iPhone connects and disconnects from Mac

thisisyouranswer was the answer I needed. It was hard to get to with the phone grabbing iphoto over and over but I got it eventually

I think I found a solution after much research.

On the mac, go to settings>Network> iphone USB> then uncheck the box that says "Disable unless needed"

This worked for my iphone 7

I hope this helps!

You will not believe me, but I noticed that when my phone has more than 60% of the battery charge this problem is not exists anymore ... it's very strange, I checked several times ...

Waiting for a new cable for the dough.

If you use multiple desktops with one desktop handling photos (ImageCapture), and another desktop handling iTunes, the madness that ensues is impossible to reconcile, because the macbook pro jumps from one desktop to the other while you are trying to accept a trusted connection, and the iPhone is doing its thing - connecting and disconnecting.

Apart from the very poor/weak management of multiple desktops in OSX (vs Linux), this situation can drive you insane.

The solution is to make sure iTunes is not running when you connect your iPhone - and be on the same desktop as ImageCapture will be when it automatically starts. When you connect your iPhone remove (swipe away) all active apps so that when you get the message to 'trust' this computer you can answer it.

For me this failure to connect occurred when I must have changed from the Wifi to LAN (via thunderbolt) connection. If I changed USB port and set WiFi ON it connected without a problem. But I got curious as to why I could not connect with the first USB port, and the above solution evolved.

This said, I do not agree that Apple should be able to make changes that remove the trust that is already established between devices. It is careless and arrogant behavior to allow customers to be left stranded. The more IT savvy will be able to solve this without resorting to the 'Genius Assistants' in the shops.

I had issues connecting my new (to me) iphone XS to my macbook pro running High Sierra (becasue I love how solid it runs). None of teh suggestions helped so I manually downloaded and reinstalled iTunes and when I did it told me I needed an extra update to make my iphone work with it. Suddenly everything started working. You can manually download iTines here - https://support.apple.com/kb/dl1977?locale=en_GB

This error means something went wrong while establishing the connection between the Mac and the iPhone. These suggestions are largely useless - a lot of things could have gone wrong, and things like restarting the Phone or changing the cable won't fix any of them. This has happened to me twice over the past few weeks - it turned out there was a corrupted file that caused the problem. Deleting the file let the phone sync again. I don't know what the implications are for my music library - I'm a recents switcher from Android, and haven't synced anything yet. In any event, I can't think of an excuse for Apple not to have fixed this in the 10 years since it was first reported here: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4474508?page=3

Or if not fixed, at least provide enough information to correctly diagnose the problem - I'm sure this corrupted file isn't the only cause. These reboot the machine / replace the cable / reset the phone suggestions are frankly insulting, and the reason a lot of users stopped using Windows years ago. No reason to recreate the same useless support environment for Apple products.

I feel a little silly to report that ...

• I only tried two different Lightning-USB cables to connect between my iPhone XR and my late mid 2015 MacBook Pro (and the problem remained)
• third time lucky, a legit RCA cable works just fine !!! :-)

So far, the connection works fine, I had no need to apply any other solutions mentioned in this discussion topic.

I wish a simple solution like mine would work for all of you. Good luck and don't give up !

Bronco

This is a notorious issue. I have faced it multiple times on my iPhone.

Troubleshooting steps range from killing a Mac process to resetting your iPhone. Faulty cables and lightning port could be the culprit.

I found success after following the below steps- 

1. Check cables and ports. 
2. Reset iPhone Location & Privacy Settings.
3. Change Finder Preferences.
4. Restart the USBD process by heading over to Activity Monitor (This fixed iPhone disconnected with Mac issue for me.)
5. Reset SMC/NVRAM on Mac. 
6. Create a new admin account on Mac. 

Let me know if you were able to fix this issue. 

In depth information:- iPhone keeps disconnecting from Mac? 7 Fixes

sudo killall -STOP -c usbd

That's worked for me!

Hey guys,

I wrote a small .sh file (a .command, really) to address this issue. It works great. See here:

https://gist.github.com/osfunapps/bf5ced177302e13fd2a2fa387773b7fd

Thanks,

Oz.

Not that everyone will find the same solution I did (there seem to be many things that cause this), but here's the problem I had: I wasn't using an official APPLE charging cable.

The cable works fine with the block charger, it works fine in my car, it works fine on my PC laptop. But it will NOT work with my MacBook Air. It seems Apple has decided to detect if the cable is an official Apple cable, and choose to keep disconnecting it if it's not. To test my theory, I tried aftermarket cables by major manufacturers (not cheap eBay or Amazon cables). All had the same result - they work everywhere EXCEPT my MacBook Air. I used the original cable, and no issues. Must be nice to lock people out of their devices' features if you opt to use something made by another manufacturer in the chain.

I tried all the helpful hints left here:

1) Used an original Apple cable

2) Tried to sync only when my iphone battery was > 80%

3) Reset privacy and location settings

4) Changed network settings on the laptop as suggested (USB and Thunderbolt)

5) Rest my phone completely

6) Reset PRAM and SMC on the computer

Guess what? the problem still persists. I never thought I'd say this but I'm fed up of my iphone now. It seems that the people at Apple are not even listening to its customers anymore. This problem has persisted since 2013 but no solution till date.

Geez. Reading through all comments and trying all things. ((I've already experienced my iPhone8s working well with a cable and then at work, it won't charge with the same cable while other people could. Something funky there already.))

My brand new Air was connect/disconnecting repeatedly when I plugged in my iPhone. (1 cable played dead the whole time.) I tried an Anker, Amazon and old Apple cable with no luck. A Belkin cable was the one that allowed me to break through the on/off cycling. ((Battery on phone is 51%, but doubting that matters.))

Now going to try to muck with iTunes settings now that my phone is actually connected. smh

@apple won't fix it because it's coding they put on purpose to sell more phones. The coding affects the charging cycle and adds the count of your charging cycle. so not only does it damage your battery but it also affects your cycle count to void your warranty. This code is not accidental!!! I've used Apple for about 20 years now (before they were main stream). They have sold out. They more and more are obviously focusing on the all mighty dollar and raping their loyal followers. Shame on you Apple, I'd ask how you sleep but this is nothing compared to the slave labour and it's easy to sleep in beautiful homes that our money pays for.

The same thing happened to me just yesterday. However, I found that the problem "fixed" itself by simply accessing my network settings without changing anything. Very strange. I guess this very loosely validates the quantum Hawthorne effect of "observe a system and change it".