How to View Trail Camera Photos on iPhone: Guide (2023)

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Rob Johnston

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How to View Trail Camera Photos on iPhone

In this article I take a look at how to view trail camera photos on iPhones.

If you are like me, then you’re keen to take a quick look at the pictures captured on your trail cam. Viewing those pictures on an iphone or even an ipad in the field provides you with instant feedback of activity in the area.

There are a number of ways to check your pictures using an iphone and even storing them if the phone has enough capacity. I’ll be honest, I’m not a fan of transferring all the images over to the iphone and then formatting the card.

SD cards are very affordable these days, so I recommend you always carry a few spare SD cards and switch them over. Having said that, I know that some people do use an iphone or android device to store and then delete the pictures by reformatting the SD card in the trail camera.

Below I have outlined the ways in which it is possible to view trail camera photos on your iPhone.

Trail Camera Viewer SD Card Reader For iPhone

Last update on 2024-04-09 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API

This 4 in 1 card reader will accept both micro and standard SD cards via the 2 dedicated card slots.

The following connections are available:

USB 2.0
Lightning for iPhone
Type C
Micro USB

This reader is an ideal part of a deer scouts essential kit. It reads images fast from most popular trail camera brands.

Boneview Lightning to SD Card Reader

Well this one’s not rocket science, it works in exactly the same way as the USB camera lead method above, although this time your taking the pictures directly off the SD card using the adapter.

Some retailers sell both as a package, so you can have both the USB lead and the SD card reader adapter. This way your covered in all cases.

There is a great company called Boneview who offer a dedicated SD card reader for trail cameras.

It’s one big advantage over other SD card readers being that it reads both SD and micro SD cards up to 32GB. It’s affordable too, so its one to consider.

This Boneview SD card reader is compatible with:

iPhone 5, 6, 7, 8, X, SE and 11, 12 & 13
Including iPhone Plus & SE models
Any ipad with a lightning charge port

Last update on 2024-04-09 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API

Trail Cam Tracker SD Card Reader

The SD card reader below is compatible with later iPhone models as well as some older models, (See table below).

This card reader has 3 connectors.

USB for computer connection
Lightning connector to iPhones
Micro USB connector for Android devices

The USB connector will plug into your laptop and read the SD card directly. The Lightning connector is for your iPhone. This also has an extender for iPhones inside a protective case which is a really neat feature. Finally the micro USB is for Android devices.

The Trail Cam Tracker reader also comes with a small circular case to store the reader when heading out to swap over trail cam SD cards.

Last update on 2024-04-10 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API

iPhone 5/5S/5C
iPhone 6/6S/6 plus/6S plus/SE
iPhone 7/7 plus
iPhone 8
iPhone X
iPhone 11, 12 & 13

Lightning to USB Cable

You probably have one of these lying around already. They’re available on Amazon, the Apple retail store and many other online stores, so shop around for the best price.

The trail camera must have a USB port for this method to work of course, so check to make sure beforehand. Plus, most trail cameras use micro USB 2.0.

Once you have the USB lead your all set. It’s just a matter of plugging it all together and waiting for the iphone to “talk” to the trail camera. There is one important piece of advice that I’ll leave in the “how to” section below.

If your trail camera doesn’t have a USB port, take a look at the other card readers listed in this article.

Last update on 2024-04-10 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API

How To View Trail Camera Pictures

I’ll go through the process step by step and cover using both methods discussed earlier in the article.

Connecting your iphone to read the SD card

Make sure your device whether it be an iPhone or an iPad is switched on. Plug the adapter into the lightning port (older iPhones with a 30 pin adapter will work with the correct adapter kit)

Insert the SD card into the adapter.

TIP: Ensure you have ios 9.3 or later installed

If you don’t have the latest iOS then you may see an error message saying “device uses too much power” this will only apply to the Lightning to USB lead method when connecting a trail camera directly to the iPhone / iPad.

This does not apply to Boneview’s Lightning to SD card adapter. Although Apple do advise having the latest iOS installed on your iPhone / iPad.

Access photos from the trail camera SD card

You should hopefully have all the bits connected if you followed the last section of the article.

Depending on the ios installed, the photo app will automatically appear under import.

Now you will see all the pictures stored on the SD card. From there it is just a matter of “import all” or “delete all” or you may just browse the pictures if you wish.

Imported pictures are saved in the “imported Pictures folder” It’s worth mentioning that there are dedicated apps on the app store for reading SD cards and flash devices.

One such app that BoneView recommend using with their SD card reader is i-Flash Device.

I’m not going to go into the details of the app for now, but it may be worth taking a look. The app does have extra features for image management over the basic iPhone picture app.

Summary

Using the above methods at times can be very useful instead of waiting to get home to view the pictures on your computer.

Most modern trail cameras do have a viewing screen, but as I’m sure you’re aware they are very small and it’s almost impossible sometimes to see exactly what’s triggered the camera.

The one big advantage of viewing the pictures at the trail cam location is that it allows you to make an instant decision on whether to move the camera to a potential “hot spot”.

Some people store the pictures onto their iPhone, then replace the SD card back into the trail cam and reformat the card.

As I mentioned earlier, that’s not something I would do personally. SD cards are very affordable these days. Better to take a spare card and swap them out in my opinion.

Well, there you have it. I hope you found this article useful, if you have any further advice or questions, please leave a comment below, happy hunting and good luck out there!