So, you’re iPhone won’t connect to Windows by USB. No matter what you try.
- You’ve Googled until you’ve nearly crashed their servers. You have tried everything and anything to get it to work.
- You’ve rebooted the PC multiple times as well as the phone.
- You’ve disabled/enabled/re-installed all sorts of things
- You tried multiple cables.
- The phone charges off the USB bit STILL the damn thing isn’t seen by the PC
- Other USB equipment, (even using the same cable on the same port) works perfectly.
That was my wifes story. I don’t have an iPhone and never will. Neither will I ever have a Windows PC either but that’s another story.
This is what we did after trying just about everything else we could find. This worked. (For us anyway)
iPhone won’t connect to Windows: The Fix
We (or rather she) eventually fixed it. Here’s how.
(Sit down or stand well clear of breakable objects before you read the answer)
This is the unbelievable bit….
She fixed it by: Enabling Siri on the iPhone. That’s all. Nothing else.
Yes. You need to enable the spy in the phone in order for the damn thing to connect to anything by USB. It appears that if you disable Siri data cannot be transferred over USB to or from the iPhone. This is because Siri must be enabled to allow data transfer through the USB cable. No Siri → no cable data transfer.
This also means that you cannot get data transferring using CarPlay either. See This Post for more detail on that situation.
We only ever found one reference to this in our desperate Googling. We ignored it. It just seemed too ridiculous. But when everything else had failed we tried it. It worked seamlessly (and shamelessly). It was as if there had never been a problem in the first place.
So if your iPhone won’t connect to Windows by USB (presumably MaC & Linux too) just make sure you have enabled Siri. Otherwise all bets are off.
If you’ve been through the whole meat grinder and HAVE enabled Siri and the damn thing still doesn’t work you have my deepest sympathy. I’m sorry I can’t help you.
I’ve got an old Motorola G10 but next time I might buy One of These. But one thing I can guarantee: It won’t be an iPhone.