iPhone keeps disconnecting from Mac

Hmm... didn't last long. The next day both devices went back to disco/reco. Maybe I should opt for the public beta update. Really need the iPad as extra monitor/mini Cintiq on the road again for light traveling. Will look for a chance to update and see how far I get.

I've encountered this problem when I was developing my iOS app in Xcode and was going to make a new build. Tried to connect my iPad - it connected for a millisecond then disconnected. I've changed ports, rebooted iPad, nothing helped. And then I've turned off iPhone simulator that was launched from Xcode on my mac. After that iPad connected instantly. Wonder why simulator prevented my iPad connection :/

This worked for me. Thank you!

Le Thuc Minh Tien wrote:

i have same issue but i find the way to fix it. Try this:

tap Settings > General > Reset > Reset Location & Privacy. This will also reset your location and privacy settings. You can also untrust all computers by tapping Settings > General > Reset > Reset Network Settings on the ipad/iphone

hope you fix it!!

This actually worked. I can't believe it.
I tried multiple first party and third party cables. Everything worked fine with all my power adaptors and with my desktop PC. But when I connected my iPad Air 2 or iPhone SE to my MacBook Pro 15" 2015 it would just constantly connect and disconnect.

But, after your advice I tried pushing hard on the USB cable when connecting it, and then it worked as normal.

Every other USB peripherals I've used with this machine, including mice keyboards, flash drives, hard drives, and more have all worked without issue.

This is a really odd problem, and I can't imagine what is causing it.

I had this same issue for months. I noticed recently that it's been a while that my iTunes in macbook pro mid-15 retina has been asking me to update that. And i was ignoring.
I updated that and connected my iPhone with the macbook and its' been working fine since then.

After trying most of the solutions, multiple cables and ports with no luck. I think the problem might be a connection issue, I mean to say that if there isn't a good connection with all 30 pins this could be the cause of the issue. I resolved the issue by spraying the 30 pin port with electrical contact cleaner. Be careful when trying this solution as I have stuffed up a display by spraying it right next to the phone and the cleaning solution went into the device and ruined the screen. Just spray lightly from a 20 or 30 cm distance just so the solution contacts the 30 pin port. It worked for me and alleviated some major frustration. Good luck !

I'm using an iMAC 27" vintage 2014 and iTunes connects properly both to iPad Pro and iPhone 6: the problem is that the battery charging process in both iMAC USB sockets doesn't seem to be working. I am trying the iPAD pro now through the wall plug and Apple adaptor and new lightning connect and that is charging properly. So, data connection yes, but power connection... it would seem not. Do iMAC USB connections break down, or is there some software problem? Obviously, the lightning cable could be the problem, but I would like to know if there are precedents for the data-si charge-no phenomenon.

I don't know what's going on, naturally.

Some Apple certified cables or not certified cables work, some of them not, with my certain iPhone SE and my certain MacBook Air, more often on right USB port than the left.

Tried every solution posted here, no effect.

What's strange is that all cables works great with wall sockets, with other iOS devices and even with the same USB on Mac when Windows 10 is launched on my Mac through Boot Camp (so it's not a hardware problems), so I consider this a software problem, 100%. Very strange glitch of macOS

I used to have similar issue, but I later got to realize that if my Iphone 6 is not fully charged before connecting to any of the two USB ports of my Macbook Air, it keeps disconnecting. So just charge your Iphone fully and try connecting to the Macbook again.

Given that there's little in the way of official support here I'd recommend anyone who's still having this issue to head over here: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/ipad-keeps-connecting-disconnecting-from-ma c.1851453/#post-25257291

Settings > General > Reset > Reset Location & Privacy. This will reset your location and privacy settings and require you to set up a trust relationship with the PC/laptop again.

This fixed it for me (the issue was still there after an upgrade)

Thanks. Resetting Privacy and Location on iPhone seems to have fixed. Been dealing with this issue for months. About 75% of the time when I tried to charge my iPad or iPhone using my MacBook, it goes charging, not charging, charging not charging, every second back and forth. Seems like a bug to me. Tried different cables, USB ports.

Apple needs to address this, in my opinion, by at least displaying a popup to change whatever privacy/location setting is causing this.

Hi, I have this problem:

-My iPhone connects and disconnects when I connect it to a Macbook Pro 2015, via USB 3.0. But... only in my opened session. When I'm a guest user or before I start my session... it charges well. Connected to the wall it charges perfectly. Why is this happening? Anybody knows? I tried in my Windows Desktop PC and I have no issues, it works perfect. The problem is with the Macbook Pro.

I had this issue, reset privacy settings and voila! it worked again.

And then it stopped working and I've got to re-authorise everything again, which is a faff.

I'll lurk here until this gets answered because I effectively can't get videos off my phone without it, which is a real pain. I'm currently relying on Google Photos as a backup as the Photos.app just seems to now be redundant without being able to connect to the computer.

I did every step suggested in this threat without being successful. Yesterday I couldn't connect my iPhone to Macbook. But today morning, the phone could connect... I have no logic explanation, but the same happened before with a temporary solution. So it may happen again, since nobody (not even Apple's service) has an explanation.

I've got to notice that this problem is only when I'm logged in my administrator session in the Macbook Pro. In other systems my iPhone works perfectly: I tried it in Windows Pcs and had no issues. I can charge it in the wall. I also have no issues charging a Samsung Android Device with the Macbook pro!

It seems to be all about the iPhone and the configuration (automatic) of the Macbook.

Good luck everyone.

Device: Macbook Pro 15" Retina mid 2015.

Operative System: MacOS X High Sierra.

Phone: iPhone SE 64GB.

I can't belive after all these years NO ONE has ever figured out the fix. I DID figure it out though just yesterday, the REAL fix. It's NOT the cable, and it's NOT a software issue!

It's the 3-prong plug! I can't believe I didn't figure this out sooner and to think I have been a mac user for 10+ years. Haha! I have been using the two-prong (US standard) plug and I don't know, for some reason, the issue occurs when I am using the two-prong plug. It could be because of the 'ground' prong provides a more stable charge? I could be too sure as I am not an electrician, but my solution to switching to the 3-prong plug seemed to have worked for me.

Let me know if this fixed your issue too.