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Image Capture: "Please unlock iPhone"

I'm trying to use Image Capture (iMac / OSX 10.9.5) to get some photos from my iPhone 5 (iOS 8.3). The phone is unlocked (in the sense of the screen being unlocked) and Image Capture displays a message "Please unlock <my phone>" and refuses to interact with the device any further. I tried the following things to no avail:

  • Rebooted both the phone and the computer
  • Entered the passcode in the phone again
  • Deleted all files in ~/Library/Preferences related to Image Capture

Any ideas how to work around this bug?

Posted on Jun 9, 2015 2:43 AM

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Posted on Jun 9, 2015 2:45 AM

Edit: I just fixed this by connecting with iPhoto instead of ImageCapture. I got a pop-up on the phone, asking to trust this computer. After that it worked with Image Capture again. This is hilarious, as I have been using these two devices together for years now. Maybe it'll save someone else some unnecessary anger.

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Jun 9, 2015 2:45 AM in response to Jürgen-Lorenz Simon

Edit: I just fixed this by connecting with iPhoto instead of ImageCapture. I got a pop-up on the phone, asking to trust this computer. After that it worked with Image Capture again. This is hilarious, as I have been using these two devices together for years now. Maybe it'll save someone else some unnecessary anger.

Sep 16, 2017 5:41 AM in response to Jürgen-Lorenz Simon

I have this problem since updating my iPhone to iOS 10 (my laptop still runs on OS X Lion).

I tried everything in this thread, I reseted my network settings too as a possible solution… nothing worked till I did that:

  • unplug your iDevice
  • quit any software communicating with your iDevice
  • delete all content of /var/db/lockdown folder (not the folder itself). Note these are hidden system files/folders
  • plug the iDevice back in
  • click “trust” your computer when prompt
  • reopen the app that didn’t respond previous time, in my case it was Image Capture

After those steps I was able to import my pics to my laptop.

I found this answer on another forum, would be nice to know if that solution works for others too!

Apr 16, 2017 2:29 PM in response to Schneb

I'm in the exact same boat. I know it's no longer a supported OS but my system overall works perfectly until there is some new release from Apple crippling a previous functionality. This Image Capture snafu is so **** infuriating. It was such an easy option and now it is a complete hassle, if you can get it to function at all. Having to reset network settings to be allowed to access my photos is unacceptable.

Aug 25, 2015 6:55 AM in response to Jürgen-Lorenz Simon

Not having iPhoto, I was at a loss for solving this problem until I looked at it from a different perspective. The key was to get the prompt for the iPhone to trust the computer to pop up.


Turn off iPhone.

Plug iPhone into computer.

Open iTunes.

Turn on iPhone.

iTunes should then prompt iPhone to trust the computer (instead of iPhone prompting).

Trust computer.

Finish by trusting computer on the iPhone prompt that follows.


The next time you attempt to use image capture or preview to ingest photos, you shouldn't have a problem.

Sep 26, 2016 11:50 AM in response to Jürgen-Lorenz Simon

Not sure why, but all these solutions listed in this thread unfortunately did not work for me. My issue was my phone was still 'locked' in image capture after entering my passcode and trusting the computer; iphoto also said it was locked, and itunes wouldn't even recognize my phone.


FIX - What did work was when I reset my network settings on my phone, then image capture and iphoto worked again. This works each time I plug my phone into my mac to back up my photos/videos:

iphone > settings > general > reset > reset network settings


I still have to figure out how to make itunes recognize my phone but that'll be a different post/forum search!

Image Capture: "Please unlock iPhone"

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