By Dylan / Last update June 21, 2022

Can’t export iPhone photos

I need to copy photos from iPhone 8 camera roll, but things are not going well. When I connect iPhone to computer and copy the DCIM folder from iPhone 8 to PC, there is a pop-up that says Error 0x80070141: The device is unreachable. How can I fix this issue?

- Question from Apple Community

iPhone camera is the most attractive feature for some Apple fans. Indeed, iPhone pictures are famous for high quality. You would find that the camera will be put into the second place (the first is the chip) when Apple introduces their new products.

Using iPhone to take pictures might a pleasure for the shutterbug. When the pictures on iPhone are needed post-processing, or they take too much iPhone storage, users need to copy photos to computer.

▲ Tips: To make sure your photos won’t disappear for iOS update or system glitches, you’d better regularly backup iPhone photos to PC.

However, exporting iPhone photos are not always smooth. Something might go wrong with the connection between iPhone and compute. If iPhone is unreachable, you need to follow the next section to change settings on the device or try other solutions.

Device Is Unreachable

Solution 1. Select Keep Original on iPhone

Settings on iPhone might let you see this error. If computer can’t get the right files off iPhone, the system will say it is unreachable. You just need to simply change the setting below:

Go to iPhone Settings > Photos > find Transfer to Mac or PC at the bottom > select Keep Original.

This is the simplest way to fix the unreachable device issue. If it is still not fixed yet, you need to check the accessories or driver.

Solution 2. Check USB cable and port

Hardware often cause connection problem, especially when you use iTunes. If something goes wrong with your USB cable or port, you might find iTunes could not backup iPhone because the iPhone is disconnected.

Using broken cables, old cables, or non-Apple cables might be the reason. There is MFi certification in every standard iPhone cable. To protect user’s privacy, the non-standard USB cable usually could only be used to charge iPhone.

Therefore, try a new USB cable could solve iPhone disconnecting problem.

Solution 3. Update the Apple driver

To successfully connect iPhone to computer, driver is very necessary. Out-dated driver might cause an error when you copy file or folder from iPhone, so you need to update the driver on PC.

1. Right-click the Start button on the desktop

2. Select Device Manager

3. Expand the Portable Devices Section

4. Right-click on the device name

5. Click Update Driver

6. Select "Search automatically for updated driver software."

Update Apple Driver

How to easily export iPhone photos to PC?

Without a professional tool, you might have many problems when interacting with iPhone photos. You just need an easy but thorough solution for your photos.

AOMEI MBackupper is the best iPhone photos transfer. You could save or restore iPhone photos in every way you like.

  • Free Software: You could use AOMEI MBackupper to transfer unlimited photos between iPhone and PC.

  • Fast Software: AOMEI MBackupper is the fastest iPhone photos transfer among all the competitors.

  • Select Photos: You could preview and select the iPhone photos which you need to transfer.

  • Incremental Backup: You could create incremental backup to quickly save iPhone photos next time.

  • Widely Compatible: AOMEI MBackupper supports all the iOS devices, including iPhone 11/SE 2020.

Download AOMEI MBackupper to computer for free and follow the steps to transfer iPhone photos to PC.

Download FreewareWin 11/10/8.1/8/7/XP
Secure Download

Step 1. Connect iPhone to AOMEI MBackupper with USB cable. Select Photos Backup.

Custom Backup iPhone

Step 2. Click Photos icon to preview and select photos on iPhone. Click OK to return.

Select iPhone Data

Step 3. Click Start Backup to quickly export all the photos.

Click Start Backup

How to download iCloud photos to PC?

iCloud is very convenient for iPhone users to store pictures. Sometimes you might want to view iCloud photos or download iCloud backup to PC. This could be easily completed by iCloud client on Windows PC.

1. Download iCloud for Windows on computer and sign in your Apple ID.

2. Check Photos and enable Download photos, Upload photos, or Create new folders in Options.

3. Click This PC on desktop and find iCloud Photos.

4. Click Download Photos and videos in the upper-left corner.

iCloud Photos

Another Tip: Download original photos on iPhone

Sometimes you would find that there are no photos in DCIM folder and even if you use a very professional tool to scan iPhone, your photos could only be viewed on iPhone.

Except for connection issues, the reason could be that all of your photos are stored in iCloud and the pictures in Photos app are just thumbnail photos. It’s good for optimizing iPhone storage but you need to download them to iPhone if you want to transfer them to computer.

Go to iPhone Settings > [your name] > iCloud > Photos > select Download and Keep Originals.

Conclusion

iPhone photos are very precious so it is worth saving them to computer.

If the PC tells you that the device is unreachable when you copy photos to computer, you need to follow this passage to fix this issue.

Besides directly copying the DCIM folder, you could also use AOMEI MBackupper to quickly export unlimited iPhone photos for free.

Is this guide helpful? You could share it to help more people.

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iOS Versions
  • iOS 16/15/14/13/12/11 and former
  • iPadOS 16/15/14/13/12/11 and former
iOS Devices
  • iPhone 14/14 Pro (Max), 13/13 mini/Pro (Max), iPhone 12/12 mini/Pro (Max), iPhone 11/11 Pro (Max)
  • iPhone X/XR/XS/XS Max, iPhone 8/8 Plus, iPhone 7/7 Plus, iPhone 6/6s/6s Plus
  • iPhone SE (1st, 2nd, 3rd generations)
  • iPod touch 1/2/3/4/5/6/7
  • All models of iPad Air, iPad mini, iPad Pro and iPad