How Do I Get My IPhone and Windows Computer to Play Well?
How do you manage a multi-platform household? Not everyone is completely committed to Apple, Google, Microsoft, or any other tech company. You can have an iPhone and a Windows computer. Perhaps you prefer the Android camera and MacBook keyboard. Perhaps you are just an avid computer geek and love devices, period.
This week’s Tech 911 Q&A is not a regular email, but a tweet from Lifehacker reader Dave (not relevant). He’s writing:
How to make Windows PC and iPhone coexist peacefully
Good idea, Dave! So here’s the hidden secret: A long time ago – I can’t even tell you which version of iPhone or iOS it was – I used iTunes rigorously on my Windows PC. This was my primary music player, which means it should be before Spotify, and my decision has probably been delayed since I was in college, when iTunes was the easiest way to listen to (or steal) music from yours. dorm buddies.
I don’t know when I gave up iTunes, but it happened … at some point. I really can’t remember when I stopped installing iTunes on my Windows system. It was probably around the same time that I stopped jailbreaking my iPhone (remember the jailbreak?).
The fact is that I haven’t used iTunes for how long. And there is a good reason for that: I really don’t watch movies on my phone because I find it pointless to do it on a tiny screen and I stream all my music through Spotify. Even if these situations were the other way around, I would probably download purchased movies directly from the Apple TV app in the iTunes Store and insert music with an Apple Music subscription (or download albums that I previously purchased through an app of the same name).
As far as iPhone backups go, I have to use iTunes to make them on my computer because you can never have too many backups. I try not to do this for several reasons: I never need to connect my iPhone to my computer except for backups, so I’m forgetful. That, and I’ve fumbled enough with my computer (including reinstalling Windows more often than most people) that I wouldn’t want to rely on my desktop phone backups if anything ever went wrong with my iPhone.
Finally, and most importantly, automatic phone backups via iCloud are absurdly simple. Yes, it takes up a lot of space – take my precious $ 3 a month, Apple – but it’s very much out of sight, just like any good backup.
So, for all these reasons, I don’t really use iTunes on Windows. It’s not even installed now. That’s how little it bothers me. If I need music, movies, TV shows or apps, I download them straight from Apple to my phone. I would probably install iTunes just to add new (self-created) ringtones to my phone, and I didn’t have to do that after a while.
You are probably wondering how I download the various photos and videos that I shoot on my iPhone to my Windows computer. This is a fair question with a simple solution. I could just sync them all to iCloud and download that way, but Apple’s interface annoys me (and seems to always ask me to two-factor that I’m logged into my account).
Instead, I just save my photos and movies to Google Photos . It’s fast, free, and easy enough to access from any desktop or laptop I use. I download photos in bulk if I need them on my desktop for any reason; otherwise, I just let them sit in the cloud and use Google’s search capabilities better than Apple to find whatever I need.
And it’s all! I wish I had a magic bullet that would allow me to talk to friends through Messages on Windows, like Apple fans can do on macOS, but I don’t hold my breath to make that ever happen. Honestly, this is the biggest annoyance I have as a Windows user: I wish I didn’t have to constantly pick up my phone to answer text messages. Luckily, most of my friends chat on Facebook Messenger, so at least I don’t get the tunnel constantly jumping between my desktop and my iPhone.
I am trying to figure out if I am missing anything. Generally speaking, if I ever have to drag and drop files onto my iPhone for any reason, I use apps that allow me to do this via the cloud. So, if I need to bring a bunch of PDFs somewhere, I just sync PDF Expert to my Google Drive folder, upload my PDFs there from my desktop, and I’m done. As I said, I basically never connect your iPhone directly to the Windows desktop, laptop, or for any reason, because I feel that you really are not in the year of our Cloud, 2020.