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My iPhone (5S, iOS 10.2.1) is recognized in the Files and Photos applications (it appears in the side bar in each) but neither can access the photos on the device. I am doing the following:

  1. unlock iPhone
  2. connect iPhone via USB cable to machine running elementary
  3. select 'Trust' from dialog appearing on iPhone screen
  4. open Files / Photos

In Files, I see a single folder on the iPhone, store_00010001, but it shows as empty in Properties and when I click to view contents (see below).

Photos gives me the error shown further below. Can anyone indicate how to troubleshoot these issues? (I'd prefer to simply get access through Files, as I don't like photo manager software).

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  • I'm not sure, but I remember that Apple organise they device in a way that it's pretty impossible to transfer files from device to computer. With iPod it was impossible to transfer your music to computer, because it was messed up in weird files type and bizzare names. I think that they made it accessible only with iTunes or via file manager on MacOS.
    – Dysproz
    Mar 11, 2017 at 20:53
  • This post suggests anecdotally that elementary supports transferring photos from an iOS device. I also do this regularly on Windows computers. Can anyone confirm this functionality works for them on elementary?
    – obomoboe
    Mar 12, 2017 at 14:30
  • I'm using iPhone SE/10.3.2 and eOS 4.0.1, when I connect those two, eOS recognize iPhone and on the iPhone Trust or not trust button shows up. I push trust since I want to transfer my photo with eOS, then Photo app says transfering data but even few hours later nothings happen. I can transfer photos to Windows10 machine and can see those photos with default windows photo app so configs on iPhone should be fine but I can't transfer my photos to eOS.
    – ＯｔａＯｓａｍｕ
    Jul 18, 2017 at 4:09

2 Answers 2

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This is a workaround, not a solution

  1. install Dropbox on both your eOS computer and on the iOS device.
  2. on the iOS device, also install the Files app from Apple (standard in recent versions of iOS)
  3. Set Dropbox as one of the destinations in iOS Files
  4. Create a folder in Dropbox, something like "New Pictures"

Now, in the iOS Photos app, you should be able to select your photos, then touch the Share widget at the bottom-left corner.

Select "Send to Files" as the action you want to take (should be in the bottom row, among the black-and-white icons), then drill down to Dropbox | New Pictures as the ultimate destination. Touch "Add" in the top right corner.

Within the next few minutes, your images will start appearing in the Dropbox folder on your PC and you can import them into whatever app you like.

Yes, it's a kludge, I know, and it is irritating that with a billion iPhones floating around we can't just plug them in and expect them to work. Well, You'll have to talk to Apple about that.

On the bright side, this workaround does not require you to plug your phone into your PC. It will work from the other side of the world!

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I have a simple and effective solution, and I recommend using this. There is a program which uses a trusted Apple key to access iPhone files. It's called ifuse, and it's on the Ubuntu repository. Just enter on the terminal: sudo apt install ifuse. After installing, reboot and try to mount the iPhone again.

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