Apple mobile device USB driver is a crucial component required to create a smooth connection and workflow between your Apple device and Windows. Usually, Windows and Apple are not known to be the most compatible devices. However, if you happen to own an iPhone, iPad, or an iPod and you have a Windows PC, you will require the necessary drivers to create a connection,
The computer automatically reads the Apple device when installed with the most recent version of Apple drivers. However, if the Apple Mobile Device USB driver for Windows is missing, corrupt, or outdated, the system fails to read iPhone, iPad, and other Apple devices.
Hence, it is better to download and update the drivers . To help with that, we have curated this tutorial that explains the best ways to update the iPhone USB driver.
What is Apple mobile device USB driver
This driver helps the Windows PC recognize connected iPhones. When it is missing or outdated, errors like Apple device is not recognized, and others are encountered.
6 Best Ways to Download/Update Apple Mobile Device USB Driver Windows
Downloading drivers for Apple devices is not that complicated, provided you know which is the best method. Below, we mention the best ways to update the driver.
Method 1: Manually Through Device Manager
Windows provides a built-in facility (Device Manager) to help update drivers. Using Device Manager, you can update the Apple Mobile Device USB Driver on Windows 7/10/11.
To use it, follow the steps below:
1. Press Windows + X > select Device Manager from the context menu.
2. Navigate to Universal Serial Bus devices. Double-click it and locate the Apple Mobile USB Device driver.
3. Right-click the Apple Mobile Device USB Device > select Update Driver.
4. Select, Search automatically for drivers.
5. Windows will now look for Apple Mobile USB Device driver updates. Please wait for it to download and install the latest driver update. If you get the message, “The best drivers for your device are already installed.” You will need to check for available Windows Updates.
6. Restart the PC to apply changes after updating and installing the driver. In case the changes aren’t properly installed, you can do it by following the steps below:
Method 2 – Reinstall Apple Mobile USB Device Driver
1. Press Windows + X
2. Double-click Universal Serial Bus devices
3. Right-click on the Apple Mobile Device USB Device > Uninstall
4. Checkmark the box next to Delete the driver software for this device > Ok.
5. Go to Device Manager > click Action tab > Scan for hardware changes.
6. Wait for the scanning to complete and install the Apple Mobile USB device driver.
Method 3 – Updating Using Advanced Driver Updater (Recommended)
Above, we explained manual ways to update the driver. As you may agree, manual steps are time-consuming and require some technical knowledge. Also, manually updating drivers involves risk & is not easy. Therefore, if you want an easy way to download the Apple Mobile Device USB driver, we recommend using Advanced Driver Updater. This professional tool helps update all types of outdated drivers.
You can use either the Free or Registered version to update drivers. The free version sets a limit for updating one driver at a time, while the registered version allows updating all at once. To use this amazing tool, follow the steps below:
1. Install Advanced Driver Updater by clicking the button below
2. Run the tool and click Start Scan Now, allowing Advanced Driver Updater to scan the system.
3. Let the scanning complete.
4. When done, to update the driver, click the Update driver next to the Apple Mobile Device USB driver (if using the trial version). However, if you use the registered version, click Update All.
5. Wait for the driver update to be downloaded and installed.
6. Restart the PC to save changes. Now, connect the Apple device, and it should be detected.
Method 4 – Reinstall Apple Mobile Device USB Driver Through .inf File
1. Disconnect your device from your PC.
2. Unlock your iOS and iPadOS device and go to the Home screen.
3. Reconnect the device to the PC and exit iTunes when prompted.
4. Press Windows + R to open the Run window. Here copy and paste – %ProgramFiles%\Common Files\Apple\Mobile Device Support\Drivers and press the Enter key.
5. If you are working on a 32-bit Windows OS, right-click usbappl64.inf > Install. However, if you are 64-bit, Windows users right-click usbappl.inf > Install.
Tip : To find a file, Windows 8/7 users need to right-click on the space in File Explorer > select Details and look for the file type.
6. Disconnect the device > restart the PC and reconnect the device. You should no longer face the issue.
Method 5 – Install iTunes
Reinstalling iTunes is another way to fix the missing Apple Mobile Device USB driver. This will reinstall the driver and fix the issue. Download iTunes Here
Method 6 – Restart Apple Mobile Device Service (AMDS)
When connecting your Apple device, if you encounter “This [device] cannot be used because the Apple Mobile Device Service is not started” or you see a yellow exclamation mark next to Apple Mobile Device USB, try restarting AMDS to fix it.
1.Exit iTunes and disconnect the Apple device.
2. Press Windows + R and open Run window.
3. Types services.msc and press the Enter key.
4. Look for Apple Mobile Device Service—Double-click on it.
5. Click the General tab, set the Startup type to Automatic, and click Stop.
6. Restart the service and click Ok.
7. Reboot the PC and connect the device. You should be fine.
That’s it; you can update the Apple Mobile USB device driver using these simple steps. You can use either of the steps to update your driver on Windows 11/10/8.1/8/7. However, try Advanced Driver Updater if you want the fastest and easiest way to update the USB driver. With minimum or no effort, the tool helps update all outdated drivers.
However, if you know of any other effective way to update the Apple Mobile USB device driver update, share it in the comments box. For any product-related issue, you can send an email to support@systweak.com
Frequently Asked Questions
Recommended-
Fixed – USB Drive Not Showing Up – Windows 11/10
Apple Mobile Drivers Installer 🍎
USB Tethering not working? Device only recognized as media? Forget those! 👻
Download / Installation
-
Open PowerShell (or Windows Terminal with PowerShell) as administrator.
-
Paste the following and press enter:
iex (Invoke-RestMethod -Uri 'https://raw.githubusercontent.com/NelloKudo/Apple-Mobile-Drivers-Installer/main/AppleDrivInstaller.ps1') -
A good minute and we’re done, drivers installed!
Why is this a thing? Where does it download drivers from?
The whole reason behind me creating this script is Windows STILL not including Apple’s drivers
by default, making their installation a burden for every Apple user which needs to do all of this just to use their devices:
- Download iTunes and iCloud
- Enable Windows Update
- Wait for all the updates to finish and hope for Windows to eventually pull Apple drivers when needed
Since Googling doesn’t help with the issue, as all forum posts return strange ways to download such drivers (with most of those being super-outdated)
I just went for the easy way: a script that installs the same drivers Windows Update would, but in an extremely faster way.
This’d make life easier for everyone who’d just want to use their phone as hotspot and not install every hunch of Apple software just to have some internet.
Making the script download iTunes and use its MobileSupport .msi file is still needed though, as I can’t probably just upload Apple’s programs like nothing… xd
The script pulls drivers from Microsoft’s Update Catalog, which you can pretty much browse yourself to look for Apple’s stuff.
It just installs the right ones from that catalog for them to actually work out of the box on Windows.
Last but not least, administrator is obviously only needed in order to install drivers. All it does is installing the .inf files
included in such updates, which you could pretty much do yourself by right-clicking those.
Can I install the script on an offline machine?
The script itself requires an internet connection in order to download drivers from Microsoft, so it’s not gonna work on such machines.
Anyways, that makes no problem: you can just move them out and install them yourself this way!
- Download iTunes from here
- Extract it (using WinRAR/7zip) and install AppleMobileDeviceSupport64.msi
- Download the .cab updates from the following links: Apple USB Drivers — Apple Tether USB Drivers
- Extract the .cab files
- Right click the .inf files in the same folder and select Install
And that’s all! 🥳
If the iOS device cannot connect with your computer, it might be:
- iTunes won’t detect and recognize my iPhone/iPad/iPod.
- My computer won’t recognize my iPhone/iPad/iPod.
- PanFone failed to detect my iPhone/iPad/iPod.
All the detection issues above may due to the Apple Mobile Device USB Driver has not installed successfully on your computer. To solve this problem, please follow these steps to install Apple Mobile Device USB Driver manually on your computer.
Step 1: Connect your device with your computer.
Step 2: Open your computer management window.
Right-click on My Computer/This PC icon on the desktop and choose Manage to open the Computer Management window, which is shown as picture below:
Step 3: Find Apple Mobile Device USB Driver.
After the Computer Management window is open, on the left panel of the Computer Management window, choose Device Manager. Then expand Universal Serial Bus controller or Universal Serial Bus devices (for Win10) on the right panel. Locate the Apple Mobile Device USB Driver. If you can not find Apple Mobile Device USB Driver, please go to Step 4 Reinstall Apple Mobile Device USB Driver.
- If you can find Apple Mobile Device USB Driver and there is no symbol over it, it means this device installed successfully.
- If you find this entry, there is other symbol next to it, which means that the driver is disabled. Right-click it and choose Enable from the pop-up menu to enable this device.
- If you find this entry but the entry listed with symbol «!» or «?» over it, please go to Step 4 to re-install the Apple Mobile Device Driver.
Step 4: To install or re-install Apple Mobile Device USB Driver
Under the Other devices, double click Universal Serial Bus(USB) controllers.
On the pop-up window, simply choose the second one — Browse my computer for driver software.
The path should be: «C:\Program Files\Common Files\Apple\Mobile Device Support\Drivers» (If you had changed your iTunes installing path, please follow your own path.) For 64 bit users, please kindly note that it should be in «Program Files» folder, not the ‘Program Files(x86)’.
Step 5: Reconnect your device.
After install/re-install the driver, unplug your iOS device and then reconnect it using USB cable. Now, your iOS device detection problem would be fixed.
Note: The Apple Mobile Device USB Driver has not been updated
If you have installed the Apple Mobile Device USB Driver and enabled the services, but still get «Device not detected» error, this problem may be caused by Apple Mobile Device USB Driver has not been updated.
To fix it, right-click on on My Computer/This PC icon on the desktop and choose Manage to open the Computer Management window. On the left panel, choose Device Manager. Then expand Universal Serial Bus controller; locate the Apple Mobile Device USB Driver. Right click Apple Mobile Device USB Driver and click «Update driver«.
Then your problem will be solved.
The above is the solution for How to Install Apple Mobile Device USB Driver. Hope it will help you to connect your iOS device with your computer successfully.
Related Articles:
To access your iPhone on a PC or Laptop running on Windows or Mac, you need to install or open iTunes. But sometimes, you don’t recognize or find your iPhone after connecting via a USB lightning cable due to an outdated USB driver. Find the problem and fix it yourself through the given steps in this article.
Apple released the latest version on a drive-in every iTunes update, but your system is not installed and is restricted by some antivirus software. So please manually Download the iPhone USB drive and install it on your Computer or Laptop.
Note: iTunes won’t detect or find your iPhone; unlock your iPhone by entering the passcode or swiping up to unlock your iPhone. Allow your Computer to be trusted by a confirmation popup on your iPhone’s display.
Steps for Install USB Driver & iTunes doesn’t recognize iPhone
Two Methods to download and install iPhone USB, iTunes Downloaded from Windows Store and Apple.
Follow the steps if iTunes is Downloaded from Windows Store
- Disconnect your iOS device from your Mac OR PC.
- Re-Connect your device and Close iTunes if open.
- On your Windows PC, right-click on the start button and click on the device manager.
- 4: Find and Expand Portable Devices manager.
- 5: See connected devices like the iPhone/iPad and iPod Touch.
Right-click on the device name and click on update driver. Now select “Search automatically for updated driver software.”
- Once you install the software, Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update and confirm that no other updates are available.
Open iTunes.
Still, your iPhone is not visible on your computer via iTunes; follow the following steps.
iTunes Downloaded from Apple: Re-install Apple mobile device driver
- Disconnect your iPhone/iPad from a computer.
- Now, connect your iPhone/iPad. And if iTunes open then close it first.
- Press and Hold Windows + R key to run a command in run window, Copy the line below, and press enters to see the command output.
%ProgramFiles%\Common Files\Apple\Mobile Device Support\Drivers
- Command will open window with file location of a Mobile device driver.
- Right-click on usbaapl64.inf and usaapl.inf that have file type “Setup information” (File type not showing, Right-click on Window Explore black space > View > Details).
- Install the file.
- Disconnect the iPhone/iPad from the computer and restart your computer.
Now, connect your device again and Open iTunes.
Still iPhone does not recognize
- Update Apple Mobile device USB Driver, Right-click on the Windows Start menu.
- Find “Device Manager” click on it.
- Expand the last view, Universal Serial Bus Controllers > Right-click on Apple Mobile Device USB Driver.
I hope you are fixed with helpful information on Download and Install iPhone USB.
My Apple Mobile Device Driver is missing. From where may I dnload it safely?
iPod touch,
iOS 4.3.3,
Windows Vista
Posted on Jun 28, 2012 10:30 PM
Posted on Jan 8, 2017 6:29 AM
Sometimes the USB driver for the iPhone is corrupt, meaning that iTunes never realizes what is plugged in.
For iTunes 12.5.4/iPhone 6+
- Go to C:\Program Files\Common Files\Apple\Mobile Device Support\Drivers
- Right click the file called «usbaapI64.inf»
- Choose INSTALL
This should take a few seconds, and then iTunes should come to life and see the phone. At that point, you may have to tell the phone to «trust» the computer again.
Apple Mobile Device USB Driver Missing