treefrog75

Q: How do I transfer photos from an iphone 4S to my PC?

Hi there,

 

My wife took a bunch of photos on her work iPhone 4S that I am struggling to transfer to my PC. Here are the things I have tried and failed:

 

  • using iTunes - iTunes apparently backed up the iPhone onto my hard drive, but I can't figure out where this is; there is no "Photo" option under the iPhone subheading in the list on the left hand side of the iTunes window; clicking the photos tab on the iPhone window in iTunes invites me to sync photos from itunes to the phone, but not from the phone to iTunes (there's my suggestion for the next iTunes upgrade!)
  • Using Windows Explorer - this method was recommended on numerous places I looked, but for me the iPhone never appears as an external drive on my PC... one place I looked at suggested that it may be necessary to turn off the passcode on the iPhone - apparently this is impossible because my wife's work IT people forbid it (I can see why, but where's the trust people?)
  • Using third party software... OK, I havent tried this... for three reasons:

 

  1. Are you out of your mind? I need third-party software for an iPhone to do what every digital camera and mobile phone I have ever owned has let me do on a plug-and-play basis - where's the seamless design rationale behind that?;
  2. I'd prefer not to pay for software to do what every digital camera and mobile phone I have ever owned has let me do for free; and
  3. Are you out of your mind?

 

I'm obviously making this more difficult than it needs to be - I'm sure there is some simple 6 second solution to resolve this that I've not thought of, because all the other file types - music etc I can move from device to device via iTunes with no problem. It just seems to be photos I'm struggling with. Is there an iTunes setting I'm missing? Maybe I need to look harder to where all this stuff backs-up (any info on that would be great), but in my experience these kind of back-ups rarely happenas a file-for-file mirror, but usually as some impenetrable consolidated fle that I lack the expertise to unzip.

 

For the moment we are emailing these files off the phone, but please don't expect me to believe that this is Apple's master plan for ease of use!!

 

I hope that this provides all the relevant info to solve the problem. I am completely aware that there is probably some really easy solution to this; I'm new to iPhones, so don't spare my blushes by holding back on the obvious!

 

Cheers.

iPhone 4S, Windows 7

Posted on Sep 22, 2012 4:00 AM

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Q: How do I transfer photos from an iphone 4S to my PC?

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  • by Chris CA,

    Chris CA Chris CA Oct 27, 2015 10:55 AM in response to mattis2
    Level 9 (79,646 points)
    iTunes
    Oct 27, 2015 10:55 AM in response to mattis2

    mattis2 wrote:

    Transferring files, photos, music or whatever, between your phone and your computer has always been pretty messy,

    No, it has been simple.

    as Apples obviously does not like it.

    What?

    Apple "likes" it just fine which is why they have implemented it.

    t's cheap and very effective and intuitive,

    But it s not free.

    and you can forget iCloud (which is not a cloud, just another computer)

    Wait a minute? It not a real raincloud? How would a real rain cloud help me transfer stuff?

    and iTunes that usually is crashing

    Why not fix the problem with your computer  rather than leaving your computer all buggy?

    I use Syncios for my iPhone 4s, 5s and my iPad.

    I use iTunes.

  • by mattis2,

    mattis2 mattis2 Oct 27, 2015 12:51 PM in response to Chris CA
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Oct 27, 2015 12:51 PM in response to Chris CA

    I'm a jazz musician (advanced amateur). Our band is doing some recording of what we are playing (mp3 files). Try to transfer that music into the phone by using iTunes.

    Why not let the iPhone come up as an external harddrive? It does that when you have taken some pictures with the phone. But what about  other kind of files? Syncios does exactly that, and you can transfer all kinds of files back and from the  iPhone and the PC. And I can afford 30 US dollars charge to avoid trouble.

     

    My computers are always in good shape (Windows 7/10). Why don't Apple make installation files that don't make computers to crash? When that's happening, you have to reinstall everything made by Apple and start all over again. Installing a new version of iTunes is a lottery.

     

    But my all means, have fun with your iTunes that probably is put together to protect Apples music and video files for being spread around, not servicing the customer. Apple has great products, but a serious downside is that you are locked in.

     

    Hans (Professor of Marketing)

     

    PS

    I don't like any "clouds", may be a rain cloud when it's dry. I don't like to have my files spread around in the world on computers where I have no control how my files are used/abused. Why all these clouds? They make money on them. How?

  • by Chris CA,

    Chris CA Chris CA Oct 27, 2015 3:22 PM in response to mattis2
    Level 9 (79,646 points)
    iTunes
    Oct 27, 2015 3:22 PM in response to mattis2

    mattis2 wrote:

    Hans (Professor of Marketing)

    Explains a lot.

  • by mattis2,

    mattis2 mattis2 Oct 27, 2015 3:41 PM in response to Chris CA
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Oct 27, 2015 3:41 PM in response to Chris CA

    I'm sure it helped you a lot. Fortunately it helped somebody else. Apple is smart, and one of the most valuable companies in the world. But sometimes they are too smart, for their own good. I have a Samsung S5 as well. There you can easily flip out the battery and replace it, and you can upgrade the storage by a cheap micro card. Why can't you do that on the iPhone? And they have their "Lightning" cable. Smart name on a cable that does not fit anything else. Customer friendly? No. Apple friendly, part of the lock in concept. Despite of that, I prefer the iPhone, as long as it lasts.

  • by RobinJohnson1988,

    RobinJohnson1988 RobinJohnson1988 Oct 28, 2015 8:46 PM in response to treefrog75
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 28, 2015 8:46 PM in response to treefrog75

    1. You can try to use cloud drive like Dropbox, One Drive. Upload your photos from iPhone to cloud and download on your Mac.

    2. Use iTunes to transfer photos from iPhone to Mac. Open iTunes > Connect your iPhone > Select your phone's icon in the Devices list on the left. Click the Photos tab. If you want to sync all your photos, enable the option for "All photos, albums, events, and faces."

    Import photos and videos from your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch to your computer - Apple Support

    3. Use iCloud. You can sync photos between iOS devices and PC/Mac easily.

  • by Chris CA,

    Chris CA Chris CA Oct 28, 2015 9:10 PM in response to RobinJohnson1988
    Level 9 (79,646 points)
    iTunes
    Oct 28, 2015 9:10 PM in response to RobinJohnson1988

    RobinJohnson1988 wrote:

    2. Use iTunes to transfer photos from iPhone to Mac.

    Except you cannot use iTunes to transfer photos from iPhone to Mac.

    You use the Photos app.

  • by Southern Boy94,

    Southern Boy94 Southern Boy94 Dec 29, 2015 4:16 PM in response to Chris CA
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 29, 2015 4:16 PM in response to Chris CA

    whenever i plug my iphone 4s into my pc it comes up if i trust this computer i click trust then it pulls up photos and says '' apple iphone there are no files or folders in this view'' i've tried everything and nothing will work. what else can i do?

  • by mattis2,

    mattis2 mattis2 Dec 30, 2015 1:32 AM in response to Southern Boy94
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Dec 30, 2015 1:32 AM in response to Southern Boy94

    If you have a PC (not a Mac), your phone should come up together with your C: drive etc without starting iTunes. However, iTunes has to be installed as iTunes includes the necessary driver so your computer can detect your phone. Try to reinstall iTunes. Before you do that, go to the Control Panel and delete everything that has to do with Apple, everything. Then restart and reinstall iTunes. iTunes can be used to transfer photo from your PC and to your phone, but not the other way. (See the extensive explanation of Mr. Chris CA).

  • by Tonyenfeld,

    Tonyenfeld Tonyenfeld Jan 31, 2016 1:57 AM in response to treefrog75
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 31, 2016 1:57 AM in response to treefrog75

    Transfer Photos from iPhone to PC:

    On a Windows PC the easiest way to get pictures from your iPhone is to just use Windows Explorer, but there’s two ways to go about this:

     

    Plugin your iPhone to the computer without iTunes running

    Wait for a popup asking you what you want to do with the device

    Select “View Content”

    Find your photos through the folders that are displayed

    Copy in Windows as usual

    If your iPhone is already plugged into your PC, you can try this method:

     

    Plugin your iPhone to your PC

    Open “My Computer”

    Find your iPhone, it will appear as any other camera would

    Open iPhone to find your Photos

    Select the pictures you want to copy to your computer and copy/paste them into the desired location on your PC

     

    Refer to this tutorial for more help:

    How to transfer iPhone photo from iPhone to PC

    How to transfer photo/picture from iPhone to Mac

     

    I may receive some form of compensation, financial or otherwise, from my recommendation or link.

     

    <Edited by Host>

  • by rennip,

    rennip rennip Feb 5, 2016 12:57 PM in response to Southern Boy94
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 5, 2016 12:57 PM in response to Southern Boy94

    I tried many of the suggestions here, tried all my USB slots on computer to no avail and then thought, try a different cable and hey presto it worked immediately. The cable I was using charged the phone fine but clearly was not 'good' enough for this operation.

     

    PS the clue for me that something may have been wrong with my cable was all the duct tape at both ends!

  • by mattis2,

    mattis2 mattis2 Feb 6, 2016 12:18 AM in response to rennip
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Feb 6, 2016 12:18 AM in response to rennip

    The first I would do is to replace the cable. As you say, even if it's charging your phone it might not be able to transfer pictures. Also be aware that some third party cables either don't work at all or just partly work. Apple has over time been more and more sophisticated to keep other providers out by having software that detects that you are not using a cable or a plug from Apple.

    As I have mentioned before: Be sure that you have the correct driver. The driver comes with iTunes. Reinstall iTunes by first deleting everything that has to do with Apple - like Quicktime etc etc, everything (none of your pictures or music will be deleted). Then restart the machine and reinstall iTunes. The duct tape doesn't sound good. Seems that somebody has tried to repair a broken cable.

  • by rennip,

    rennip rennip Feb 6, 2016 4:02 AM in response to mattis2
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 6, 2016 4:02 AM in response to mattis2

    ITunes is irrelevant in finding your iPhone as an external device in Windows Explorer, I had completely uninstalled iTunes.

     

    Duct tape is brilliant for mending cheap pseudo Apple cables, it was the cable itself that was useless.

  • by mattis2,

    mattis2 mattis2 Feb 6, 2016 4:53 AM in response to rennip
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Feb 6, 2016 4:53 AM in response to rennip

    I haven't tried to contact my phone to my PC without iTunes as I use iTunes for my Syncios Program and nothing else. Since you have a cable problem, it probably would not kill your budget to get an original one. Then you might save some duct tape as well.

  • by Tatarenko,

    Tatarenko Tatarenko Apr 1, 2016 2:50 AM in response to treefrog75
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Apr 1, 2016 2:50 AM in response to treefrog75

    Try to use http://drop2pc.com - very good thing for transfering photos.

  • by Duh-uh,

    Duh-uh Duh-uh Sep 27, 2016 7:00 AM in response to treefrog75
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Sep 27, 2016 7:00 AM in response to treefrog75

    did you ever get anything that worked?  I am having the same problem and it's driving me crazy.  seriously thinking of getting an Android.  I do have iTunes installed and have always had the issue with importing from phone to PC.  I just updated the driver, but still cannot upload the photos to my PC.  The driver did show the Photo button in iTunes, but cannot upload.  All I can do is SYNC pics on my computer to my phone, not the other way around.  Need a solution SOON. 

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