I'm sick and tired of having to figure out the best way to download photos from our iPhones every time there's an iOS update and/or for whatever reasons Win11 decides to be stupid or gets hung up on a particular file (which I mostly figure is Apple's fault).

Lots of commercials for these "magic plug in to your phone and automatically transfer all of your photos" flash drive thingys. I'm skeptical that they work as advertised, but figure that I might as well ask the brain trust.

Does anyone have any actual hands-on experience with these things? If so, what brand/model?

Asking specifically relevant to iPhones. I wouldn't even have to ask the question if we had Androids.

Thanks in advance.

-Rob

I have no hands-on experience, but something like this should work. Of course, the thumb drive or other USB "disk" needs to be formatted in a scheme that iOS understands. Then you have the question of what facility on iOS is provided for file manipulation (i.e. to copy files to the USB device)? There is the Apple-provided Files app, but whether it will see an external disk is uncertain.

Alternatively, if I were in your shoes I'd try moving the files through something like DropBox, Google Drive, or other network file store. I don't have anything to do with Windows, but I'm sure there are options for this.

As another alternative, is AirDrop available for Windows? The Apple docs on AirDrop seem to imply so. This is a direct sharing capability between your phone and another device connected to the same network.

I've been using iExplorer 4 for a few years now. Pretty simple to set up. Work(ed) on Win 7/8 and now works with Win 10/11

OK, found another option, The iOS standard Files app has the ability to "connect to server." If you set up your Windows machine to be an SMB file server (AKA Microsoft Networking), you can connect to a share with your Windows username/password and copy files directly.

Not sure if it's the solution your after but I use DropBox on my iPhone and on my Windows laptop. After taking pictures I launch the DropBox app and it automatically places a copy of the photos on my laptop. I then move them from the DropBox folder to a local folder to free up space in DropBox.

I've been using PhotoSync app to transfer photos via Wifi:

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/...r-photos/id415850124

I have the Pro version but there is a Premium version with more features.

I have been using the SanDisk iXpand flash drive for iphone for a few months. One end sticks in the iphone port and the other in a USB port. I use it to hold my mp3 files (a lot), so it doesn't take up any memory on the phone. Haven't found any negatives yet except that it does protrude out the bottom of the phone, and I haven't gotten the USB port to work in my car.

Edited to add: you just download an app from the Apple store and use it like a disk drive. You simply copy and paste from the iphone or PC to the memory card.

 
I plug the iPhone into my Mac, and use the Image Capture app to transfer the photos, then delete them from the phone.
 
I do not use Photos on the iPhone at all. It has a confusing way of organizing them, to my mind. I process them on the Mac, then transfer them back to the iPhone to an app called Photo Manager Pro. It mirrors the folder structure I use for Pictures on my Mac, making it very easy to locate the pic I want.

For clarification:

- This is for Mrs.BurtonRW. She isn't the most computer literate person in the world, so I can't really teach her all of the ways to manipulate Windows and/or the iPhone when it's not recognized as a storage device for whatever reason.

- She is frustrated by this and sees the commercials on TV for the magic photo stick thingys and wants to know why she can't just use one of them instead of relying on me to download her pics.

- I've got half a dozen options and several pieces of software that I can use. What I'm looking for (if there's a solution for her) MUST be plug-and-play with no software necessary.

-Rob

The "magic stick" thingys are simply flash drives that have two connectors, a Lightning connector for the iPhone and a USB-A connector for a computer, search on Amazon for "Lightning USB flash drive" and you will see dozens of options. There are similar units with different combinations of connectors (USC-C, micro-USB, etc.). I do not see any reason why these wouldn't "just work" out of the box.

Or, you could procure a "USB hub" with a Lightning connector to the iPhone, and use any ordinary flash/thumb drive with it.

But that does not solve the real problem, that of a technology-averse spouse who regards anything new to her as a hurdle to be overcome (I have one of these too). I find that giving her plenty of time, and letting her figure it out without any pressure goes a long way toward maintaining a reasonably low level of frustration in the household. Above all else, do not attempt to explain, instruct, or advise as that will be interpreted as overly-aggressive mansplaining with implications of inherent male superiority.