A Сomplete Guide on How to Transfer Files from PC to iPhone

Sending files from iOS might not be the easiest task. Especially when it comes to transferring documents to devices outside the Apple ecosystem. The most common way to do this is via iTunes: you can transfer photos, videos, notes, and other content to the computer.

But what to do if you can’t log in to your iTunes on this PC? Maybe you use a public computer, don’t remember the iCloud password, or your PC doesn’t support iTunes. There can be various reasons for it. But in all of them, you try to find the most convenient way to transfer files. That’s why we asked Howly experts computers how to deal with this situation and send files from iPhone to PC without iTunes. Here are 6 solutions that they gave to us: 5 of them are user-friendly, while the last fits experienced users.

With a Lightning Cable

Use this method only with trustworthy devices. We don’t recommend using it with public computers. Although Apple has famous built-in antivirus protection, it is still not perfect. Thus, playing it safe and connecting with trusted computers will be better.

 Here is your short and easy instruction:

1. Take a Lightning cable and connect it to your PC and iPhone.
2. The iPhone will ask you, “Trust this computer?”. Confirm connection by tapping on “Yes”.
3. Wait for 1-2 minutes until the computer connects to the phone.
4. Open the folder, and copy and paste files directly to the PC’s file explorer.

Keep in mind that you’ll have access only to photos and videos from your gallery. You can’t send a GarageBand midi file, presentation, or virtual contact card this way. Also, you can only send files from iPhone to PC, but you can’t transfer files to the phone.

With Transfer Apps

If you want to transfer various documents from iPhone to PC and vice versa, get one of those utilities. Beware that they should be installed on both devices. It works like a temporary cloud shared between devices.

Check Tenorshare, EaseUS, iMyFone, AnyTrans, orthe MobileTrans app. They allow you to transfer audio, books, voicemails, podcasts, and even messages. All those tools work on the same algorithm:

1. Launch the app on both devices.
2. Connect them through the Lightning wire.
3. The iPhone will ask you, “Trust this PC?”. Choose “Yes” and wait 1-2 minutes until it loads files.
4. Find files that you want to send, select them and click on the “Export” button.

Wait until the tool transfers documents to the PC. The duration of this process depends on the file size and the type of the PC’s hard drive. It will be better to transfer files to the SSD, it works much faster than HDD.

With Third-party Cloud Tools

If you don’t want to connect your phone physically to another device, use external clouds. The most famous are Dropbox, Google Drive, and Mega. Names of items may vary, but the overall algorithm stays the same with any service:

1. Log into the same cloud account from both devices.
2. Upload files from the phone to the cloud. Sort them into folders if you need to.
3. Open a cloud storage website on the computer and download those files.

Beware that every service has limited free storage. Google Drive offers 15 Gb, Mega gives you 20 GB, but Dropbox free users have only 2GB of storage.

With Email or Messenger

It’s one of the easiest ways to send files from a phone to a PC. Just write the message and attach a file to it. But remember that every service has its limits:

• Gmail — 25 Mb. If you want to send a larger file, it will use your Google Drive and send the link to it.
• Yahoo! — 25 Mb.
• Messenger — 25 Mb.
• Discord — 8 Mb for free and 50 Mb in the Nitro plan.
• WhatsApp — 16 Mb.
• Viber — 200 Mb.
• iMessage — 100 Mb.
• Telegram — 2 Gb for free and 4 Gb in the premium plan.

With an External Storage Device

You can transfer files directly to USB flash drives or SD cards. Follow the next instructions to send files:

1. Connect the iPhone to the Lightning-USB cable adapter.
2. Plug the storage into the adapter.
3. Wait 1-2 minutes until the phone reads the device.
4. Use the Files app on your iPhone to copy documents from external storage.
5. Disconnect the “adapter+external drive” bundle from the phone.

Note that you can’t transfer files from the iPhone to hard drives and vice versa. The phone doesn’t have enough power to charge them.

With Own Server

It’s a tricky method that suits only people with high computer skills. If you are unsure about your computer skills, use one of the 5 user-friendly methods above. But if you are confident in your technician skills, stick to this instruction:

1. Set up your PC as the server or obtain access to a pre-made file server.
2. Use the Files app to connect to the server.
3. Connect the PC to the same server. Skip this step if your computer is the server.
4. Choose the file that you want to send. Tap on it on the phone and choose Copy. Tap Browse, select the server and choose the location on the iPhone file system. Long hold the screen until you see the Paste option and choose it. This action will start the transfer process.
5. To disconnect the iPhone from the server, open the Browse screen and tap on the button.

If you don’t know how to connect to the server with iPhone, follow these guidelines:

1. Open the Files app and go to the Browse display.
2. Tap on the three dots on the top of it.
3. Select the “Connect to server” option.
4. Type a network address or a local hostname.
5. Select the connection type: guest or a registered user. Choose the Guest when connecting to the shared computer if you have your username and password on this server, select Registered User.
6. Tap Next and choose the folder that you need to enter.

Final Thoughts

When it comes to sending files, you have many alternatives to iTunes. You can simply connect your phone to the computer with a Lightning cable to copy photos and videos. Use transfer apps to copy contacts, presentations, and other files from iOS to Windows.

If you don’t want to connect with wires, upload files on an external cloud or send yourself a letter on your favorite messenger. But beware that those two option has limited storage: usually, it’s 15-250 Mb in messengers and 2-15 Gb in cloud services. If you want to send files wirelessly without restrictions, create a home server (it can even be your PC) and send them through it. The only limit there is the server’s volume.