How can I transfer photos from my broken iphone 4 to my laptop?

No. Not unless you did one of the following in the past:

• Enabled iCloud photos on the phone
• Installed Google Photos on the phone, which would have automatically backed them up
• Installed upthere.com on the phone, which also would have automatically backed them up
• Installed dropbox, box.com, or shutterfly (or similar) apps on the phone
• Backed up the phone to iCloud
• Backed up the phone to a computer, then backed up that computer to an external drive or a cloud-based backup service such as Carbonite or Livedrive

There are probably a few other methods that I have missed. BTW, I use four of these to protect my valuable photos.

Here are some ways:

iOS: Importing personal photos and videos from iOS devices to your computer

Based on OP's post, his screen is practically unusable. I just finished reading the pages under the link you provided. Your reply was absolutely unhelpful. Nothing under that link provided a method of copy photos from the phone without the need of access to the phone's screen.

I guess that you are aware, that the post is more than 2 years old. If the link I provided would have been "absolutely unhelpful", the OP would probably have asked for other ways to save the photos.

Doubtful. The underlying post has not changed since you linked it.

If the OP had been importing photos to their phone in the past, it would have worked without having to access the screen. Once you have trusted the device, which is something that has to be done with the latest iOS, the trust remains in place for the phone and computer. It would not, however, worked if this was a computer the phone had not been connected to in the past.

You would still need to enter the passcode on the device for the computer to be able to talk to the phone, regardless of whether or not the phone had a previously accepted trust dialog.

And why would that be? I can import photos all day long without having to unlock my phone, so long as I'm using the computer that I always sync and import photos with. The same with creating a backup and syncing the device with iTunes.

MMost people have a passcode lock on the phone

I have a passcode lock on my phone, and I am NEVER prompted to enter a passcode or unlock it with Touch ID when I sync my phone to iTunes or download photos from it. If the phone has been "trusted" by iTunes in the past a passcode is not required on the phone unless an incorrect passcode was the last thing entered on the phone.

mendonipadrehab wrote:

MMost people have a passcode lock on the phone

I realize that, and as I said, I do as well. That still does not address the comment made.

If you regularly use your phone and regularly back up the phone you probably won't notice. The trust certificate expires after about a week and the phone will require a passcode after things like battery fully discharging or after a period of time since it has been entered. Also, cracked/damaged screens often "ghost touch" and enter the wrong passcode. For most cases, by the time someone gets to the point of reaching out for help for backing up a phone, they will be required to enter the passcode.

Okay, I agree with the damaged screen issue, as I have read and responded to a number of threads that have users that are using their regular computer and if the screen is damaged, they are prompted for a passcode before trying to do anything, be it import photos or attempt to backup/sync.

I'm not sure about the expiration, as I was out of town for a week and did not backup/sync or import photos on my device. When I returned home I connected to my computer and after selecting the device just clicked on sync and everything worked just fine. So, the original statement that you made about the requirement to enter the passcode is conditional, not an all time standard.

This is the first time that I am connecting to our new laptop...my iPhone screen is trashed so there is no way to enter in the pass code. Is there any way to access the photos?

That won't do any good for any of these posters, as they have broken screens, or locked devices.