Can I use my iPad Pro’s SD Card adapter with my M1 MBA, by way of a lightning-female-to-USB-C-male adapter?

[BlueberryMac]

When I bought my iPad Pro 10.5” back in 2017, I also bought one of Apple’s SD Card dongles that plugs into the iPad Pro’s lightning port.

The dongle allows one to import photos from an SD Card into the Photos app on the iPad. As I do all of my editing and such on my Mac, I think I only used it a couple of times.

Anyway, now I have a new M1 Macbook Air that sadly lacks an SD Card slot. So I am wondering, if — instead of spending another $40 for a new SD Card dongle — I can just plug my old one into a $8 adapter and repurpose it that way.

What do you think?
And if you think it will work, can you suggest a lightning-female-to-USB-C-male adapter on Amazon that would do the trick?

Thanks!

 

[Chancha]

Forget it, Lightning is an Apple proprietary connection that only works on iOS Devices as host. Your Mac on the other hand is a more open system with a standard port that is USB-C. Just get a USB-C SD card reader, or consider the dozens of multi-port USB-C hubs that also have USB-A ports / HDMI / ethernet in addition to the SD slot you need, so this dongle isn't just single-use.

 

[Mistborn15]

I have that SD card dongle. I airdrop from my iPhone and Mini to the Mac

 

[svanstrom]

Anyway, now I have a new M1 Macbook Air that sadly lacks an SD Card slot. So I am wondering, if — instead of spending another $40 for a new SD Card dongle — I can just plug my old one into a $8 adapter and repurpose it that way.

What do you think?
And if you think it will work, can you suggest a lightning-female-to-USB-C-male adapter on Amazon that would do the trick?

I doubt it would work; and you'd probably notice a lack of speed if it did. Then again, if you have the hardware you might as well try; you never know when the easiest path for the programmers was for them to simply link some libraries with sort of full capability.

But have you ever seen a female lightning to USB-C thingie that doesn't specifically just talk about being for audio?

 

[macislife]

I have a usb c to lightning adapter (a Chinese brand, syrox), i tried it with a lightning to 3.5 mm headphone adapter and it doesn’t work on my M1 air. I doubt it would work with an SD card reader.

 

[BlueberryMac]

Yeah, I saw one that seemed to be built for charging Samsung phones and the Amazon page was pretty clear that “THIS IS ONLY FOR POWER — NOT DATA!”

 

[BlueberryMac]

I have that SD card dongle. I airdrop from my iPhone and Mini to the Mac

Yeah, I mean, I could go that way, it’s just so many more steps and much more cumbersome. I think the best solution will just be to spring for whatever SD-Card-to-USB-C dongle that Anker makes.

I was just hoping to save a few bucks and more importantly to actually get some use out of something I already had but never use.

 

[Mistborn15]

Yes, getting a USB C card reader is ideal but I don't find using the dongle on the phone and airdropping that cumbersome. Same number of steps too. That's what I have been doing for few years when traveling - Sony RX100 to phone and later airdropping to the Mac.

 

[BlueberryMac]

Yes, getting a USB C card reader is ideal but I don't find using the dongle on the phone and airdropping that cumbersome. Same number of steps too. That's what I have been doing for few years when traveling - Sony RX100 to phone and later airdropping to the Mac.

Well, you plug the SD Card into the iPad, hope you have enough free space, load the photos into the Photos app, select the photos, Airdrop them to the Mac, go back to the iPad and delete all of the images, then open the Recently Deleted folder on the iPad to actually delete them to reclaim the space...

it’s a lot more than “plug SD Card into Mac and drag files over”

 

[Mistborn15]

Well, you plug the SD Card into the iPad, hope you have enough free space, load the photos into the Photos app, select the photos, Airdrop them to the Mac, go back to the iPad and delete all of the images, then open the Recently Deleted folder on the iPad to actually delete them to reclaim the space...

it’s a lot more than “plug SD Card into Mac and drag files over”

those steps are unnecessary. All I do is - connect the dongle to the iPhone. Open files and send the photos directly from the card to Mac