I wanted to give another update to the new Recipe Transfer feature in the Fuji X Weekly App. I mentioned when this was first released that I expected to find a few bugs and issues, and that hopefully they would be small. So far, the bugs have been small and have been fixed via App updates. If your phone doesn’t automatically update your apps, you should double-check if you are on the latest version of the Fuji X Weekly App (click here for Apple; click here for Android). Some of the issues (not necessarily “bugs”) are a little larger, and I want to give you an update real quick.

First, on Apple, iPhones and iPads that use a Lightning cable don’t work. I have had some reports of people successfully using an adapter, like the official Apple Lightning-to-USB 3 that’s specifically intended for connecting to cameras, but when I was finally able to try it personally, I had no luck. I didn’t own any Lightning iPhones to test it on, so it took me some time to get one (plus various adapters—I tried a few), but I was unable to get it to work. At this time, I’m calling it: Lightning cable iPhones and iPads are not compatible with the App-to-Camera Recipe Transfer feature. Since I have had a handful of reports of it working, I’m going to continue investigating, and try to figure out how to make it work; until that happens, I’m considering Lightning cable iPhones and iPads incompatible. If you are able to successfully make it work, please let me know.

Second, also on Apple, I have had some reports of the Recipe Transfer feature not working for iPads (with a USB-C connection, not Lightning) with fourth-generation models (X-Pro3, X100V, X-T4, X-S10, X-T30 II, and X-E4). It will work with fifth-gen cameras (X-H2s, X-H2, X-T5, X-S20, X100VI, X-T50, X-M5, X-E5, and X-T30 III), just not fourth. This isn’t an issue for iPhones, only iPads. I’ve not figured out why yet, but I hope to get to the bottom of it. There might be a certain setting on the iPad that needs to be configured, but I’m just not sure why it works for some models and not others. Let me know if you are successfully able to connect your fourth-gen Fujifilm camera to a USB-C iPad.

Third, for Android, (as previously reported) the phones must support USB host mode (USB OTG), which might need to be toggled on manually; to enable USB OTG, go to Settings → System/Connected Devices/Additional Settings (depending on your phone) → USB OTG/OTG Connection (depending on your phone). Most modern Android phones support USB host mode, and most will enable it automatically, but definitely not all of them. If your Android phone isn’t connecting to the camera, this could be the reason. I got one report that the process to resolve it was much more involved. Specifically, on his Nothing Phone 1, he had to select Developer Options, enable USB Debug, then select Default USB Configuration, and finally choose File Transfer. The exact method to resolve this issue can vary greatly from model-to-model-to-model (etc., etc., etc.), and there is no way to test it out on all (or even most) possible Android phones or create a comprehensive list of the exact process to resolve this problem should it occur. I have had several reports of people having to figure out the process for their phones, which was different than the methods described above. Thankfully, this shouldn’t be an issue for most people.