Multiple iPhone and iPad owners have complained that Apple’s latest mobile software updates, iOS 16.5 and iPadOS 16.5, prevent their devices from being compatible with Apple’s Lightning to USB 3 Camera Adapter.
The accessory, which costs $39 from the Apple store (or £45 from the UK store), was designed with older Lightning iPad Pro models in mind, allowing owners to transfer photos from a digital camera to their tablet to share with them. edit and share; more recent iPads are equipped with USB-C ports and therefore have less need for an adapter. But it’s theoretically compatible with just about any Lightning iPhone or iPad, going all the way back to the 2012 iPhone 5 and the original iPad mini.
I say “in theory” because, according to MacRumors, many owners are currently discovering that in practice the accessory only works with iPhones and iPads that haven’t yet installed the version 16.5 editions of their respective operating systems. The problem appears to be specifically related to charging: because the adapter has both USB-A female and Lightning female ports, it should be possible to charge the iPad or iPhone while it is connected to a USB-A port via the USB-A port. other device is connected. However, if the device has iOS 16.5, charging will no longer work, and this in turn seems to cause bigger problems with the communication between the connected devices. An “drawing too much power” error has been reported by multiple users on Reddit and Apple’s support forums.
“This must be an issue with iOS 16.5, and I hope it gets fixed soon,” said the avid Apple support user. “It seems like a really bad look for an official Apple accessory to be rendered useless by an iOS incremental update.”
Obviously it is also a software issue. A user on the MacRumors forums reports testing with multiple adapters and multiple USB cables, further noting that the adapter worked fine with other devices still running iOS 16.4.1.
In addition, it is not yet clear that the bug is limited to this adapter. “My Lighting to HDMI adapter also died after this update,” complains the Redditor d1v1d38Yz3r0. However, another MacRumors forum user reports that their Lightning to VGA adapter works fine with iOS 16.5 devices. I tested with a 2022 iPad Air with iPadOS 16.5 and the HDMI adapter, and that setup worked fine.
iOS 16.5 is a minor update in terms of features (though it does introduce 21 new emojis), but it does patch several critical vulnerabilities. For this reason, we don’t recommend delaying the update until Apple has patched this bug, unless using the Lightning to USB 3 Camera Adapter (and charging while doing so) is absolutely critical to your workflow. Apple will presumably roll out a fix in the near future: as MacRumors points out, this could form the basis for a temporary iOS 16.5. are.
