How AutoButler Works

AutoButler is a small device that sits on your home network and stores your files on hard drives you own. Nothing leaves your house.

Here's what that looks like.

Your files, your network

Every device on your home WiFi can access AutoButler. Your files are stored on the hard drive you plug in — not on Google's servers, not on Apple's servers, not anywhere else.

How this is different from iCloud or Google Photos

With cloud storage, your photos and files travel over the internet to a server you don't own. Every photo you take, every document you save — it all goes to someone else's computer first.

With AutoButler, your files go straight to a device sitting in your home. You own the hardware, you own the data.

Accessing from outside your home (coming soon)

We're adding the ability to access your files from anywhere — at work, traveling, or on your phone's data connection.

When you set up AutoButler, your phone and your device establish a private, encrypted tunnel between them. This happens automatically — you don't need to configure anything.

The coordination server only helps your phone and your AutoButler find each other. Once they're connected, all your actual data travels directly between them — encrypted, and never passing through our servers.

Think of it like FaceTime — Apple helps your devices find each other, but your actual call goes directly between them.

What AutoButler stores

When you plug a drive into AutoButler, it organizes your files into a simple structure:

• Photos & Videos — Synced from your phone or uploaded from your computer. Organized by date, easy to browse.
• Documents — PDFs, spreadsheets, notes — anything you want to keep safe on your own hardware.
• Backups — Back up one drive to another with a single tap, so you always have a second copy.
• Books & Media — Read EPUBs, watch videos, and browse your files from any device on your network.

Everything is stored in plain folders on your drive. No proprietary format, no lock-in. If you ever want to unplug and move to something else, your files are just files.