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iPhone 15 with USB C: can you use adapters to connect Lightning accessories?

By Preslav Kateliev

Published: Oct 24, 2023, 9:17 AM

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Accessories Apple

iPhone 15 with USB C: can you use adapters to connect Lightning accessories?

Apple's iPhones are the most popular smartphones in the world and, as such, have had many accessories made for them over the years. Even if they had a proprietary Lightning port, which manufacturers had to pay a license to create connectors for, the iPhones have accumulated a vast portfolio of 3rd party integrations.

Yes, we have the simpler things like power banks and headphone adapters, but also a plethora of advanced devices like audio interfaces, thermal cameras, MIDI controllers, and other gadgets that we have stocked on over the years.

So, what now? Are these devices obsolete and useless? Or can they still work with the new iPhones if we get a USB C to Lightning adapter?

Lightning accessories with iPhone 15: do adapters work?

We have good news — there's a likely chance that you can still use your Lightning accessories with the proper USB-C adapter! However, now all adapters are made the same. To test and illustrate this, we bought two products:

Apple's official USB-C to Lightning adapter

Amazon-recommended USB-C to Lightning adapters

So, we got whatever accessories we had and tested both. The official Apple USB-C adapter worked for any device we had on hand — an external Samsung SSD, an old Line 6 Sonic Port audio interface, and charging devices were all working with the iPhone 15 through a USB-C to Lightning connection. Unfortunately, it's not cheap as far as dongles go — it's a $29 adapter that also happens to be bulky. Though, at the very least, its cable is a high-quality braided one.

The dongle life

As for the cheap adapters you can pick up from Amazon — these are incredibly compact and can even be carried around in your wallet. However, be warned that most — if not all — of these will not work with any audio equipment. So, headphones, audio interfaces, and these "portable boom mics" with a Lightning connector on them will not work. Some adapters have this warning in their description, some do not. However, it is our experience that if an adapter is not explicitly marked as MFi, it will not support audio.

They do support charging and, more often than not, allow data transfer. We used them to connect to PCs and to Macs and had no trouble transferring our files (at USB 2 speeds).

Connecting an external camera (like an action cam) via one of these adapters can have varying results — our iPhone started drawing power from the camera instead of getting access to it as it were a storage device. There are different models out there on the market, so some might still work, we just can't give you a 100% guarantee.

Final result:

Adapter	Charging	Audio	File transfer (computer)	External storage	Action cameras
Apple USB C to Lightning	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Generic OTG adapter	Yes	No	Yes	Sometimes	Sometimes

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Preslav, a member of the PhoneArena team since 2014, is a mobile technology enthusiast with a penchant for integrating tech into his hobbies and work. Whether it's writing articles on an iPad Pro, recording band rehearsals with multiple phones, or exploring the potential of mobile gaming through services like GeForce Now and Steam Link, Preslav's approach is hands-on and innovative. His balanced perspective allows him to appreciate both Android and iOS ecosystems, focusing on performance, camera quality, and user experience over brand loyalty.