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You can connect your iPhone to a USB stick and benefit from more free storage space. You can back up your photos or cache important PDFs in no time. In this article, we will show you what to look out for when choosing a USB stick.

Can you connect a USB stick to the iPhone?

With the introduction of the Files app, it is also possible to connect a USB stick to the iPhone. You can access photos and videos stored on the USB stick or move files to the USB stick to get more free storage space.

When making your selection, however, you have to think about a few things so that you can connect the USB stick to the iPhone:

Power supply: Make sure the USB stick can be used without additional power. Devices with high-performance requirements may require more power than the iPhone can deliver. This is especially the case with external hard drives. The best way to do this is to use Apple’s Lightning USB adapter because you can connect a power cable.

File system: The USB stick must be formatted in FAT, FAT32, exFAT (Fat64) or APFS format. That sounds more complicated than it is. You can choose the format if you erase the stick via Windows Explorer or Finder (Mac).

Connect iPhone to a USB stick

There are now two ways you can connect your iPhone to a USB stick. Either use a USB stick with a Lightning connector or a suitable USB stick adapter.

Use a Lightning USB stick.

Some USB sticks can now be used directly on the iPhone without an additional power supply. If equipped with a Lightning connector, the sticks can be used directly on the iPhone. These are suitable models:

Connect the iPhone USB stick adapter

Alternatively, you can also use a classic USB stick that you may still have handy. This can also be used on the iPhone in connection with an adapter. Just look at the performance numbers. If the stick requires too much power, you need a USB adapter with an external power supply.

It is best if you use the original USB adapter from Apple. This is compatible with the iPhone and can be operated with additional power.

Can you also connect a hard drive to the iPhone?

You can also connect a hard drive to the iPhone. However, since this requires a lot of power, you must use the Apple USB Lightning adapter.

Then you are flexible when choosing a hard drive because the stick is always supplied with enough power so that the iPhone can access the hard Drive.

How do I get pictures from my iPhone onto a USB stick?

Apple started opening up the ecosystem with the Files app. Since then, you can easily access supported files via the app or save content the other way around on the iPhone or an external medium. PDFs can be saved on a USB stick and then used on the computer.

But how do you get pictures from the iPhone onto a USB stick? This works in just a few steps:

Open the Photos app.
Select a photo (or several).
Then tap the Share icon (square with an up arrow) in the bottom right.
Now scroll down a bit and click “Save to Files”.
You can now select iCloud Drive, your iPhone or an external USB stick from the list as a storage location.
Then confirm with “Save” at the top right.

You have now saved your photo or photos on the USB stick. You can now use the stick, e.g. B. Connect to a computer and download your images. This is how you create a backup of your photos in no time.

iPhone USB stick is not recognized

If a USB stick is not recognized, it is often because it is either incorrectly formatted or requires more power than the iPhone can supply via the Lightning connector.

Change file system: Format the USB stick in FAT, FAT32, exFAT (Fat64) or APFS format.

Power supply: Use the Apple Lightning USB adapter. You can connect it to the power supply with a USB cable and thus also use power-hungry sticks without any problems.