Q: Why does my iPhone 6 not show up in my computer when it's plugged in with the USB cable?

For me it won't recognize my phone if I have iTunes open (that takes precedence over seeing it as an external device). You also have to have taken pictures or video in the iTunes photo app.

Causes problems for me because sometimes my computer is streaming to AppleTV for someone else in the family when I would really like to be able to transfer the pictures and video off my phone.

I tried all the other suggestions in this thread then tried yours and it worked perfectly,

my iphone needed troubleshooting on my computer as it was missing a driver whatever that means!

i was starting to bang my head against a wall#

thanks

I find Apple products incredibly frustrating to work with.

At work we have over 200 users, and only 2 have iPhones as official corporate devices.

Dare I even mention out of the 4-5 incidents I have a month for mobile devices, 2 of those are always those 2 users?

Anyways I had to recover some pictures for some one from an iPhone 6. I fail to see why this should have taken me nearly an hour.

Windows, android. plug it in, there it is in my pc. Even a coworker who uses an iphone said it should show up in my computer.

I end up plugging it into a windows 7 laptop, freshly imaged and no software installed, and it worked there.

Oddly, if it's plugged into a machine with iTunes, then it isn't seen.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!  I've been reading support articles for over an hour with nothing working.  But your quick and easy fix solved the problem!!  Thanks to you, my iPhone will not be flushed down the toilet...today anyway. 

Pls go to control panel and under devices and printer you will see iphone as unrecognized device. Simple right click on device and simply remove and then reconnect your iphone. It will then appear in recognized list and you can use it. Itune will also detect it.

iOS devices do not appear on a computer like a connected hard disk might. If you have photos on your iPhone that were taken by the phone ootherwise were copied to the Camera Roll album in the Photos app you can copy them easily to your computer. Connect your iPhone to the computer:

If you are using a Mac start iPhoto or Image capture on the computer. Those applications will recognize your iPhone as a camera and allow you to copy photos to the computer. I prefer Image Capture.

If you have a PC start whatever Camera application you have on the PC. The PC will recognize the iPhone as a camera and allow you to copy photos from the Camera Roll.

I had the same issue - iPhone 6 used to show up in explorer, not any more. It was also not showing up in iTunes. Windows 7, 64 bit.

Turned out the issue was the cable I was using. The cable was a $5 cable from Five Below and it would charge the phone without issue, but it stopped working as a data connection to the computer. Switching the cables resolved my issue instantly and permanently.

Thank you, thank you, thank you johnnyb10021.   I deleted the expresso media and it worked.  You are a genius!!

Thanks johnnyb10021.  This solved my problem.  The exact name of the file is cyberlinkmediaespresso.  Thanks again.

Thanks a lot, sbgleason - your solution worked perfectly!

This worked Perfect! Thanks so much!!

I was having the same problem with my iPhone 5s after I reset it. It seems like I need to have some content (e.g. a picture) for the iPhone to show up in the computer. Once I took one picture and connected it, I see it come up on my Windows and Mac computers.

This worked for me too: Plug the phone into a PC that does not have iTunes installed if the machine WITH iTunes won't see it. I just replaced a Droid with an IPhone 6 and am getting used to a new machine, they all have their quirks and bugs.

I am using Windows 8 and here is how I fixed this issue for iPhone 6 Plus:

From Windows Explorer, right click on "This PC" --> Properties --> Device Manager. Under "Portable Devices," right click on the one that has error and choose "Uninstall." Disconnect the USB cable from iPhone and then re-connect it. The "Import Photos and Videos" Window should pop up. Go back to Windows Explorer and you should notice a drive with your iPhone user's name (may be your full name); this drive should be in front of your C: drive.

This worked for me: Turn off "Personal Hotspot" on the iPhone and then reconnect.

None of the other suggestions in this thread worked in my case. I also disabled BT and WF, but I think the problem was PH.(Of course, not all users will have a PH option.)