TIL | Everything About the “Trust This Computer” alert on iPhone, iPad, or iPod
Last Updated on February 15, 2022 by Jason BenFor your iPhone to sync with iTunes, it must trust the computer first. In other words, it’s only after trusting a computer that your iPhone will allow data transfer (photos, music, contacts, videos, etc.) to occur between itself and that particular computer. If your iPhone distrusts a computer, it treats it as a mere charging device whenever you connect them using a USB cable. This article explains the procedures of how to get iPhone to trust computer.
How To Tell If Your iPhone’s Trusts a Computer
When you connect your unlocked iPhone to a computer, a notification box with the question “Trust This Computer?” should pop up on your iPhone screen. That confirms to you that your iPhone doesn’t trust nor distrust that computer. In that case, you can proceed to trust/distrust it. If the notification doesn’t appear, then there are two possibilities:
- Your iPhone already trusts that computer. You can go ahead with your business.
- Your iPhone distrusts that computer. You will know if this is the case when your attempt to share data between the two devices is rejected.
How to Trust a Computer on iPhone
- Connect your iPhone to your computer and unlock it.
- The Trust This Computer? notification pops up.
- At the bottom left of the pop-up, tap on Trust.
- Open iTunes on the computer.
- A notification will appear on the computer (Do you want to allow This Computer to access information on this iPhone?). Choose Continue.
- If you don’t want your iPhone to trust that computer, select Don’t Trust.
How to Trust a Previously Distrusted Computer on Your iPhone
If you select Don’t Trust as explained in the last point above, the trust notification will never pop up on your iPhone until the time you will change its privacy settings. If, for whatever reasons, you have changed your mind and you now want to trust the computer, proceed as follows.
- Disconnect your iPhone from the computer.
- Tap on the Settings icon on your iPhone.
- Among the options that will come up, scroll up and down until you find, General. Tap it.
- That will take you to a screen with the option, Reset. Select that option.
- Scroll down until you see the option, Reset Location & Privacy.
- If your iPhone has an access password, it will prompt you to input the password. Comply.
- Update your iTunes. If they are up to date, skip to the next procedure.
- Using your USB cable, reconnect your iPhone to the computer and open iTunes.
- A notification with the question “Do you want to allow this computer to access information on this iPhone?” will appear. Tap Continue.
- Disconnect and reconnect iPhone to the computer. The trust notification should pop up this time. Tap Trust.
- In the rare occasion that the notification fails to appear, reboot both the computer and the iPhone. Retry.
How to Distrust a Trusted Computer on Your iPhone
Maybe you wanted to distrust a computer but you mistakenly trusted it, or maybe you used to trust a computer but you now doubt its “trustworthiness”. This is how to make amends:
- Disconnect your iPhone from that computer.
- Go to Settings > General > Reset > Reset Location & Privacy. (We have shown you how to do this in the procedure above).
- Using a USB cable, connect the iPhone to the computer that you want to distrust.
- The trust notification will pop up. Select Don’t Trust.
- That done, your iPhone ceases to trust that computer until the day you will change your mind.
Conclusion
Always remember that the trust notification on your iPhone is a security precaution. You must, therefore, be very cautious when trusting any computer.
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