PicHaven Beta
Your photos, safe at home – automatic backup from your Android phone to your own PC. No cloud, no account.
PicHaven has two halves: a small app on your PC that receives the photos, and an app on your phone that sends them – over your home Wi-Fi only. Set it up once by scanning a QR code, and every new photo lands on your PC by itself, byte-identical and verified. Nothing is ever deleted, on either side.
Getting started
- Install PicHaven on the PC the photos should go to:
Download for Windows (beta) - The setup wizard asks for a target folder and then shows a QR code.
- Scan the QR code with your phone’s camera – it takes you to the install page for the phone app. Install it, scan the code once more, confirm – done.
Windows warns? The beta installer is not code-signed yet. When SmartScreen appears, choose “More info” → “Run anyway”.
Android warns? The beta comes straight from us, not from Google Play. Android asks once to allow the install – that’s expected.
Important: when Android asks about photo access, choose “Allow all”. With “Select photos” the backup would only cover a hand-picked few.
What to expect from the beta
- The PC app updates itself. The phone app doesn’t yet – for a new version, download the APK again from this site (your pairing survives updates). Beta versions expire about 3 months after release and then ask you to update.
- Windows 10/11 today; macOS is planned. iPhone is not (Apple doesn’t hand out originals the way we need them).
- The beta has no file limit. The finished version will back up 500 files for free, with a one-time purchase for unlimited backup – no subscription.
- Everything stays in your home network: no cloud, no account, no tracking. Details in the privacy policy.
Found something? Tell us!
Every observation helps, even “this felt confusing”. Write to [email protected] – ideally with what you did, what you expected, and what happened instead. In the phone app, the ⋮ menu has “Diagnostics → Share log”, which attaches a helpful log (it contains no photos).