Has Apple solved the iPhone-to-PC file transfer problem?

[BradC]

i can feel the OP's conflict... we the more technical (manual car) type prone guys can live with whatever that works for us (android) but families (usually the selfie/social prone people) will prefer iphone

I drive a manual car. I do all the work on my car. I repair the mechanics and the electronics. I use and prefer an iPhone. I carry a USB stick on my keyring. What are you trying to say?

Fuck me drunk, you nutters get all wound up about "wah wah wah Apple doesn't work the way I want it to work so boo fucking hoo". Get over it and use something else. Oddly enough Android doesn't do what I need it to do. I don't whine about it, I just use the right tool for the job.

Oh, hang on.. Suddenly I realise it's yet another troll thread. Is the OP treez in disguise?

[Mechatrommer]

i can feel the OP's conflict... we the more technical (manual car) type prone guys can live with whatever that works for us (android) but families (usually the selfie/social prone people) will prefer iphone

I drive a manual car. I do all the work on my car. I repair the mechanics and the electronics. I use and prefer an iPhone. I carry a USB stick on my keyring. What are you trying to say?

Fuck me drunk, you nutters get all wound up about "wah wah wah Apple doesn't work the way I want it to work so boo fucking hoo". Get over it and use something else. Oddly enough Android doesn't do what I need it to do. I don't whine about it, I just use the right tool for the job.

i'm trying to says (apart from the obvious) manual car is analogous to android phone vice versa... some prefer manual car but like an automatic phone, literally speaking... to be more blunt.... iphone ia a fucked up phone, end of conclusion...

(sad)

Why would you attach emotion to the selection of a phone? It doesn't do the one thing you highly value as important. Pick one that does and move on.

i can feel the OP's conflict...

Oh, hang on.. Suddenly I realise it's yet another troll thread. Is the OP treez in disguise?

why so emotional? and why troll to somebody else that probably never existed anymore? get back to reality!... call your self star trek generation and android is a fucked up phone if you want and then get back where you belong

[bw2341]

But they fail to have the same compatibility with the rest of the world when it comes to connectivity. For me, in my circumstances, that's a deal breaker.

I've been trying to find a solution to your problem of Apple limiting the USB connection to only allowing copying of photos and videos from the iPhone Camera Roll to the computer.

In the Apple ecosystem, transferring between local devices is very easy with AirDrop. It's on the Share Sheet so if the recipient is ready, it's just a single tap of their icon. Unfortunately, AirDrop only works on Apple devices.

If you google "Airdrop for Windows", you'll see that iOS app developers have tried to replicate AirDrop with an iOS app and a Windows program working together over a proprietary system. I've only looked at a few of them, but they seem to need Internet connectivity, user accounts or a WiFi connection on a local router. Does anyone know of an app that can work without connectivity?

Since I know that transferring via Files and SMB on a local router works well, I've looked into ad hoc networking. It seems that Windows 10 does not have wireless ad hoc networking in Windows Settings. I know it used to be available in the Control Panel on older versions of Windows. I've found some solutions, but they require going to the Command Prompt. While I'm comfortable with the command line interface, it is the complete opposite of user friendly. My concern is that if I type in someone's obscure commands, I won't know how to undo if it affects my normal network configuration.

It seems to me that trying to transfer between two standalone Windows 10 computers is the same problem as the OP's. Does anyone need to do this in their workflow? What is the best solution?

I'm sorry that I've haven't been able to find a solution to your problem.

Since I always try to add signal rather than noise to a discussion, what do people think of using smartphone photos for work? The OP mentioned the use of photos in a professional setting and potential legal issues. I'm wondering about the intense amount of image processing that "beautifies" every smartphone photo to make up for the tiny noisy image sensor. For example, if I needed to document surface defects, physical damage or discoloration, is a smartphone photo an accurate representation of the fault?

[BeBuLamar]

I wonder if it's possible to transfer an audio file or an image to the Iphone without going thru the internet?

[IanB]

I wonder if it's possible to transfer an audio file or an image to the Iphone without going thru the internet?

Yes.

[BeBuLamar]

I wonder if it's possible to transfer an audio file or an image to the Iphone without going thru the internet?

Yes.

Can you show me how?

[IanB]

I wonder if it's possible to transfer an audio file or an image to the Iphone without going thru the internet?

Yes.

Can you show me how?

For music you use iTunes to add songs to your music library. For this you need to connect with a USB cable.

For images you browse on the phone to a network share, select the images you want, and import them to a Photo Album.

You can connect to the network share over a wireless network, or you can use an ethernet adapter to connect your phone to a wired network.

[Someone]

I wonder if it's possible to transfer an audio file or an image to the Iphone without going thru the internet?

Yes.

Can you show me how?

For music you use iTunes to add songs to your music library. For this you need to connect with a USB cable.

For images you browse on the phone to a network share, select the images you want, and import them to a Photo Album.

You can connect to the network share over a wireless network, or you can use an ethernet adapter to connect your phone to a wired network.

By the time iTunes is installed then the same interface can be used to push photos onto the device over the USB connection.

or for the people in this thread that want to play with file systems and folders, the images can be pushed to the "files" filesystem (over USB or internet or local network) and then moved/organised as wanted from there.

or use some 3rd party transfer software, which will do it over USB without having to use iTunes (if that is some impediment for some reason).

Can you show me how?

Given all the links and explanations so far in this thread, if you cant figure it out already then no amount of hand holding will change that.

[IanB]

By the time iTunes is installed then the same interface can be used to push photos onto the device over the USB connection.

Could you clarify how this is done? I only see a way to "sync" photos (all or nothing), I see no way to drag and drop individual photos onto the phone.

or for the people in this thread that want to play with file systems and folders, the images can be pushed to the "files" filesystem (over USB or internet or local network) and then moved/organised as wanted from there.

Similarly, could you clarify how to access the Files on the phone over USB?

Also, when using the network, I am only aware of a "pull" model from the phone. I don't see a "push" model from the PC.

[Someone]

By the time iTunes is installed then the same interface can be used to push photos onto the device over the USB connection.

Could you clarify how this is done? I only see a way to "sync" photos (all or nothing), I see no way to drag and drop individual photos onto the phone.

... this entire thread!

Does that post ask for drag and drop? NO:

I wonder if it's possible to transfer an audio file or an image to the Iphone without going thru the internet?

The sync meets that requirement, through iTunes. Audio can be drag/drop (from library) and photos are sync

Adding more requirements beyond the question is why this thread is a dumpster fire. Because then it gets distilled back to "cannot be done no way no how" when the answer is: can be done blah ways, but not in certain combinations....

or for the people in this thread that want to play with file systems and folders, the images can be pushed to the "files" filesystem (over USB or internet or local network) and then moved/organised as wanted from there.

Similarly, could you clarify how to access the Files on the phone over USB?

Also, when using the network, I am only aware of a "pull" model from the phone. I don't see a "push" model from the PC.

Looks like you are right, it is a bizarre enforced asymmetry of the iOS file handling/system:
the first party "files" app cannot be accessed for drag/drop (or sync) using iTunes, yet 3rd party apps can do that
3rd party software on the desktop can drag/drop from the first party "files"
So it needs an extra (free or not) piece of software on one side.

[IanB]

Does that post ask for drag and drop? NO:

I wonder if it's possible to transfer an audio file or an image to the Iphone without going thru the internet?

The sync meets that requirement, through iTunes. Audio can be drag/drop (from library) and photos are sync

I respectfully disagree. Precision is important. When someone asks if it is possible to "transfer an image to the iPhone", I read that to mean that I have a single image on my PC, and I want to transfer that to my phone. Using sync will cause the software to decide what images to transfer not me, and it will transfer both ways.

So for me, sync does not meet the requirement as stated.

What you can do instead, is use the Files app on the phone to browse a network drive, select a single image from there, and then download it onto the phone.

[IanB]

By the way, I really hate plugging the USB cable in with iTunes, because one time before when I did that, the first thing it said was "deleting videos from your library because you are not allowed to have them".

[rsjsouza]

This has happened to me a couple ot times with an old iPod Touch device I had since new - i.e., it did not have stolen/unauthorized media there.

Having iTunes as the only offline option to copy files to/fro a PC is not a solution for me - once you get burned a few times you tend to not go back through the same road.

[james_s]

i'm trying to says (apart from the obvious) manual car is analogous to android phone vice versa... some prefer manual car but like an automatic phone, literally speaking... to be more blunt.... iphone ia a fucked up phone, end of conclusion...

I don't get it, what's wrong with it? I also drive a manual car and prefer an iPhone, mostly because most of my friends have them and iMessage allows me to text with them for free even those that live in another country. I have some Android devices around too, they work although they feel more clunky but they don't support iMessage, so they are missing useful functionality that I rely on. Aside from the annoying fanboi-ism that tends to come with Apple I don't really understand the problem or what the devices are lacking exactly. My phone does what it's supposed to do, it was inexpensive and has lasted years, it was the only decent phone I could find that wasn't huge. I have no desire to tinker with and hack the tool that I rely heavily on daily, it's not a toy, it's a tool and it just works. I won't buy anything that has a notch or cutout in the display or lacks a physical home button though so I'm not sure if Apple has any current offerings that meet my requirements.

[Halcyon]

Whether or not I move to an iPhone, as an Engineer it frustrates me no end that Apple hasn't figure out how incredibly inconvenient this artificial barrier is to folks who work outside a downtown core. Our house is on a lake, and we don't get very good reception there outdoors beyond the range of our picocell amplifier. These are homes that sell for seven digit sums yet the best of the two available wired ISP's yields 15Mbps down / 1.5Mbps up (I'm using that connection right now) and none of the wireless providers have decent signal strength for portable devices. Apple's entirely arbitrary choice to artificially handicap their products makes them a poor choice in this region of million dollar properties mostly populated by what I presume would be very juicy members of their target customer base.

Oh Apple know, they just don't care. Their business model isn't built around making products that are highly customisable that are suitable for a wide user-base, they make decent quality products that you have to use their way. If you don't like it, use something else. Year after year, iteration after iteration, Apple seems to be behind the times when it comes to specifications and features of their products, but they appeal to those who want a simple user experience or like shiny things in pretty packaging.

I'm a tinkerer and I want my phone to look and feel the way I want, not what the manufacturer decides is the default setting. Which is why I still prefer Android (that and security).

Does that post ask for drag and drop? NO:

I wonder if it's possible to transfer an audio file or an image to the Iphone without going thru the internet?

The sync meets that requirement, through iTunes. Audio can be drag/drop (from library) and photos are sync

I respectfully disagree. Precision is important. When someone asks if it is possible to "transfer an image to the iPhone", I read that to mean that I have a single image on my PC, and I want to transfer that to my phone. Using sync will cause the software to decide what images to transfer not me, and it will transfer both ways.

So for me, sync does not meet the requirement as stated.

To add to this, by having sync software as a layer in between, it typically (but not always) involves changing data from the original form in one way or another. Sometimes it means compressing it or changing the format to something the device can use, whether you like it or not. It could also be something as minor as adding/removing file metadata.

[IanB]

Whether or not I move to an iPhone, as an Engineer it frustrates me no end that Apple hasn't figure out how incredibly inconvenient this artificial barrier is to folks who work outside a downtown core. Our house is on a lake, and we don't get very good reception there outdoors beyond the range of our picocell amplifier. These are homes that sell for seven digit sums yet the best of the two available wired ISP's yields 15Mbps down / 1.5Mbps up (I'm using that connection right now) and none of the wireless providers have decent signal strength for portable devices. Apple's entirely arbitrary choice to artificially handicap their products makes them a poor choice in this region of million dollar properties mostly populated by what I presume would be very juicy members of their target customer base.

Oh Apple know, they just don't care. Their business model isn't built around making products that are highly customisable that are suitable for a wide user-base, they make decent quality products that you have to use their way. If you don't like it, use something else. Year after year, iteration after iteration, Apple seems to be behind the times when it comes to specifications and features of their products, but they appeal to those who want a simple user experience or like shiny things in pretty packaging.

Apple makes phones suitable for and chosen by billions of users. If that is not a "wide user base" I am not sure what is?

Also the paragraph you quoted suggesting you need to use the cloud for connectivity is not correct, as noted many times in this thread. Apple phones are compatible with common network standards, and can connect using both wireless and wired networking. So there is no "artificial barrier" in this instance.

[Halcyon]

Whether or not I move to an iPhone, as an Engineer it frustrates me no end that Apple hasn't figure out how incredibly inconvenient this artificial barrier is to folks who work outside a downtown core. Our house is on a lake, and we don't get very good reception there outdoors beyond the range of our picocell amplifier. These are homes that sell for seven digit sums yet the best of the two available wired ISP's yields 15Mbps down / 1.5Mbps up (I'm using that connection right now) and none of the wireless providers have decent signal strength for portable devices. Apple's entirely arbitrary choice to artificially handicap their products makes them a poor choice in this region of million dollar properties mostly populated by what I presume would be very juicy members of their target customer base.

Oh Apple know, they just don't care. Their business model isn't built around making products that are highly customisable that are suitable for a wide user-base, they make decent quality products that you have to use their way. If you don't like it, use something else. Year after year, iteration after iteration, Apple seems to be behind the times when it comes to specifications and features of their products, but they appeal to those who want a simple user experience or like shiny things in pretty packaging.

Apple makes phones suitable for and chosen by billions of users. If that is not a "wide user base" I am not sure what is?

Also the paragraph you quoted suggesting you need to use the cloud for connectivity is not correct, as noted many times in this thread. Apple phones are compatible with common network standards, and can connect using both wireless and wired networking. So there is no "artificial barrier" in this instance.

These "billions of users" still only equate to global market share of ~16% of smartphone users in Q3 2022. In some markets, it's higher (such as the USA which is around 48% for Apple).

[IanB]

These "billions of users" still only equate to global market share of ~16% of smartphone users in Q3 2022. In some markets, it's higher (such as the USA which is around 48% for Apple).

Yes, apparently "billions" is overstating the numbers a bit. Worldwide there seem to be about 1 billion iOS users and 3 billion Android users.

I checked some statistics market share by brand, and the results are interesting:

https://www.oberlo.com/statistics/smartphone-market-share

It seems that Apple and Samsung are neck-and-neck in market share, but the other players like Xiaomi, Oppo, Huawei and Vivo are not brands I would really consider buying in the USA. So although the ratio of Android users to iOS users is about 3:1 overall, the ratio of Samsung users to Apple users is more like 50:50.

I would say the appeal of Android owes a lot to having more platforms and lower cost options. I dare say most Android users just use their phone as a smartphone like most Apple users do.

[BeBuLamar]

Does that post ask for drag and drop? NO:

I wonder if it's possible to transfer an audio file or an image to the Iphone without going thru the internet?

The sync meets that requirement, through iTunes. Audio can be drag/drop (from library) and photos are sync

I respectfully disagree. Precision is important. When someone asks if it is possible to "transfer an image to the iPhone", I read that to mean that I have a single image on my PC, and I want to transfer that to my phone. Using sync will cause the software to decide what images to transfer not me, and it will transfer both ways.

So for me, sync does not meet the requirement as stated.

What you can do instead, is use the Files app on the phone to browse a network drive, select a single image from there, and then download it onto the phone.

Correct! I am a PC user and my company issued me an IPhone. I have thousands of images on my PC but ocasionally I edit and crop and resize an image for use as the Iphone background. I only want to transfer that specific image to the Iphone.
I also have a lot of audio files on my PC but I do have a number of audio files about 20 of them, they are in the *.wav format 44khz 16bit. At times I need to change these files and transfer to the Iphone for others to use.

[IanB]

Correct! I am a PC user and my company issued me an IPhone. I have thousands of images on my PC but ocasionally I edit and crop and resize an image for use as the Iphone background. I only want to transfer that specific image to the Iphone.

Sure. I have a company iPhone and I did that too.
 

I also have a lot of audio files on my PC but I do have a number of audio files about 20 of them, they are in the *.wav format 44khz 16bit. At times I need to change these files and transfer to the Iphone for others to use.

The "for others to use" bit confuses me. Can you elaborate?

[BeBuLamar]

Correct! I am a PC user and my company issued me an IPhone. I have thousands of images on my PC but ocasionally I edit and crop and resize an image for use as the Iphone background. I only want to transfer that specific image to the Iphone.

Sure. I have a company iPhone and I did that too.
 

I also have a lot of audio files on my PC but I do have a number of audio files about 20 of them, they are in the *.wav format 44khz 16bit. At times I need to change these files and transfer to the Iphone for others to use.

The "for others to use" bit confuses me. Can you elaborate?

I my company we have a number of electronic cam switch. These are very olf school units and they use FSK signal to be recorded on a audio cassette recorder for saving the program. The program can then be played back into the unit to reload the program. I would use a PC laptop to record thes signal as *.wav files. Then I want to tranfer them to other people's Iphone so when the program is lost they can reload it with the audio files on their phones. Since it's for work and they should use issued phone which are Iphone. People do have android phones but we don't want to make them use their personal phones for work.

[IanB]

I my company we have a number of electronic cam switch. These are very olf school units and they use FSK signal to be recorded on a audio cassette recorder for saving the program. The program can then be played back into the unit to reload the program. I would use a PC laptop to record thes signal as *.wav files. Then I want to tranfer them to other people's Iphone so when the program is lost they can reload it with the audio files on their phones. Since it's for work and they should use issued phone which are Iphone. People do have android phones but we don't want to make them use their personal phones for work.

Yes, that works, I just tested it. iOS can play .wav files natively, so if you just copy a wav file onto the phone the phone will play it.

[BeBuLamar]

So I need an easy way to transfer those files from the PC to the Iphone. I prefer not having to install Itune. You said setting as network I really don't have an idea how to do that.

[IanB]

So I need an easy way to transfer those files from the PC to the Iphone. I prefer not having to install Itune. You said setting as network I really don't have an idea how to do that.

How can anyone tell you the best way without knowing anything about your company infrastructure and available services?

Do you use Microsoft 365? What email system do you use? Do you use Google Drive? Other file share services like Box or DropBox or OneDrive? How is your network set up? Do you have corporate Wi-Fi? Do you have file shares? Can you send email attachments? Can you use USB drives?

Honestly, there are so many possible options you should probably do some internet searching and reading to find out what would work for you. You might find a starting point here:

https://www.pcmag.com/how-to/how-to-use-the-files-app-on-iphone-ipad

[BeBuLamar]

I want to do the transfer without using the internet. Yes I can access USB thumb drive. But let show me using a PC (administered by me) and an Iphone that I have access to everything. How do I make the transfer via the USB connection?