7 Solutions to Fix iPhone/iPad SD Card Reader Not Working

4 min readMar 11, 2021

Unlike Android devices that have an in-built ability to add and increase storage capability by using microSD cards, iPhone and iPad require an adapter to import your data that includes photos as well as videos. But when the iPad SD card reader not working, you may get frustrated. But don’t worry! We are here to get you out of this situation. This article will provide you the best solution in case your SD card reader is not working. So, let’s start our solutions.

Check the iPhone or iPad model and iOS version.

The first solution to look for is to check if your iPhone or iPad model and iOS versions are compatible or not. If you are using an Apple iPhone version 5 or more, you will need iOS 9.2 or later. Whereas, if you are using iPhone 4S, you may need iOS version 9.3. To use a lightning to USB 3 adapter, you will need the iOS 9.3 version. Thus, it is essential to check for compatibility if your iPhone SD card reader not working.

Check if SD card is supported.

Camera adapters of Apple can import different media files from an SD card or a digital camera. But if the file format is not compatible with iOS, you will not view it on your device. Thus, it is important to check if the SD card is supported or not. Some of the SD card and image transfer protocol includes:

Thus, check if the SD card is supported or not.

Check if the SD card reader is defective.

If you think that there is a possibility that your SD card reader is not working, you need to check the device with a working SD card. You can run a test to verify if the SD card is damaged or not. You can’t use a damaged SD card and get the best result. Thus, run a diagnostic test to verify if your SD card is in working condition or not.

Check if the picture files are in the correct folder.

When your iPhone SD card reader is not working, you also need to check if the picture files are in the correct folder or not. You can’t select picture files into an SD card and then plug that SD card into the lightning card. Thus, the picture must be in the sub-directory or a DCIM folder. This is important because your camera will format the SD card automatically directly from the Sub-directory. Thus, when you are sure that there is no problem related to incompatible iOS or anything else, it’s important to check if the picture is stored in the correct folder or not.

Factory resetting your iPhone or iPad.

If none of the above-mentioned give you the expected result, it is time to factory reset your iPhone or iPad. The following are the steps needed to factory reset your iPhone or iPad.

Step 1: Open “ Settings” on your iPhone/iPad and tap on “ General.”

Step 2: Go to “ Reset” and choose “ Erase All Contents and Settings.”

Upgrade to the latest iOS.

Sometimes your iPhone or iPad SD card may not work if it is not updated to the latest version. Thus, it would help if you upgraded it. Follow these steps:

Step 1: Connect the device to Wi-Fi or any other form of internet connection you have.

Step 2: Go to the “ Settings” option.

Step 3: Then click on “General” and tap on the “ Software update” option.

Step 4: Tap on the “ Download and install” option.

Step 5: Once the update is completed, you will receive a pop-up that says that the update is completed.

Format SD card to FAT32.

The next solution that you can look for is to format the SD card to FAT32. There are different ways to do it, but we will follow the easiest, one i.e., using Powershell. Follow these steps to format the SD card to FAT32 in Windows:

Step 1: Start the step by inserting the SD card into your PC.

Step 2: Start with the “ Windows + X” keys combination and choose “ Windows Powershell (Admin)” from the menu.