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Spaghet

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 5, 2020
9
0
I’m trying to connect my iPhone to my iMac - (which used to work fine) specifically to get photos off but whenever I plug it in it keeps chiming as it does when it connects & the icon keeps disappearing & reappearing - so in other words it keeps disconnecting & reconnecting.
I tried it with another iPhone & it does the same thing so it’s not my phone. I’ve tried 3 chords- all fairly new & in good shape. I’ve plugged external hard drives into those same USB ports without issue. I have to keep restarting the computer several times to get it to work once- but then soon enough it goes back to its own shenanigans. Anyone else having this issue- know of a fix?
 
Usually when that happens it can be traced back to dirt jammed deep into the iPhone's lightning port. Try cleaning the port with a toothpick.
 
Thanks mj- That would make sense- except that it’s happening to 2 phones & 3 cables & does get resolved randomly by a lucky restart. That’s good to know for other issues- but any more ideas here?
 
Yes, I saw that too and hesitated for a second before posting. However, in my personal experience random oddities like this can often be explained with flaky connections. It will take you less than 30 seconds to clean your iPhone's lightning port and give it another go. It's the simplest and quickest fix for the most likely scenario.

See Occam's razor ;)
 
So I cleaned it... was hopeful- but still not working...
One thing the disconnect & reconnect is at a very steady rhythm which makes me think it might be internal & less physical
 
So I cleaned it... was hopeful- but still not working...
One thing the disconnect & reconnect is at a very steady rhythm which makes me think it might be internal & less physical

You are allowing the phone and computer to trust each other, right? It could also be software incompatibility.

Or it might be the ports on your iMac. Both the software incompatibility and the wonky ports have happened to me frequently since last Fall. I confirmed several of the iMac’s ports are dying (I have to play musical ports and switch around my wired keyboard and lightning cable as these do not always work).

Good luck, OP.
 
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I have had this same problem as well. It's not dirt or wonky ports, it's the cable, in my experiences it's the apple cables, they seem to be failing or some other issue.

I have had this issue with 2 different Iphone 11 Pro phones and on 2 different 2015 Mac Book Pro's. In all cases I was using different apple lightning cables. When I used another certified cable(Non-Apple) that I bought off of Amazon they all acted normally.
 
You are allowing the phone and computer to trust each other, right? It could also be software incompatibility.

Or it might be the ports on your iMac. Both the software incompatibility and the wonky poets have happened to me frequently since last Fall. I confirmed several of the iMac’s ports are dying (I have to play musical ports and switch around my wired keyboard and lightning cable as these do not always work).

Good luck, OP.

It’s not an allowance issue as I’ve been connecting this phone & Mac to each other for years... a port issue makes the most sense...
Only thing why is my external hard drive not acting up?
 
I have had this same problem as well. It's not dirt or wonky ports, it's the cable, in my experiences it's the apple cables, they seem to be failing or some other issue.

I have had this issue with 2 different Iphone 11 Pro phones and on 2 different 2015 Mac Book Pro's. In all cases I was using different apple lightning cables. When I used another certified cable(Non-Apple) that I bought off of Amazon they all acted normally.

i will try a non apple cable
 
So I have tried a 3rd & non apple cable- that’s not it either
 
I have seen this on my iMac 2013 when using extension cables (0.5m to 1m). Even Apple cables do it. I think It's a combination of things, but usually plugging the cable directly into the iMac solves it.
 
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