4. Click the device name to start browsing

You only need to trust the computer once per device. After that, CineTransfer connects automatically whenever the device is plugged in.

User Interface

Main Window Layout

CineTransfer's interface mirrors macOS Finder for zero learning curve. The window is divided into four areas:

• Toolbar (top) — Navigation buttons, view mode switcher, search field, copy button
• Sidebar (left) — Connected devices, favorites, recent transfers
• File Browser (center) — Your files in column, list, or icon view
• Status Bar (bottom) — Selection count, total size, USB connection speed

The default window size is 1100 x 700 pixels, resizable down to 800 x 500. Window position and size are remembered between sessions.

Sidebar

The sidebar has three sections:

• Devices — Lists all connected iOS devices by name. Shows device model and iOS version on hover. Click a device to browse its files.
• Favorites — User-created bookmarks to frequently accessed paths on the device. Right-click any folder and choose "Add to Sidebar" to pin it. Drag to reorder. Favorites appear grayed-out when the device is disconnected.
• Recent Transfers — The last 10 transfer operations with color-coded status indicators:
  • Green — Completed successfully
  • Yellow — In progress
  • Red — Failed (right-click to retry)

Toolbar

• Back / Forward — Navigate through your browsing history (Cmd+[ and Cmd+])
• View Mode — Segmented control to switch between Columns (Cmd+1), List (Cmd+2), and Icons (Cmd+3)
• Search — Real-time filtering of the current directory by filename
• Copy — Copies selected files to the default destination folder
• Preview — Toggles the right-side preview pane
• Transfer Center — Opens the transfer history window (Shift+Cmd+T)

View Modes

CineTransfer offers three view modes, matching Finder's layout options:

• Column View (default, Cmd+1) — Hierarchical columns that expand as you drill into folders. Best for navigating deep directory structures like DCIM/100APPLE/.
• List View (Cmd+2) — Detailed table with sortable columns: Name, Size, Modified Date, and Kind. Click any column header to sort. Best for finding the largest files or most recent captures.
• Icon View (Cmd+3) — Grid-based thumbnails. Shows image and video previews at 120x120 pixels. Best for visually scanning photos and video clips.

Status Bar

The bottom status bar shows contextual information:

• Selection info — "3 items selected, 1.2 GB" (updates in real time)
• Item count — Total items in current directory
• USB speed — Connection type (USB 2.0, USB 3.0) when a device is connected
• Transfer speed — Current MB/s during active transfers

Browsing Files

Navigation

• Click a folder to open it
• Arrow keys to move between files (Up/Down in list, Left/Right in columns)
• Cmd+[ to go back, Cmd+] to go forward
• Enter to open the selected file or folder
• Cmd+A to select all files in the current view

Search

The search field in the toolbar filters files in the current directory in real time as you type. Search matches against filenames only (not file contents). Clear the search field to return to the full directory listing.

Quick Look

Select any file and press Space to preview it with macOS Quick Look — the same preview system used in Finder. Works with images, videos, PDFs, and most document types. Press Space again or Escape to close the preview.

Accessible iOS Filesystem Areas

CineTransfer provides access to the following areas of your iOS device:

• DCIM (Camera Roll) — All photos and videos captured by the device camera. Organized in subdirectories like 100APPLE, 101APPLE, etc. This is where CineSportCam recordings and stream recordings are saved.
• Downloads — Files saved via the iOS Files app or Safari downloads
• Books — iBooks library files
• Recordings — Screen recordings and voice memos
• App Containers — Per-app Documents folders for apps that have File Sharing enabled in iOS. Access these through the app-specific directories.

Transferring Files

Copy Methods

CineTransfer offers several ways to copy files from your iOS device to your Mac:

Drag and Drop

• Select one or more files in CineTransfer
• Drag them to any Finder window, the Desktop, or any macOS folder
• Files copy in the background with a progress indicator
• Uses macOS file promises (NSFilePromiseProvider) — the file transfers only when dropped, not when dragged

Context Menu (Right-Click)

• Copy to Downloads — Copies to ~/Downloads
• Copy to Desktop — Copies to ~/Desktop
• Copy to... — Opens a folder picker to choose any destination

Toolbar Copy Button

• Select files and click the Copy button in the toolbar
• Files copy to your configured default destination (~/Downloads by default, configurable in Preferences)

Move Operations

• Move to Downloads / Desktop / ... — Available in the context menu for device files
• Moves the file from the device to the Mac (deletes from device after successful transfer)

Batch Transfers

Select multiple files (Cmd+click or Cmd+A) and use any copy method. CineTransfer queues all files and transfers them sequentially with a combined progress view showing:

• Current file being transferred
• Overall progress ("3 of 10 files completed")
• Transfer speed in MB/s (rolling average)
• Estimated time remaining

Each transfer uses 1MB chunked streaming — files are never loaded entirely into memory, so multi-gigabyte ProRes files and game recordings transfer smoothly without RAM pressure.

Conflict Resolution

When a file with the same name already exists at the destination, CineTransfer shows a dialog with three options:

• Replace — Overwrite the existing file
• Keep Both — Rename the new file (appends a number, e.g., "IMG_0001 2.HEIC")
• Stop — Cancel the transfer for this file (remaining files in a batch continue)

SHA-256 Verification

For critical files where data integrity matters, CineTransfer can verify transfers with a SHA-256 hash comparison:

1. Enable Verify Transfers in Preferences
2. After each file copies, CineTransfer computes the SHA-256 hash of both the source (on device) and the destination (on Mac)
3. If the hashes match, the transfer is marked verified. If they differ, the transfer is flagged as failed.

Transfer Center

Open the Transfer Center with Shift+Cmd+T or from the Window menu. It provides a persistent log of all transfers across sessions.

During a Transfer

• Real-time progress bar per file
• Speed (MB/s), bytes transferred, and ETA
• Pause — Temporarily halt the transfer (resume anytime)
• Cancel — Stop the transfer entirely (partial files may remain)

Transfer History

Each completed transfer is logged with:

• Source file names, sizes, and paths
• Destination folder
• Total bytes transferred
• Start and completion timestamps
• Status: completed, failed, or cancelled
• Verification result (if enabled)

Actions

• Reveal in Finder — Jump to the transferred file in Finder
• Retry — Re-attempt a failed transfer
• Right-click any entry in the Recent Transfers sidebar section for quick access to these actions

Auto-Ingest

Auto-Ingest automatically copies files from your iOS device's camera roll to your Mac the moment you plug it in — no clicks required. Ideal for post-game workflows where you want footage off the phone and onto your editing machine immediately.

Setup

1. Open Preferences (Cmd+,)
2. Enable Auto-Ingest on Connect
3. Set the Ingest Destination folder (default: ~/Downloads)
4. Optionally enable Create Device Folder and Create Date Folder for organized imports

How It Works

• When a trusted iOS device is connected via USB, CineTransfer automatically begins copying the DCIM directory (Camera Roll)
• Files are organized into subfolders based on your settings
• Progress appears in the Transfer Center

Folder Structure Example

With both Device Folder and Date Folder enabled:

~/Downloads/
  iPhone 15 Pro/
    2026-03-26/
      IMG_0001.HEIC
      IMG_0002.MOV
      ...

With only Date Folder enabled:

~/Downloads/
  2026-03-26/
    IMG_0001.HEIC
    ...

Preferences

Open Preferences with Cmd+, or from the CineTransfer menu. All settings persist across sessions.

Transfer Settings

Display Settings

Auto-Ingest Settings

Keyboard Shortcuts

Navigation

File Operations

Windows & App

Supported File Types

CineTransfer can browse and transfer any file accessible on the iOS device. There is no file type filtering — if iOS exposes it via AFC, CineTransfer can copy it. Common file types include:

Images

• HEIC (iPhone default), JPEG, PNG, TIFF, GIF, WebP
• DNG (RAW photos from ProRAW or third-party camera apps)
• Thumbnails generated automatically for all image formats in Icon view

Video

• MOV, MP4, M4V
• ProRes (Apple ProRes, ProRes RAW — common in cinema workflows)
• H.264, H.265 (HEVC), Apple Log
• Thumbnails generated from video keyframes

Audio

• M4A, MP3, WAV, AAC, AIFF

Documents

• PDF, DOCX, XLSX, PPTX, TXT, RTF, Pages, Numbers, Keynote

Archives & Other

• ZIP, RAR, TAR, GZ
• Any other file type — CineTransfer copies raw bytes regardless of format

Troubleshooting

Device not detected

• Make sure the device is unlocked with the screen on — iOS blocks USB access when locked
• Try a different USB cable (some cables are charge-only and don't support data)
• Try a different USB port on your Mac
• Disconnect and reconnect the device, then wait 2-3 seconds
• If using a USB hub, try connecting directly to the Mac instead

"Trust This Computer" prompt doesn't appear

• Unlock the iOS device and look for the trust dialog
• If you previously tapped "Don't Trust," go to iOS Settings > General > Transfer or Reset iPhone > Reset > Reset Location & Privacy to reset trust decisions
• Reconnect the USB cable after resetting

AFC connection failed

• This means the pairing handshake didn't complete — usually because the device wasn't trusted
• Disconnect, unlock the device, reconnect, and tap "Trust" when prompted
• Restart CineTransfer if the issue persists

Transfer stalled (30+ seconds with no progress)

• CineTransfer includes a 30-second stall watchdog — if no bytes transfer for 30 seconds, the transfer is marked as failed
• Common causes: device locked during transfer, USB cable disconnected briefly, device went to sleep
• Keep the device unlocked and screen on during large transfers
• Retry the transfer from the Transfer Center

Permission denied errors

• Some iOS system files and app containers are protected — this is normal
• You can access: DCIM, Downloads, Recordings, Books, and app Documents folders (for apps with File Sharing enabled)
• You cannot access: iOS system files, app binaries, or sandboxed app data

Disk full errors

• Check available space on your Mac with Apple Menu > About This Mac > Storage
• CineTransfer needs enough free space for the entire transfer — it streams files but the destination disk must have room
• Consider using an external drive as the copy destination (set in Preferences)

Slow transfer speeds

• Check the status bar for USB connection type — USB 2.0 maxes out around 30 MB/s, USB 3.0 can reach 100+ MB/s
• Use a USB 3.0 cable and port for best performance (check your cable supports data, not just charging)
• Increase the Transfer Chunk Size in Preferences to 2 MB or 4 MB for large files
• Disable Verify Transfers if speed is more important than verification
• Disable Generate Thumbnails if browsing is slow on directories with thousands of files

Thumbnails not loading

• Verify Generate Thumbnails is enabled in Preferences
• Thumbnails are cached in memory (up to 500) — browsing many directories may evict earlier thumbnails
• Very large video files may take a moment to generate previews
• Unsupported or corrupted files will show a generic file icon instead

App won't open ("damaged" or "unidentified developer")

• Right-click the app in Applications and select Open (bypasses Gatekeeper for the first launch)
• Or go to System Settings > Privacy & Security and click "Open Anyway" next to the CineTransfer message
• If the app appears "damaged," re-download the DMG — the file may have been corrupted during download