Take the following steps to transfer photos from your iPhone to an external hard drive on Mac; Step 1: Connect your external hard drive to your Mac Firstly, you need to connect the hard drive to your Mac and ensure it shows up in the finder’s sidebar. We explain 7 simple ways to transfer photos and video from an iPhone to a Mac. Find out how to use iCloud photos, Photo Stream, iCloud Files, Messages, Airdrop and more to import photos to your Mac.
Part 2. How to Fix My iPhone won’t connect to Mac
The following are 5 of the most effective solutions to an iPhone that won’t connect to the Mac. Try each one individually until your situation is fixed.
1. Restart both the Device and the Computer
It is an easy and effective solution. Simply reboot the computer and the iPhone and then try reconnecting. If that doesn’t work, try the next solution.
2. Update your Software
Old software can cause connection issues. This is especially true when you try to connect a newer iPhone model to an older Mac or PC. Updating both your iOS and iTunes could fix the problem. Here’s how to update iTunes on your Mac.
Click “iTunes” on the Apple Menu bar and then click “Check for Updates”. If there is one, you should make sure that your iPhone is disconnected before installing the update. Restart the Mac and then restart the computer.
If you are running iOS 9, please note that the device will only sync with iTunes v12.3 which can only be installed on Macs running OSX 10.8 or newer.
3. Check your Apple ID
You may be having difficulty syncing content that you’ve purchased (such as music) if you are not signed in to iTunes using the correct Apple ID.
This is easily solved, simply select “Store” and then “Sign in” to log in to your iTunes account. If you are already signed in, please make sure that it is with the correct account.
If the computer is not authorized for use with your account, click on “Store” from the menu bar and then click on “Authorize this computer”. Sign in with your Apple ID when requested and the problem should be fixed.
4. Manually Reset your Privacy and Location Permissions
If you are trying to connect to a computer you have never used before and have accidentally hit “Don’t trust” when you saw the request popup, iTunes may fail to recognize the device. In this case, all you have to do is disconnect the iPhone to the computer and reconnect again to see if the popup request shows up again. If it doesn’t, you can reset permissions manually like this.
Step 1. Open the Settings app on your iPhone and tap on General.
Step 2. Tap “Reset” and then choose “Reset Location & Privacy”.
Step 3. Enter your passcode and then tap “Reset Settings” and you will see the prompt again when you connect the iPhone.
5. Reinstall iTunes
If all else fails, you may need to consider reinstalling iTunes. But you need to first of all remove the old version from the Mac. Here’s how to do it.
Step 1. Open “Finder” and the navigate to the “Applications” folder.
Step 2. Right click on iTunes and select “Get Info”.
Step 3. Click on the padlock icon at the bottom right corner and enter your admin password when prompted.
Step 4. In the “Sharing and Permissions” section, under “Everyone” change to “Read & Write” and close the iTunes info window.
You will now be able to simply drag iTunes from the Applications folder to the trash to uninstall it. Once it’s uninstalled, head on over to the Apple Website and install the latest version.
Don’t know how to AirDrop photos, videos and more other files from iPhone to Mac? This guide will tell you how to make it with AirDrop and an AirDrop alternative, also share solutions for common AirDrop problems you may meet.
iPhone Transfer Tips
Transfer from iPhone
Transfer To iPhone
Airdrop Tips
AirDrop is a service that Apple added to iOS and Mac devices to share files since iOS 7 and Mac OS X lion (10/7). By using Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, AirDrop enables you to transfer files from iPhone to Mac in a wireless way. This post tells you how to use AirDrop and an AirDrop alternative to transfer files from iPhone to Mac, including all the models of Mac computer such as iMac, Mac Pro, Mac mini, MacBook, MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, etc. Meanwhile, this post also provides you solutions for some common problems you may meet when using AirDrop. Let’s see in 3 parts.
Part 1: How to AirDrop from iPhone to Mac Directly
Normally, it is pretty simple to share files from iPhone to Mac after turning on AirDrop on both of your iPhone and Mac computer. Follow the steps below to see how to turn on AirDrop on Mac/MacBook/iMac/iPhone and then AirDrop iPhone to Mac.
Step 1. Turn on AirDrop on Mac
First of all, you should turn on AirDrop on Mac computer. Well, how to turn on AirDrop on Mac/MacBook/iMac? Turn on Wi-Fi. Open a Finder window and choose “AirDrop” from the sidebar > Check the box of “Allow me to be discovered by:”. > Select either “Everyone” or “Contacts Only”. Please note that always keep the Finder window open as it enables AirDrop.
How to AirDrop iPhone to Mac – Turn on AirDrop on Mac
Step 2. Turn on AirDrop on iPhone
Generally speaking, AirDrop would be automatically turned on if you have turned on your Bluetooth and Wi-Fi on your iPhone. If not, you can turn on AirDrop on iPhone’s Control Center. Some users reported that AirDrop is missing on iOS 11, actually, it still there. Here are detailed steps to turn on it:
![Cannot Download Photos From Iphone To Mac Cannot Download Photos From Iphone To Mac](/uploads/1/2/4/8/124820999/868611176.jpg)
- Sweep up from the bottom of your iPhone’s screen to open Control Center.
- Long press the square as we show. Then a window will pop up. Tap on AirDrop to turn it on.
- Select Only Contacts or Everyone.
How to AirDrop from iPhone to Mac – Turn on AirDrop on iPhone
![Can Can](/uploads/1/2/4/8/124820999/619858217.jpg)
Step 3. AirDrop iPhone to Mac
- Wait a few seconds then the Mac with AirDrop enabled will appear in the list.
- Tap on that Mac/User ID to immediately start sending data to the Mac.
Part 2: How to Share Files from iPhone to Mac via AirDrop Alternative
The file types that you can share from iPhone to Mac computer via AirDrop are limited. AirDrop only supports sharing photos, videos, and locations. What’s more, it only supports sharing one type of data at once, and both your iPhone and Computer need to have the feature of AirDrop, however, not all iPhones support it.
Therefore, if you want to share data like music, contacts, notes, videos, ringtones and more from iPhone to Mac at the same time, here is a better option – using – AnyTrans, which allows you to transfer or backup iOS contents from iPhone to computer and also fitted with other features like:
1. It supports transferring almost all kinds of data from iPhone to computer, like music, contacts, photos, live photos, videos, notes, ringtones, messages and so on. And, the vice versa, that is to say you can use it to sync or transfer data from computer to iPhone without iTunes.
2. Besides transferring data from iPhone to computer, AnyTrans also supports transferring data between iOS devices, between iOS device and iTunes Library, from iOS device to iCloud, between computer and iCloud, and even from Android to iOS.
3. It transfers data with fast speed. It would only take 5 minutes to transfer 3000 photos with original resolution. It is developed by an Apple certificated developer and also Norton and McAfee secured, which means there is no risk of information leakage.
4. It is easy to operate. Both of basic and advanced users can use it without any problem. It works well on both Mac and PC computer, and supports all iPhones, iPads and iPods.
Now, download AnyTrans and follow steps below to share files from iPhone to Mac.
Step 1. Install AnyTrans on your Mac computer and connect your iPhone with USB cable > Select the option that says Content to PC.
Transfer Data from iPhone to Computer with AnyTrans – Step 1
Step 2. There are many types of data you can choose. Check the file categories you want to transfer > Click the Next button to start transferring.
Transfer Data from iPhone to Computer with AnyTrans – Step 2
Then you can open the export folder to check these photos.
As you can see, you can also use this AirDrop alternative to share photos or other data from iPhone to another iOS device, to iCloud directly.
If you want to do that, here are some articles can help you make it with ease:
Part 3: Problems You May Meet When Using AirDrop
There are some problems that you may encounter when you AirDrop from iPhone to MacBook, including AirDrop not showing up in Control Center, can’t AirDrop music, Mac can’t find iPhone and so on. If you encounter one of them, please keep reading, you can find the solution.
1. AirDrop not showing up in Control Center.
Some iPhone/iPad users reported that they couldn’t find AirDrop in Control center. Actually, it’s just a common issue that can be easily fixed. Just got to Settings app and find Restrictions item to allow AirDrop service running on your iPhone.
2. AirDrop not showing up in finder.
There are only specific Mac models that could be compatible to use AirDrop. If AirDrop doesn’t show up in finder, maybe it is the Mac you have is not compatible with AirDrop. Below is the list of Mac models which support AirDrop.
MacBook Pro (Late 2008 or newer), MacBook Air (Late 2010 or Newer), MacBook (Late 2008 or newer, iMac (Early 2009 or newer), Mac mini (Mid 2010 or newer), Mac Pro (Early 2009 with Airport Extreme card or Mid 2010).
As for other Mac computers, as long as the Mac is vaguely modern with a somewhat recent Mac OS or Mac OS X release that has Bluetooth, AirDrop works just fine without hassle.
3. Mac can’t find iPhone.
If Mac can’t find iPhone, please try to restart both devices. If not working, then make sure AirDrop is set to “Everyone” instead of “Contacts Only”.
4. Can’t AirDrop Music.
This is one problem that you cannot solve because Apple doesn’t allow you to share music directly from iPhone to another place via AirDrop. The file types that you can share via AirDrop are limited actually. AirDrop only supports sharing photos, videos, locations, under this circumstances, you can use a professional transfer tool, such as AnyTrans – transfer 20+ file types.
5. Some other problems.
You may drop into some other troubles when using AirDrop. You can read our previous post, AirDrop Not Working, which shows you some basic tips to fix issue of AirDrop not working on your iPhone.
The Bottom Line
That’s all for how to AirDrop from iPhone to Mac and the introduction of an AirDrop alternative – AnyTrans. If you find this post helps, please give this article a like or share it with others. At last, don’t forget to download it to have a try. It won’t let you done.
Cannot Download Photos From Iphone To Macbook Air
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