How to fix iPhone not showing in Finder under locations on macOS Catalina
Catalina has officially been released and that means iTunes is no more. If you own an iPhone, or had one in the past, you know that it’s hard to use it without iTunes. With Catalina, iTunes’ functionality has been broken up and split across different apps. Syncing the iPhone on Catalina is now done through Finder. It’s simple and the interface is taken almost entirely from iTunes. It does require that your iOS device show up in Finder. If you don’t see it, there’s a simple fix.
Fix iPhone not showing in Finder
Your iPhone or iPad should appear under Locations in the left column in Finder. If it’s not there, you need to click Finder on the menu bar, and select Preferences.
In the window that opens, go to the Sidebar tab, and enable the ‘CDs, DVDs, and iOS Devices’ option under the Location section.
Return to Finder, make sure you’ve connected your iPhone or iPad to your Mac, and it will appear under Locations in the sidebar. You can select it and you’ll get options to sync/back up the iPhone to your Mac.
Connected devices have always appeared in Finder but it was never really that important to access an iPhone from the file manager. Before Catalina, iTunes normally launched when an iPhone was connected and took a fresh back up. The photos and videos on the device synced with it, and could be imported in the Photos app. The Photos app itself is a photo library manager like no other and users weren’t likely to want to browse their photos and videos from Finder when they had Photos.
While Photos is still around, iTunes isn’t and the Finder is how an iPhone is synced. The device being absent from the sidebar matters a whole lot more now.
The option to show iOS devices in the sidebar on Finder isn’t hidden but it’s grouped together with CDs and DVDs and, that particular hardware is now almost gone from modern laptops. We’re not even sure if any current Mac or MacBook models still have one. Older ones might have an optical drive but Apple has been quick to drop the hardware in an attempt to make slimmer, lighter laptops.
If your iPhone doesn’t appear in Finder after enabling this option, it is possible that you have a faulty cable, or there’s something wrong with the port. Change the port, and try a different, preferably original cable to connect your iPhone to your Mac.
Having the same issue (July 2022) but after connecting the iPhone 8 Plus with an apple cable to the MacBook pro (2013) Catalina it asked me to download some driver (by itself) and it suddenly was showing in finder. After that you will need to TRUST this device and then, in finder, select the phone and choose “Show this iPhone when on wifi”
I wanted to transfer photo from my iPhone to the MacBook Air and then from there to the external disk. I have followed your instructions and the iPhone still does not appear in Finder MacAir 13′. I can see that the cable I am using must be all right as the iPhone is showing that it is charging. So if I have to change the cable I could not safely removed as it is not showing in Finder. What would be the next thing to do then/
Thanks in advance.
Zoraida
clear simple instructions and fixed a mistake I had made. Thanks
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I was going nuts trying to figure this out.
Well, restarting my iMac fixed the issue.
iPhone shows in Finder but not iPad pro
Tried a few times to connect iPhone and old iMac via Finder – Airdrop and got nothing ;(
Doesn’t help – 2 alt cables, iPhone and older iPad Mini 2 both worked before but now nothing. Have run disk utility on Mac, rebooted iOS devices, reconnected, hacked up to iCloud.
I cannot update my operating software on my iPad. I am currently on 12.4.7 and I have Automatic Updates set. I have tried to connect to my AppleMac Pro laptop and switched on Locations. It can see my iPhone 7Plus when connected but when I connect my iPad Air 2 to my laptop, the connection fluctuates. I have tried several Apple cables but the fluctuations continue. Does this mean that I have a problem with the connection port to my iPad Air 2?
Thank you!!!!!!!!!!! Why the Apple doesn’t mention it in their troubleshooting I have no idea!
I’ve also found that it doesn’t work. My iPhone shows up in photos, in music, but not in the finder as noted above. I’ve changed cable, changed where it’s plugged in – tothing.
Diana
? Download failed twice ?
? Tried 2nd cable and still MacBook Pro does not see the iPhone X ?
Frustrating dot com
Worked like a charm and I have the latest version of the Mac OS Catalina 10.15.5.
Simple fix and clearly explained. Thank-you Fatima!
None of the above had any effect for me. The only workaround I found was to open iTunes / Music on MacOS and click the “sync settings” button for the attached iOS device. This instantly opened a Finder with the iOS device settings.
Worked well, thanks
My iPhone XR would not show up in Finder until I clicked on the word Locations in the finder window, and then the locations appeared. I guess the finder hides the locations by default.
Thanks for you help.
Dear Fatima,
My iphone has no problem connecting, charging, exchanging data, however,
even with this option selected, there is no iphone showing up in my sidebar
a little help?
Hi, I have enable the ‘CDs, DVDs, and iOS Devices and changed 3 different cables. All 3 cables are working fine when charging mobile phones. Help pls!
Macbook air catalina and iphone XS. Iphone has every 2 seconds has a sound, once you see on my laptop then you don’t. I have restart laptop and iphone mulitiple times, unplug replug multiple times.
What happen, what can I do?
Thank you!
Carol A Prestowitz, yes there is, Finder >> Preferences >> Sidebar. It’s under Locations >> CDs, DVDs and iOS Devices
Dear Fatima,
I want to thank you for resolving my problem about not being able to see my iPhone X in the Finder window of my Mac.
The problem was in the cable I was using to connect the iPhone to the Mac. I have searched for a solution to this problem for months. I finally came upon your tip tonight, used a different cable and voilà, problem solved.
Thank you very much,
Bill
Was your cable defective ? I have changed cables and USB port and my Iphone12 still will not show up in finder.
Bill…you..the man! This was really frustrating me. As i was using a multi cable this was causing the issue.
DOES NOT WORK IN CATALINA! I NO SUCH THING AS IOS OPTION IN FINDER. MAC OS 10.15.3
Yes there is. Finder menu > preferences > sidebar > locations – CDs, DVDs and iOS devices. I’ve just done it myself. (Catalina 10.15.4) Doesn’t help, though.
Calm down Carol!
Mine ins a newer macbook and it doesn’t show IOS, it shows CD’s, DVD’s and iPod, I checked the box and still can’t see my phone in finder, I would like to load my music onto my iPhone
Maybe if you stop shouting and ask politely, someone may help you!
I was having the same problem, I fallowed all steps but nothing would show under locations. Until I realised that next to location when you move with the courser there’s a hidden option that will only show if the courser is on top that says show/show.
My iPhone has been showing up all this tome but was hidden.
another way is to connect your iPhone into your laptop via USB
No offense but I tried resetting the preferences to no avail finder would not see my iPhone iTunes would but not find her unfortunately iTunes doesn’t allow me to drag and drop photos all I want to do is copy photos from my Mac to my iPhone that is all I want to do if I was using a PC I would have been done days ago FYI I switched my USB ports and my cables which I know are working so all the things which I was told to do that would fix my problem did not work
Awesome stuff, helped right away.
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