RollTogether

RollTogether Support

RollTogether compares camera rolls with someone nearby, shows which photos each of you is missing, and sends only the ones you choose, directly from one iPhone to the other. No accounts, no servers, no cloud.

What you need

  • Two iPhones running iOS 18 or later, in the same room.
  • RollTogether open and in the foreground on both. The connection pauses when either app goes to the background.
  • Wi-Fi and Bluetooth switched on. You do not need to be on a Wi-Fi network, and you do not need an internet connection.
  • Photos access (Full or Limited) and Local Network permission, both asked for the first time they are needed.

Getting started

  1. Open RollTogether on both iPhones and tap Let’s Compare on both.
  2. Each iPhone appears on the other’s screen. Tap the other iPhone on either one.
  3. Both iPhones show the same six-digit code. Check that they match, then tap Codes Match on both. You only do this once per pair of iPhones; next time, tap the iPhone under Recent on Home while the other person opens Find.
  4. The person who invited picks what to compare: a date range, a preset, a year, or a place. Compare says how many photos it covers. The other iPhone starts automatically, except for very large ranges and places, which it asks about first.
  5. Results shows three numbers. The amber card is how many of your photos they are missing; tap it to open a gallery of those photos, choose some, and tap Send. “You’re Missing” is a count only. The other person decides what to send you.
  6. When photos arrive, accept them from the card at the bottom of the screen. They land in your Photos library and in a RollTogether album, grouped by transfer and headed by who sent them.

If something is not working

The other iPhone does not appear on the Find screen

  • Make sure both iPhones are on the Find screen with the app in the foreground.
  • Check that Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are on.
  • Check Local Network permission: Settings > Privacy & Security > Local Network > RollTogether. If iOS refused to start discovery, the Find screen says which half failed and offers Open Settings.
  • Some hotel, campus, and guest networks keep devices from seeing each other. Disconnect both iPhones from that Wi-Fi network but leave Wi-Fi on; the iPhones can find each other directly.

The other iPhone appears twice

One of the two is left over from the last time that iPhone ran the app and was closed without warning, and it answers nothing. Tap the other one. If you tapped the leftover, the Find screen says so after half a minute; the leftover goes away on its own.

“Could not connect” after tapping

Both iPhones return to the Find screen. Tap once more, on one iPhone only. If it keeps happening, take both iPhones off the Wi-Fi network but leave Wi-Fi on, and make sure neither has Personal Hotspot on.

The codes do not match

Tap Cancel on both and connect again. Matching codes are what guarantee no third device sits between you, so never tap Codes Match on codes that differ.

Results says some photos could not be compared

Photos whose originals are only in iCloud are set aside rather than blocking the comparison. Tap Download & Include on Results to download them and compare again; everything already compared is instant.

A transfer stopped partway

Both apps must stay in the foreground. If the connection was lost, connect again and compare again: photos that already arrived match and drop out of the missing set, so Select All offers exactly what is still missing.

Transfers are slow

Photos travel by the fastest route the two iPhones can establish. On networks that isolate devices from each other, they fall back to a slower path. Disconnecting both from that Wi-Fi network while leaving Wi-Fi on usually helps. On supported iPhones, Fast Transfers in Settings offers to pair the two iPhones once in iOS so transfers skip the network entirely.

Photos I received are not counted in a later comparison

Received photos take part when they fall inside the dates being compared and, under Limited Photos access, when they are in the photos you allowed the app to see.

Settings you may want

  • Your name on other iPhones: Settings > This iPhone > Name. This name is visible to nearby iPhones running RollTogether while you are on the Find screen.
  • Compare how photos look: Settings > Privacy. Lets the app recognize the same picture at a different quality and flag which copy is better. Switching it off on either iPhone switches it off for both.
  • Send options: Settings > Sending, or Options on the gallery’s send bar. All Photos Data sends originals with their edits; Include Location can be switched off to strip GPS and place names from everything you send.
  • Forget an iPhone: Settings > Devices, swipe the row, tap Forget. This erases everything the app remembers about that iPhone, including the pairing key and which photos you chose not to send it.
  • Fast Transfers pairing: the pairing itself is made by iOS and is removed in iOS Settings, not in the app.
  • Send Feedback: Settings > About. Opens an email to the developer in your mail app. You can choose to include a connection log, which helps with connection problems; the names of other iPhones are removed from it.

Questions people ask

Can the other person see my photos? No. A comparison works on blinded fingerprints and counts, never on the photos themselves. The other person learns how many photos they are missing, never which ones. The only photos that cross are the ones you select and send.

Does it need the internet? No. Comparing and transferring work with no network at all. The one feature that uses the internet is naming a place when you narrow a comparison to one.

What does it compare? Photos, videos, and Live Photos in your own library. Hidden and Recently Deleted items are never included, and photos synced from a computer or belonging to a shared album are left out because they cannot be sent.

My friend has the same photo as a WhatsApp forward. Does it count as missing? With “Compare how photos look” on for both of you, the app recognizes it as the same picture and marks your copy as the better one, so you can send it; it also sets aside your own worse copies so you do not offer those.

What happens to edited photos? By default an edited photo arrives looking edited, as a plain photo. Turn on All Photos Data to send the original with its edits so the other person can keep editing.

Contact

support@getrolltogether.app

When writing about a problem, say which iPhones and iOS versions were involved, what the screen said, and whether the two iPhones were on the same Wi-Fi network. The app’s version is in Settings > About.