HT204204: Update the iOS software on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch

Learn about Update the iOS software on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch

mdb55

Level 1 (9 points)

iPad

Q: Sync failed to finish

I attempted to sync RCP Tones in iTunes and it did not complete. Now my iPad Air will not sync because the previous one did not complete.

iPad Air, iOS 9.3.2

Posted on May 30, 2016 7:20 PM

I have this question too

Q: Sync failed to finish

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Helpful answers

by Ingo2711,

Ingo2711 May 31, 2016 2:10 AM in response to mdb55
Level 7 (25,834 points)

iPhone

May 31, 2016 2:10 AM in response to mdb55

Did you try to force restart the iPad by holding the sleep and home button for about 10sec, until the Apple logo comes back again?
You will not lose data by doing that.
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by mdb55,

mdb55 May 31, 2016 3:41 PM in response to Ingo2711
Level 1 (9 points)

iPad

May 31, 2016 3:41 PM in response to Ingo2711

Ingo,
Thanks, i tried a number of times the restart without any change. going to keep searching.
mike
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by Ingo2711,

Ingo2711 May 31, 2016 10:36 PM in response to mdb55
Level 7 (25,834 points)

iPhone

May 31, 2016 10:36 PM in response to mdb55

Did you get any error message from iTunes, when the sync process stopped the first time?
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by mdb55,

mdb55 Jun 1, 2016 1:11 PM in response to Ingo2711
Level 1 (9 points)

iPad

Jun 1, 2016 1:11 PM in response to Ingo2711

Yes, this the error message that appears while step 4 is active and stalls on ; "The iPad could not be synced because the sync session failed to finish."
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by Ingo2711,

Ingo2711 Jun 1, 2016 1:40 PM in response to mdb55
Level 7 (25,834 points)

iPhone

Jun 1, 2016 1:40 PM in response to mdb55

Did you check posts like this one?
There are some more if you do a search: sync session failed to finish
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by mdb55,

mdb55 Jun 5, 2016 7:33 PM in response to Ingo2711
Level 1 (9 points)

iPad

Jun 5, 2016 7:33 PM in response to Ingo2711

Ingo,

Thanks, I deleted the app from all my devices and started over and followed the instructions more carefully. The error message did not refer to but must have been caused by the incomplete syncing of the tones. After the app and tones synced properly all are working normal.

mike
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by Ingo2711,

Ingo2711 Jun 5, 2016 11:13 PM in response to mdb55
Level 7 (25,834 points)

iPhone

Jun 5, 2016 11:13 PM in response to mdb55

Great news
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by Frank Malloy,

Frank Malloy Sep 14, 2016 10:26 AM in response to mdb55
Level 2 (355 points)

iPad

Sep 14, 2016 10:26 AM in response to mdb55

Same problem here. Tried everything, cannot sync.
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by Frank Malloy,

Frank Malloy Sep 15, 2016 12:54 PM in response to mdb55
Level 2 (355 points)

iPad

Sep 15, 2016 12:54 PM in response to mdb55

With help on another forum, I finally fixed my instance of this.

Turns out some problem/corruption in the phone's photo database caused the sync to fail. But, you cannot remove photos synced from the computer's Photos app. So it's a chicken/egg problem.

I enabled iCloud Photo Library on the phone, which removes your local copies and uploads them to iCloud. Once all the photos were removed, I could then backup and sync without any errors. Then, I could set the photos I want on my phone and all is good.

I'm hoping the sync/backup software could be more robust, as well as improving the error dialogs (eg. *why* did the sync fail?)
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