Allow USB and other accessories to connect to your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch
You may need to unlock your passcode-protected iPhone, iPad or iPod touch to connect it to a Mac, PC or accessory.
Unlock your device
You may need to unlock your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch for it to recognise and connect to some accessories:
USB accessories
Thunderbolt accessories
Smart Connector accessories (such as Smart Keyboard) for iPad
Mac or PC computers
Once you unlock your device, your accessory remains connected, even if your device is locked again.
If you don’t first unlock your passcode-protected device – or you haven’t unlocked and connected it to an accessory within the past hour – your device won’t communicate with the accessory or computer, and in some cases, it may not charge. You may also see an alert asking you to unlock your device to use accessories.
If the accessory is still not being recognised after you unlock your device, disconnect your device from the accessory. Then unlock your device and reconnect the accessory.
Even if you don’t unlock your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch, your device still charges as usual when it’s connected to a USB power adapter.
Allow access to USB, Thunderbolt and other accessories
You can allow your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch to always access accessories. For example, if you use a USB assistive device to enter your passcode on your locked iPhone, many assistive devices automatically turn on the setting to allow USB devices the first time they’re connected.
If you don’t connect to accessories regularly, you might need to turn on this setting manually.
In Settings, go to Face ID & Passcode or Touch ID & Passcode, and turn on Accessories under Allow Access When Locked.
When the Accessories setting is off, you may need to unlock your device to connect accessories.
Administrators can control the Accessories setting on supervised devices using Apple Configurator or mobile device management.
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