Why won't iTunes see / detect my iPhone? (Mac)

So you're suddenly finding that when you connect your iPhone to your Mac, iTunes seems completely unaware that you've done so. iPhoto or Lightroom might see your iPhone and try to import photos from it, and your iPhone knows it is connected (charging icon appears on your iPhone), but your computer seems none the wiser.

Well, there are a variety of circumstances under which this can happen and a variety of reasons why. Rather than go through all of them (which some of you might like us to), here's the most common reason and the most common fix.

Reason: corrupted iTunes preferences file.

Here's how: First, close iTunes. Then, simply open Finder (or Terminal) and navigate to find the file ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.iTunes.plist and erase the file. Restart iTunes.

Chances are, your iPhone will now be recognized by iTunes.

Found another solution? Share it with other readers in the comments below.