Footage Ferry

Install Footage Ferry

Footage Ferry runs on Windows 10 and Windows 11. Your Polar receipt has two app zips: the one ending in x64 is for Intel and AMD PCs, and the one ending in arm64 is for Arm PCs, like the ones with a Snapdragon processor.

Footage Ferry reaches the iPhone through Apple’s own software, so install that first:

1. Install Apple Devices from the Microsoft Store, open it and agree to its license. If you already use iTunes, that works too.
2. Unzip the zip for your PC and put the Footage Ferry folder where you keep your apps. .NET and everything else the app needs is inside the folder.
3. Open FootageFerry.exe.

The app isn’t signed, so the first time Windows shows “Windows protected your PC”. Click More info, then Run anyway.

Connect your iPhone

The app reads the clips Blackmagic Camera keeps in its own storage. In the iPhone’s Files app, that’s the Blackmagic Camera folder under On My iPhone. Clips saved to Photos or to an external drive don’t show up.

Connect the iPhone to the PC with a USB cable. Unlock it and tap Trust if it asks to trust this computer. Wi-Fi isn’t used.

When the iPhone is connected, the app lists its clips with thumbnails, recording dates and sizes. Click a column heading to sort by name, date or size.

If the window says Apple Devices isn’t running, click Open Apple Devices. If it isn’t installed, the button says Get Apple Devices and opens its page in the Microsoft Store.

Preview and import a few clips

Say you recorded three takes and only want the last two:

1. Double-click the first clip, or select it and press Space, to play it straight from the iPhone.
2. Close the preview and select the two takes you want.
3. If you want another folder, click the folder button in the toolbar and pick Choose Folder….
4. Click Import Selected.
5. Wait for the copies and the checks to finish.

Import All imports every clip in the list. The videos go to Videos\Blackmagic Camera unless you picked another folder. Show in File Explorer, in the same menu, opens it.

The bottom of the window shows the clip being copied, the speed and the time left. Footage Ferry keeps the PC awake during an import. Leave the cable connected until it’s done.

Thumbnails and previews

Thumbnails and previews use the video decoders Windows has:

Clips recorded in	Thumbnail and preview
H.264	Yes
H.265	With the HEVC Video Extensions from the Microsoft Store
ProRes	No

A clip with no thumbnail imports like any other, because the check never decodes the video.

What the check does

A clip counts as imported only after its copy is checked. The app reads the file back from the PC’s disk and compares its SHA-1 hash with the one the iPhone computes from its own file. A copy that doesn’t match is thrown away.

A clip that’s already in the folder is checked, not copied again. If a different file has the same name, the new copy gets a numbered name, like A001_02211024_C001 (2).mov, and the other file stays as it is. Copies keep the clip’s recording date.

The check tells you the bytes on the PC are the bytes on the iPhone. Play the footage you care about and keep a backup before you delete the only original.

Keep or delete the originals

After an import, the app asks whether to delete the imported clips from the iPhone. Keep on iPhone is the default button. Use it if you want to look at your copies or back them up first.

If you click Delete from iPhone, the app checks each copy again right before it deletes its clip. If a copy no longer matches, that clip stays on the iPhone.

Deleting frees the iPhone’s storage. It’s a separate step from importing, so you can finish an import and delete nothing.

If clips do not appear

Check that the clips are in Blackmagic Camera’s own storage, not in Photos. Open Apple Devices and check that it sees the iPhone. Then plug the cable in again, unlock the iPhone and tap Trust.

If the disk fills up or a copy fails, keep the originals and fix that first. A file showing up in File Explorer isn’t enough to delete its clip. Wait for the app to mark it as imported.

Updates and data

Videos go only to the folder you picked. Thumbnails are cached in %LOCALAPPDATA%\Footage Ferry\Thumbnails, and the folder you picked is saved in %LOCALAPPDATA%\Footage Ferry\settings.json. The app doesn’t connect to the internet.

There’s no license key, and the app doesn’t update itself. Your Polar receipt always has the latest version. To update, download the new zip and replace the Footage Ferry folder.

The app isn’t made by Blackmagic Design, and it talks to the iPhone in a way Apple doesn’t document. If an update to iOS or to Apple Devices breaks it, look for a new version on your receipt.