Q: Updated my iPhone to iOS v9, now can't use it with my iTunes

I found a solution that might help others.

My iMAC runs Lion, 10.7.5. It has iTunes 12.2.2. My old phone was a 4S running iOS 8.4, and working fine.

I happen to also have an iPad Mini running 8.4.

Planning to buy an iPhone 6s, I backed up my old phone to iTunes on my iMAC.

Bought the phone, and the guy in the AT&T store said he needed to upgrade it to the latest software; if I tried to restore it before doing the upgrade, it would turn into a brick that Apple would have to fix; he wouldn't be able to. So he upgraded to 9.1. When I tried to restore from iTunes, the error message said that synching to 9.1 required a newer iTunes. So I went to the iTunes menu bar and chose System Update and got a message that I had the most recent version. Then called Apple support and spent 58 minutes with a woman who had never heard of this problem (despite the hundreds of posts on this support site) and first tried the steps I had tried, then had me download a newer iTunes even though the download site said I needed OS 10.8.5 or newer. Naturally, it refused to install. The support person then suggested I copy my backup file to an external hard drive and plug it into a computer with a newer OS -- not very practical. It did appear that I would have to upgrade all the way to the current OS to back up the phone... not happening, since Apple's newer systems do not support their own software -- Aperture -- and the alternative, Photos, is unthinkable for a photographer. (Should have bought Lightroom in the first place.)

Then a light went off -- you can back up via the cloud. I called a different Apple support #, one dedicated to iPhones, where the rep knew all about the problem (and says it is supposed to be fixed in the next iOS point release, but he had no date for this.) Following his advice, I upgraded my old cloud account (free, 5 GB) for 99 cents a month 50 GB. (Incidentally, you can't upgrade or read/write iCloud Drive with a 10.7.5 machine, but it is easy to do from the iOS version 8 mobile devices.) I took my old phone, turned on Cloud backup, then hit the Back Up Now button-- took about 15 minutes. . Before restoring my data to the new phone, I had to restore the new phone to factory settings, but since it had no data this was no problem. See https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT203977. After you 'wipe' the phone, you get put into SetUp Assistant, and go through all the steps of that, and then it offers you 'Restore from iCloud Backup.' It shows you the backup you just did, you select it, and it takes about 5 minutes. At the end of that time a lot of the apps show their icons on the face of the phone, but aren't really 'there.' The phone starts downloading them, but as it does so, it for the most part retains the settings I had. That all took close to 30 minutes via WiFi. See https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204184.  and also see https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201274.

After it is all in place, you check each of the apps; some of them require passwords that didn't get saved somehow; I had a similar experience when replacing my old iPad Mini and restoring from iTunes... maybe because I wasn't using Keychain.

Anyway, this was ultimately fine and I love the new phone. It is unfortunate that the first customer support person was clueless - would have saved me over an hour. But in the end it is certainly worth 99 cents a month. (Final note, my phone had 16 GB of memory, but it was busting at the seams; I expected the back up would require about that much space, but it was only 2.9 GB, and in retrospect I could probably have done this with my free 5 GB. I guess the reason this happens is that the restoration doesn't really restore the actual apps; it just leaves the instructions for configuring them, and gets the apps later.)

I had the same same situation and I learned the hard way too; that the iCloud does not backup the actual Apps. However, it was explained to me by an Apple customer service rep., Therefore I did not pay for an iCloud storage. I am sure that if you call back and explain the situation, Apple would reverse the charge and the iCloud storage fees.

Thanks for the help. I got the same iTunes message, and then I also was told I had to upgrade my OS. I thought that I was going to have to purchase the OS before I could transfer from my 4S to my new 6sPlus. But, I followed your directions, and it worked! I will probably have to upgrade my OS to get ITunes to recognize my new phone. One message said I would have to use at least Yosemite.( I see where it is now called El Capitan and is a free upgrade.}

I am in my late 60s and certainly not a techie; however, I purchased my first Mac (MacPlus) in 1986. Thanks again so much.

I know this is older, but I have been fighting this error message since I got my 6S+.  I have two Macs, one running SL the other EC.  I dont worry about backups as I have my EC machine to do that to.  I use my SL machine for a media server to my Apple TV.  I cannot stream anything because as soon as the error pops up, it cuts off everything until it is dismissed.  I am not looking to sync my iPhone, just stop the error message like I am trying to sync it.  I have deleted all the backups stored, signed out of the store and deauthorized the machine and they persist.  This tells me it is a local issue, likely a small file that keeps linking the new iPhone to iTunes. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

For reference:

Mac Mini 10.6.8

Mac Mini 10.11.1

iPhone 6S+ (Launch Day Unit)

Apple TV 3

SL will not update to the current iTunes, and I think your Apple TV is looking for a more current version iTunes.

I'm back on 10.6.8 for the time being (new mbpr 15 got stolen... thanks apple for refusing to implement easy methods for deterring thieves) and am infuriated by this issue because iTunes 12.4 was working just fine until I reset my phone, at which point it is giving me the "you need to download iTunes..." (a minor gripe is that the fix described in the dialog box obviously doesn't work for older OS's). So now my phone is wiped and I can't restore the backup. I suppose I'll have to find the backup file, send it to a friend, and have them restore it for me. Surely dealing with apple ID's and whatnot will be a nightmare, but I expect it to work.

Sometimes apple's general superiority just ends up causing me to be less careful.

Can't thank you enough for the detailed info. Love the User Name you chose. I'm thoroughly disappointed with Apple. It's a disgrace. Thanks stopping my headache lasting longer than 24 hours! Much appreciated. 

Just a heads up, I have just recently had this problem with my iPhone 6 and my MacBook Pro running 10.6.8, but only AFTER I restored it to factory settings and downloaded an iCloud backup (rescuing an accidentally deleted text thread - but the inability to undo deleted text threads is a complaint for another time).  I was previously able to sync my iPhone with iOS 9.2.1 to my iTunes 11.4 on 10.6.8 up until this point.  I am not sure what varied between my reset and iCloud backup download and that of NotYetViolentOverThis (lolz at your name though).  Would love to see this resolved, but I see it's been an issue since the first release of iOS 9.0.1 so... 0.2 updates later and nothing seems to have improved...

If you were able to sync prior to your factory reset, using iOS 9 then why is it not ok to use iOS 9 on older versions of iTunes? It clearly works? Apple forcing customers to buy new macs?

Did using iCloud allow your music library to be sync'd as well?

This is surely a big &^%* up by Apple? Surely it is not legal to do this intentionally? On updating my iOS on phone, I was not warned about the fact that it will terminate the connection between my phone and my mac?

I wasn't even aware, because I hadn't connected to iTunes since updating, until my wife bought an iPhone 6S, and on connecting to iTunes discovered this fiasco.

iCloud is a possible work around but only if it does the music and the photos as well.

Did this also copy your iTunes music library?

I'm having the same problem with a new iPhone 6.  Funny thing is, I have another iPhone 6 that syncs perfectly. One works and the other needs a new version of iTunes? 

The new iphone 6 (iOS 9.2.1 13D15) gives me this message:

The iPhone “Katie 6” cannot be used because it requires a newer version of iTunes. Go to www.itunes.com to download the latest version of iTunes.

The old iPhone connects fine.  It has the exact same iOS.  It's the same model phone and the same carrier.

The computer is an iMac with OS X 10.6.8.  iTunes is 11.4.

Why would one work and the other not?

Just want to say that Matt W's comments in this thread have been spot on. I've been dealing with this same issue now myself, and once you start to realize the full extent to which Apple kicks users on "old" hardware to the curb (and this is an issue across all the different Apple devices I own) for what sure feels like arbitrary, financially motivated reasons, it becomes rather infuriating.

Makes me feel like, if I can ween myself off Apple devices for mobile and TV applications, and just use my Macs in more of an isolated fashion, my life would be improved.

I hear you, It's so frustrating!

This has been so very frustrating.

I believe it is time to ween from our neglectful conglomerate