Every iPhone or iPad user knows the annoyance: You connect the Apple device to the PC or Mac and nothing happens in iTunes. The reason for this is usually a communication error between the two devices, but the cause can usually be easily determined.
iTunes does not recognize iPhone - this may be the reason:
Possibility 1: The Lightning cable is defective or "wrong"
If you are one of those people who do not value original Apple cables, here comes the bad news: Detection problems between iPhone and iTunes are very often related to the "wrong" cable . The Lightning cable is available in three versions:
- There is the original Apple cable that came with the iPhone or iPad.
- There are so-called MFI-certified third-party cables . Although these are not from Apple, they are officially approved by Apple.
- And there are particularly inexpensive “unofficial” cables , which in many cases are to blame for the problems.
The background: There is a lot of technology in the Lightning cable - and unfortunately this is often not implemented correctly in the unofficial Lightning cables. This can cause the cables to not work as they should. The solution is simple: use a different cable, preferably the one that came with your iPhone / iPad. If it still doesn't work, the cable may be defective. In this case, try another Apple or MFI cable.
Possibility 2: The iPhone or iPad hangs
If the cable is OK, but the iPhone or iPad is not recognized by iTunes, it may be because a process has hanged in the iDevice. If this happens, disconnect the iPhone or iPad from the cable and restart it . Then hang it again on the iTunes computer. It should now be recognized..
Possibility 3: The PC or Mac hangs
Of course there is also this problem on the other side: The Mac or PC with iTunes cannot find the iPhone because a process hangs. In this case you should disconnect the iPhone or iPad from the computer and restart the PC or Mac once . Then it should work. If not, you should simply plug the Lightning cable into a different USB port - this is often the problem.
Option 4: The iPhone is not recognized via WLAN.
The fourth option is related to the WLAN sync : If this is set up on the iPhone or iPad, iTunes should recognize the device even without a cable. If the detection fails, there are several ways to solve the problem:
- The iPhone or iPad is not logged into the WLAN: Activate WLAN.
- The PC / Mac is not in the WLAN: Connect the computer to the WLAN.
- PC / Mac and iDevice are in different WLANs: Connect iPhone / iPad and PC / Mac to the same WLAN.
- If all these attempts fail, you should use the cable and try options 1 to 3 if necessary.
