How to Upload Photos to WordPress from Your iPhone Without Jetpack (2026)
I run about 20 self-hosted WordPress sites for clients. Not a single one has Jetpack installed. It's a fine plugin for some people, but for my use case it's too heavy, and I don't like connecting client sites to WordPress.com infrastructure when I don't have to.
The problem is that the official WordPress mobile app basically requires Jetpack if you want it to work with self-hosted sites. So for years, uploading photos from my iPhone to WordPress meant opening Safari, logging into the admin dashboard on a tiny screen, and praying the upload wouldn't time out halfway through.
I tried a lot of workarounds. Some were clever. Most were annoying. Here's what I learned.
Why Jetpack Keeps Coming Up
The WordPress mobile app uses the WordPress.com API under the hood. For WordPress.com sites, this works out of the box. For self-hosted sites, you need Jetpack to bridge the gap between your server and the WordPress.com API.
Without Jetpack, the app falls back to XML-RPC or the WordPress REST API. XML-RPC is disabled by many hosting providers for security reasons. The REST API works, but the app's support for it on self-hosted sites has always been flaky. Login fails, media doesn't sync, uploads hang. I've spent more time debugging this than I care to admit.
So if you don't want Jetpack, you need a different path entirely.
Option 1: Siri Shortcuts
Around 2023, a few developers published Siri Shortcuts that upload photos to WordPress using the REST API directly. The idea is neat: you select photos in the Photos app, run the shortcut, and it POSTs them to your site's /wp/v2/media endpoint.
I tried this. It works, technically. But "technically works" and "works well" are very different things.
The setup takes 15 to 20 minutes if you know what you're doing. You need to create a WordPress application password, find your REST API base URL, and paste both into the shortcut's configuration. If your site uses a non-standard permalink structure or has a security plugin that modifies REST API access, expect to spend another hour figuring out why it's returning 401 errors.
Once configured, the shortcut uploads one photo at a time in a loop. There's no progress indicator other than a spinning wheel. If one upload fails (and they do fail, especially on cellular), the whole shortcut stops. No retry. You have to figure out which photos made it and which didn't, then run it again with the remaining ones.
The worst part: Siri Shortcuts break. Apple changes the Shortcuts runtime between iOS versions, and these community-made shortcuts aren't actively maintained. The one I was using stopped working after iOS 18.2 and nobody has fixed it.
If you're a tinkerer who enjoys this kind of thing, go for it. For regular use, I can't recommend it.
Option 2: Mobile Browser Upload
This is the brute-force method. Open Safari, go to yoursite.com/wp-admin, log in, navigate to Media, tap "Add New," and select your photos.
No Jetpack needed. No extra apps. It works with any WordPress site.
It also takes forever. The WordPress admin wasn't designed for phones. Buttons are tiny. The upload progress indicator is almost invisible. And if your screen locks during a 15-photo upload, Safari kills the connection. You start over.
I used this method for three years. Consistently frustrating. The admin dashboard on an iPhone screen feels like trying to use a desktop app through a keyhole. You can do it, but you'll be annoyed every time.
For a single photo, it's fine. For five or more, look elsewhere.
Option 3: SnapPress (What I Actually Use)
This is where I should be transparent: I built SnapPress because the other options frustrated me enough to write an app.
The idea is simple. Install a small plugin (SnapPress Connect) on your WordPress site. It generates a QR code. Scan it with the SnapPress app on your iPhone. Done. Your site is connected.
From there, pick up to 20 photos and tap upload. They go directly to your Media Library through the WordPress REST API. No Jetpack. No WordPress.com account. No XML-RPC. Just HTTPS and application passwords.
The part that saves me the most time is the Share Extension. I can select photos in the Photos app, tap Share, choose SnapPress, and they upload without me ever opening the app itself. For someone who uploads photos to client sites multiple times a week, this cut my workflow from 10 minutes per batch to under 60 seconds.
Setup takes about 90 seconds
- Install SnapPress Connect from the WordPress Plugin Directory.
- Go to Tools > SnapPress Connect in your dashboard.
- Click "Generate QR Code with One Tap."
- Scan the QR code with the SnapPress app.
That's literally it. The plugin creates an application password automatically, encodes your site URL and credentials into the QR code, and the app stores everything in your iPhone's Keychain. You never type a password on a phone keyboard.
What it doesn't do
SnapPress uploads to the Media Library only. It doesn't create posts or pages. If you need a full site management tool on your phone, the WordPress app (with Jetpack) is better for that. SnapPress solves one problem: getting photos from your phone to your WordPress site fast, without Jetpack.
It costs $2.99, one-time purchase. No subscription.
Comparison
| Siri Shortcuts | Mobile Browser | SnapPress | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Requires Jetpack | No | No | No |
| Setup time | 15-20 min | None | ~90 sec |
| Batch upload | Sequential (fragile) | Yes (slow) | Parallel (up to 20) |
| Share Extension | Sort of | No | Yes |
| Breaks between iOS updates | Often | No | No |
| Cost | Free | Free | $2.99 |
The Real Issue
WordPress's mobile story has always been "install Jetpack." For WordPress.com users, that's fine. For the rest of us running self-hosted sites with specific security requirements, performance budgets, or just a preference for fewer plugins, that answer has never been good enough.
The REST API has been in WordPress core since version 4.7. Application passwords landed in 5.6. The pieces for a Jetpack-free mobile upload experience have been there for years. It just took a while for someone to build the app.
If you're in the same boat (self-hosted, no Jetpack, need to upload photos from your phone), give SnapPress a try. It's the tool I built for myself, and it turns out other people needed it too.