my MacBook Pro does not recognize my iPhone 4 when I connect with USB

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Level 1

2 points

my MacBook Pro does not recognize my iPhone 4 when I connect with USB

As the subject line says, when I connect my iPhone 4 to my MacBook Pro via the USB cable, it normaaaally opens iTunes and iPhoto automatically and syncs and imports photos from the phone. But, for some reason, that doesn't happen anymore... Now when I plug in my iPhone with the USB...nothing happens.

The USB still works as a power charger. I even tried a different newer iPhone USB cable from my friend's phone...same problem. I tried both USB ports.

I update my iPhone, my Mac, my itunes, my iphoto...everything. I reset everything at least a couple times. Still no luck!

I did a Disk Utility verify check...it found no problems, the volume 'appears to be ok.'

The iPhone still syncs with iTunes over WiFi, but unfortunately I can't back up my photos from my iPhone wirelessly (I don't have iCloud set up). I want to do it via USB.

Anyone out there with any advice on how to get my computer to recognize my iPhone?

THANK YOU!!!

iPhone 4, iOS 6.1

Posted on Jan 28, 2013 4:10 PM

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Answer 1

sberman

Level 10

263,751 points

Jan 28, 2013 4:24 PM in response to vwg

Here is the troubleshooting procedure:

iOS: Device not recognized in iTunes for Mac OS X

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Answer 2

vwg Author

Level 1

2 points

Jan 28, 2013 11:14 PM in response to sberman

thank you sberman, but unfortunately I did all of that. still no luck... 😟

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Answer 3

vwg Author

Level 1

2 points

Jan 29, 2013 11:51 AM in response to vwg

anyone else been able to fix this problem?

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Answer 4

vwg Author

Level 1

2 points

Jan 29, 2013 12:33 PM in response to vwg

Couple of updates:

The USB cord and the iphone itself work fine. It's something computer-side that isn't working. I know this because I plugged my iphone with my USB cord into a Windows computer I have....and that computer actually recognizes the phone.

Something about my macbook pro is not recognizing my iphone...but what?

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Answer 5

Ralph9430

Level 7

21,732 points

Jan 29, 2013 1:02 PM in response to vwg

Did you start iTunes manually? Do you have iTunes 11.0.1 (the current version) installed on your MacBook Pro?

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Answer 6

vwg Author

Level 1

2 points

Jan 29, 2013 8:53 PM in response to Ralph9430

Yup, everything is up to date--iTunes, the iPhone, everything. I've even tried installing it manually.

I made another important discovery--it's definitely a problem with the MacBook--either the hardware of the USB port, or something software-wise with my Mac OS X 10.6.8. I know this because I tried plugging a USB flash drive in, and it didn't recognize it.

So that's my problem--my USB ports don't recognize anything plugged into them.

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Answer 7

sberman

Level 10

263,751 points

Jan 29, 2013 9:01 PM in response to vwg

Here's the USB troubleshooter (at the bottom):

USB & FireWire Tips and Troubleshooting

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Answer 8

cjo_78

Level 1

0 points

May 25, 2013 11:38 AM in response to vwg

Did you ever find a solution to this? I'm having the same issue. It seems to be random but is becoming more frequent.

Sometimes after a minute or so my phone will start charging but neither Finder or iTunes can see it.

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Answer 9

Aug 5, 2013 6:25 AM in response to cjo_78

I'm having the same problem. It will charge but not appear in Finder, iTunes or iPhoto.
It was working perfectly last week and nothing has been updated or changed.

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Answer 10

Aug 7, 2013 8:48 AM in response to littlesparra

I was having a smiliar problem. All of a sudden, my mac stopped recognizing my iphone. After I tried to restart, I noticed that the login after restart was not mine. So, I re-logged in as myself and restarted again with my iphone plugged into the USB throughout the process. Upon opening iTunes after restart, my iphone was recognized and sync worked for me. Not sure if the last login has anything to do with iphone remembering it. But, following these steps did work for me.

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Answer 11

Jun 8, 2014 8:43 PM in response to vwg

Ive been struggling with this problem all day, I was trying to upload my pics and videos from my iPhone 4s (version IOS-7) and my computer didn't seem to recognize my phone. Well I finally gave up. My iphone was plugged into my computer via USB, and my iPhoto would not open up automatically like it always had before I updated to IOS-7.

As a last ditch effort I happened to open up my software updates in the apple icon. Lo and behold, once I agreed to update my iTunes app on my mac OSX 10.6.8, it opened my iTunes and a window popped open asking me to click on 'trust this computer'. I did that, and suddenly my iPhoto opened up and filled up with all of my iphone 4s (version IOS 7.1.1) pictures and videos! I could not find an answer anywhere online. I guess the trick is to manually open up iTunes before you attempt to upload pictures/videos from your iPhone into iPhoto.

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