Although an iPhone can be used as a computer, completing working on it is not the same because you are restricted by quite a few factors such as the size of the screen, the impossibility to edit some of the files, look through them or print them. Due to the operating system’s features that are concentrated more on the apps rather than on the file system, most of the apps stored on your iPhone can’t communicate to other apps. This is not necessarily a bad thing because it prevents errors, but it can get frustrating for the iPhone users to manage the files and data. That’s why most people are looking for ways to browse the iPhone files on their computer.
iPhone files such as messages, photos, notes, videos are not that easy to access from the computer because of the way the operating system is built. Fortunately, there are other solutions to fix this problem. Browsing iPhone files on your computer can be done through a data recovery software, such as Enigma Recovery.
Enigma Recovery™
Browse your iPhone files on a PC or Mac
Compatible with Windows and Mac computers | Reviews (297+)
How to browse iPhone Files on your Computer Using Enigma Recovery
Enigma recovery is a tool that works on both Mac and Windows, and helps you recover, retrieve and extract data from iPhones, iPods Touch and iPads directly to your computer. By installing it on your PC, you’ll be able to browse through your iPhone files from your laptop/computer in just a few easy steps that will further be described in detail in this article.
To browse iPhone files on your computer using Enigma Recovery, you will need a USB cable to make the connection between the iPhone and the laptop/computer.
You can also extract deleted and existing data from iTunes and iCloud backups, such as:
- WhatsApp history (from backup file only)
- Internet history (from backup file only)
- Videos (from backup file only)
- Photos (from backup file only)
- Call history
- Calendar entries
- Messages
- Notes
- Contacts
Here are your steps
After downloading the Enigma Recovery software, install it and follow the next steps to browse the iPhone files on your computer:
Step 1 – Open Enigma Recovery
Download Enigma Recovery and open the tool.
Step 2 – Connect iPhone to computer
Use the USB cable to make the connection between the iPhone and the computer. On the left side menu, click on “Recover from device”.
Step 3 – Trust computer
To get to the next step, you have to trust the computer.
Step 4 – Scanning process
Choose what type of data from your iPhone you wish to transfer to the PC, and click on it. You’ll be able to browse all of the iPhone files on your computer if you choose “Select all” before hitting the “Start scan” button.
Step 5 – Scan report
The scan report will show you the deleted and existing files found by the software.
Step 6 – View recovered files
Click on each type of data on the left side of the screen, to see it in detail.
Step 7 – Export data
Choose what iPhone files you wish to browse on your computer, and then click “Export”. The data will be transferred to your laptop/PC.
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What if you can’t press the trust computer option on the device due the screen not working!?
Other 2 options are not valid for me as I’ve not backed them up in over a year.
I really need the data off my device. It was dropped in water. The screen is not coming on how the phone seems to be working as can here the sound when connected to charger etc.
Can you help?
Hi Sonny,
If you create backups in iCloud or iTunes you will be able to use the software to scan your backup and retrieve your data
Thanks for commenting!
I now have a iPhone 8 and I wanted to know if I would be able to recover deleted photos that were deleted from my old iphone 6 two years ago can I get those pics and videos back?
Hi Robbin,
There is a possibility that you may be able to get them back, see Is There a Way to Recover Permanently Deleted Photos from iPhone?
Hope that helps! 🙂
Hi Sarah McGregor,
I copied my iPhone 6 backup from a friend PC who failed to restore to my device but I couldn’t access them from my original PC even if I pasted on the same itune backup data folder. How can you help?
Hello Samuel,
If I understand correctly, you experienced an issue restoring your backup to your iPhone due to not being able to copy the iTunes backup folder. One of the issues here could be that Apple assigns each PC or Mac a user license when you attach your iPhone to that computer, up to a limit of 5 devices. It may be worth checking if the PC that you have a backup on has been authorised to connect to your Apple devices using your Apple ID or via the ‘Trust this Computer’ function.
Also copying an iTunes backup folder to a different computer to then do a full restore, may have security issues – again Apple assign and authorise computers and devices to protect user’s data. So, there is a possibility a restore may fail due to security protection left on the original PC/Mac you did the backup.
Hope this helps, please let us know if you need any further assistance.
Thanks,
Shaazia