Copy only
Chipmunk reads from the card and writes to your drive. It never writes to, moves or deletes anything on the card. There is no Move button, no Delete button and no Erase button. You erase the card when you decide.
Backing up your cards on the roadBack up your card before you do anything else.
Your backup solution on the go.
Plug in your card reader, tap Copy, and Chipmunk copies your files, checks every one and remembers what is done. No laptop. The card is never touched.
iPhone + iPadiOS 26+Copy. Verify. Remember.
$4.99, one time. No subscription, no account, no ads. iPhone and iPad, iOS and iPadOS 26 or later.
Every file checked
Each file that finishes copying is read back from the destination and compared to what Chipmunk read from the card. Verification is on for every file and cannot be turned off.
It remembers
Back up at lunch, back up again at night. Chipmunk offers only what is new. It looks at what is actually in your folder, so a file you deleted from the drive gets copied again.
Built for the shoot away from the studio
On a trip, the card is often the only copy of the day's work. You can drag files across in the Files app, and it works. But Files shows a progress bar and then nothing. Did all 1,400 files arrive? Is the last one complete? You find out later.
Shooting away from the studio and don't want to carry a laptop? Got an iPhone? An iPad? Chipmunk is about to become your best friend.
The idea started with a photographer friend shooting for weeks in Spain. A card reader, a portable drive and an iPad. That was the whole kit, and it needed one more thing: proof that the copy was good.
Four steps, one button, one answer
01
Choose your card.
Pick it once in Files. Chipmunk remembers it and recognizes it again by its volume identity.
02
Choose where it goes.
An external drive, the device's own storage or iCloud Drive. You pick a folder on the drive, so nothing lands loose at the drive root.
03
Tap Copy New Files.
Progress shows the file in flight and how many have been verified. Stop is always available.
04
Read the result.
It leads with the answer. Show in Files opens the destination. Back Up Again returns to Main.
Know it's safe before you erase.
An honest answer
Chipmunk tells you what happened in that run, in plain words. Copied, Verified or Failed. If a run is interrupted, it never calls the files Verified. If it could not check every file, it says so.
A History list keeps a result for each run. The labels describe what happened in that run, not a claim about the drive today.
What you need, plainly
- An iPhone or iPad running iOS or iPadOS 26 or later.
- An SD card reader that works with your device. Chipmunk reads the card through the Files app.
- A place to put the copy:
- An external drive. The card reader and the drive have to be connected at the same time, so you need a device with two ports, or a reader with a pass-through USB port.
- Or the device's own storage, or iCloud Drive. No second port needed.
- The destination drive must be one your device can write to, such as APFS or exFAT.
Other card types, such as CF and CFexpress, depend on your reader.
Card reader→iPhone or iPad←Drive
Versus dragging files in Files
| The Files app | Chipmunk | |
|---|---|---|
| Confirms files arrived | No | Reads every file back and compares it |
| Remembers what is backed up | No | Yes, and offers only what is new |
| Stops if something changes | No | Stops if the drive is swapped, unplugged, renamed or deleted |
| Touches the card | Can move or delete | Copy only, never writes to the card |
| Overwrites files | Can | Never. A name clash gets a numbered suffix |
Chipmunk is not trying to be a full DIT suite. It does one job: get your files off the card and prove they arrived.
Who it is for
The traveling photographer.
Shoots RAW and JPEG, travels with an iPad or iPhone instead of a laptop, carries a card reader and a portable drive.
The event and wedding shooter.
Wants a second copy before leaving the venue. Cards get swapped all day, so it matters that Chipmunk recognizes a card it has seen before.
The videographer and drone pilot.
Large files, long copies, cards from several cameras. Needs to know the big files really arrived.
The field recordist.
Audio recorders that write one folder per recording with one file per track. Chipmunk keeps those folders together.
Also a good fit: Documentary and indie filmmakers who want a simple offload, students learning the habit of copy, verify, then erase, and anyone with a dedicated camera who is tired of dragging folders.
Probably not for you
- People who shoot only on a phone. Chipmunk is card based and does not back up the camera roll.
- Cinema-camera workflows that depend on card-specific drivers or on the clip folder structure exactly as the camera wrote it.
- AVCHD cards. Chipmunk detects them and says plainly that they are not supported.
- Mac users. That is Squirrel's side of the suite.
What is inside
Card scanning.
Reads cards through the Files picker. Scans and counts every file by type, with scanning feedback on large cards. Handles an empty card and a card removed mid-session.
Destinations.
External drives (APFS, exFAT, and FAT with a clear 4 GB warning), On My iPad and iCloud Drive. It refuses the card itself as a destination, a destination on the same volume as the card, and read-only locations, each with a plain reason.
File types.
RAW, JPEG, HEIF, other photos, video, audio and other files, including drone and 360 footage. Choose Types lets you copy only what you want. A type with no files on the card does not appear.
Organize your way.
By type then date, by date then type, by date only, or all in one folder. Dates come from file dates on the card. Audio and other files keep their original folders.
Proof-based memory.
"Already backed up" needs proof: a full-file match, or a verified earlier copy that has not changed. A memory alone is never proof.
Free space check.
If the drive is too small you get a plain red message with what is needed and what is free.
Stops when things change.
Swap the drive, pull the cable, rename or delete the folder, and the run stops and tells you.
Never overwrites.
A name clash gets a numbered suffix.
Built to look at home.
Liquid Glass bars and controls, warm surfaces, Light and Dark. Two columns on a wide iPad, one column on iPhone and narrow windows. Works in Stage Manager windows.
Accessible.
VoiceOver reading order checked, Dynamic Type up to the largest accessibility sizes, Reduce Transparency and Increase Contrast supported, hardware keyboard operable.
Built around ten safety rules
Chipmunk's engine is built around ten rules. It never writes to or deletes from the card. It copies, never moves. It never overwrites an existing file. It copies to a temporary name first and claims the final name only when the copy is complete. It reads each file back from the destination with caching bypassed and compares the hashes. It records a file in its history only after that file verifies. And if the destination changes or disconnects mid-copy, the run stops.
Chipmunk was reviewed and tested by the builders and by independent AI-assisted review. Each rule was tested by deliberately breaking it.
What Chipmunk does not do
Better you hear it here than find out on a shoot.
- One card at a time. Two cards connected means choosing one.
- One destination per run.
- You choose each new card in Files once. iOS does not let apps see connected cards on their own.
- A cable pulled mid-copy can lose the last one or two files on an SSD. Run the backup again and Chipmunk picks up what is missing.
- No Eject button. iPadOS Files does not offer one for the drive.
- Dates come from file dates, creation date first, then modification date. They are not the camera's capture date.
- FAT32 drives cannot hold files of 4 GB or larger. Chipmunk tells you which files are affected.
- AVCHD is not supported. Chipmunk detects it and says so.
- Cinema-camera clip folders are not reproduced as the camera wrote them.
- iCloud Drive copies are written on the device first and uploaded when you are online.
- No viewer, no culling, no editing. It backs up and nothing else.
- No erase. Chipmunk will not erase your card, ever.
Nothing leaves your device
No account. No network requests. No data collected. No ads. Chipmunk works in Airplane Mode with a local drive.
Squirrel at the desk. Chipmunk on the road.
Chipmunk is the field half of a pair. Chipmunk gets your footage safely off the card on location. Squirrel files it into your project when you get back to the desk. Chipmunk's folder logic matches Squirrel's, so what lands on the drive is what Squirrel expects.
Ochre Software
Handcrafted software for people who make things.
Each app owns one area of your workflow and handles it completely.
No cloud forced on you. If an app supports sync, you bring the cloud you already use and trust. We just make it work.
Frequently asked questions
Does Chipmunk ever change or delete anything on my card?
No. It only reads from the card. There is no Move, Delete or Erase button. You erase the card yourself, when you decide.
How do I know the copy is good?
Every file that finishes copying is read back from the destination and compared to what Chipmunk read from the card. The result screen tells you what happened in that run: Copied, Verified or Failed.
Can I turn verification off?
No. It is on for every file and included in the price.
Can I back up the same card twice?
Yes. Chipmunk remembers what it has backed up and offers only what is new. If you delete a file from the drive, it copies that file again.
Do I need a laptop?
No. Chipmunk runs on an iPhone or iPad.
Do I need two ports?
If you copy to an external drive, the card reader and the drive have to be connected at the same time, so you need a device with two ports or a reader with a pass-through USB port. Copying to the device's own storage or to iCloud Drive needs only the reader.
Does it back up my camera roll?
No. Chipmunk is card based. It does not back up photos taken on your phone.
Does it work with cinema cameras?
Chipmunk copies the files, but it does not reproduce clip folders exactly as the camera wrote them, and it does not use card-specific drivers. If your workflow depends on that, you may need a tool made for it.
Is there a subscription?
No. It is $4.99, one time. No account and no ads.
Does it collect any data?
No. It makes no network requests and collects no data.
What happens if I pull the cable during a copy?
Chipmunk stops and tells you. On an SSD, the last one or two files may be lost. Run the backup again and Chipmunk picks up what is missing.
Where do I get help?
See the guide and support links below, or write to the address on the support page.
Back up your card before you do anything else.
$4.99, one time. iPhone and iPad, iOS and iPadOS 26 or later.