This article explains how you can troubleshoot when your iPhone (or iPad) repetitively keeps connecting and disconnecting when you plug it into your Mac. This can be frustrating because, for example, if you experience this problem, you may be unable to charge your iOS device when you plug your charging cable into a USB port on your Mac.
Please try each step until your issue is resolved.
See also: iTunes Not Recognizing Your iPhone or iPad?
iPhone Disconnecting From Mac
1-The first thing you should check is your charging, USB cable for sings of damage. Try using a different cable. Try using a different USB port on your computer. Try unplugging and then replugging.
Also check the charging port on the bottom of your iPhone or iPad. Remove any debris. You may want to use a can of compressed air.
If you are using a defective, damaged, or non Apple-certified cable, you may see the “Accessory Not Supported” error.
2-Restart your iOS device and restart your Mac.
3-Ensure that you have the latest version of iOS.
4-Force restart your device. Here is how:
Different iPad and iPhone models require different steps to do this:
- Face ID iPad Models: press and release the volume up button and then press and release the volume down button and then press and hold the Top button until your iPad restarts.
- iPhone 8 and later models: press and release the volume up button and then volume down button. Then press and hold the Side button until you see the Apple logo.
- iPhone 7 models: press and hold the Side and Volume Down buttons together until you see the Apple logo.
- Home button iPad models and iPhone 6s and earlier models: press and hold the Side and Home buttons together until you see the Apple logo.
5-Disconnect your device from your Mac. And, on your iPhone or iPad, tap:
- Settings > General > Reset and tap Reset Location & Privacy.
And now connect your device to your Mac with your USB cable.
This will reset your location settings to the factory default. You will need to regrant permission for apps to use your location again.
6-Connect your iPhone or iPad to your Mac. And then open the Activity Monitor app (Applications > Utilities), or you can use Spotlight.
When you open the App, enter usbd in the search field. And the force quit the process by clicking the X sign.
You can also do the same thing via Terminal. Here is how:
- Open the Terminal app (Applications > Utilities). And the enter the following command:
- sudo killall -STOP -c usbd
- Hit enter
7-Try resetting NVRAM or PRAM on your Mac. Here is how:
- Unplug your device
- Turn off your Mac
- And turn on your Mac and immediately press and hold the Option, Command, P, and R keys together. Keep holding them for about 20 seconds. When you hear a start up sound then you can release the keys.
- And your Mac will restart.
Please note that, as stated above, if you are having this problem with your iPad, the same tips will still help you fix this problem.
If none of the tips help you, then you may want to contact Apple. Apple offers live chat support. You may also reserve a Genius Bar appointment.
I tried the above but my Mac doesn’t show usbd in the activity window …?
I did the used thing and it worked!!! thank you.
Also did the usbd force quit and it worked! 🙂
Worked for me too!
The usbd force quit worked for me via Terminal! Thank you! This has been bugging me for months!!
It also work for me when I have used the terminal; I couldnt find usbd in activity monitor.
Thanks
Hi,
I thought it might be dust in the charging port on the iPhone but the kill process in the activity monitor worked for me – i searched USB and killed anything to do with it, Reconnected my phone and straight away it popped up with ‘Do you trust this device?’. I had also reset locations and privacy settings on the phone too, which may have helped.
J
The force quit in activity monitor didn’t work, but the terminal command worked:
sudo killall -STOP -c usbd
THANKS!!
usbd thing worked for me as well. THANK YOU!
I finally found a solution to this! I tried the above but usbd kept being an issue. Solution: connect through an old USB 2.0 Hub. “usbd” apparently is responsible for negotiating the higher charging rate for iPhones, but gets glitchy (with cables that work, but not considered reliable enough for fast charge…?) The hub can’t request higher charging power. iPhone connection is 100% solid going through the USB 2.0 hub that CAN’T request higher power!
I had this issue for over a year. Today I stumbled across a page that said to do a SMC reset and now it is all fixed!! Shutdown the Mac and connect the power cable. Hold down Shift+Control+Option+Power all at the same time for a few seconds. The light on the power adapter will blink or change colour once you remove your fingers (all at the same time). When it does this you’ll know ths SMC reset is complete. Turn your MacBook on by hitting the power button like normal. It should be fixed now 🙂
“Removing debris” worked for me! had this problem for years! I just had to blow in my MacBook’s USB port and voila!
You guys use the terminal option, took literally 2 seconds!!
Terminal method worked for me too. Thank you so much!
Thanks a lot. In Swahili we say, “Asante Sana”. The USBD thing solved my problem.
Following all these steps has worked for me especially step 6!