iOS 13 iPhone not compatible with iTunes on High Sierra?

For iOS 12 or later you need iTunes 12.8.0.150 or better running on OS X 10.11.4 or better. See How to upgrade to OS X El Capitan - Apple Support if required. iOS 13 likely requires iTunes 12.8.2.3 or better.

Assuming a suitable version of iTunes is in place then in Finder use the menu item Go > Go to Folder..., copy the following text, paste it into the dialog box and press enter:

/System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/MobileDevice.framework/Versions/Current/Resources

Unlock your device and connect it to USB. Double click on MobileDeviceUpdater in the folder that has opened. It should notify you of a software update. Install it and iTunes should hopefully recognize your device.

tt2

Hi, Keana!

Thanks for visiting the Apple Support Communities. I understand that you're trying to connect your iPhone to your MacBook Pro, but iTunes isn't recognizing it. I'm happy to help!

iTunes in High Sierra will still work with a device using iOS 13. If you do not see your device in iTunes, you can use the steps in If your computer doesn't recognize your iPhone, iPad, or iPod - Apple Support to troubleshoot.

If you still need help after that, please get in touch with Apple Support directly. You can do that here: Contact Apple Support.

Best!

You can try reinstalling iTunes. See the links in iTunes for Mac installers - Apple Community if needed. FWIW last time I tried installing an older build of iTunes I ran into an issue with an expired security certificate which I resolved by setting the system clock back a year during the install.

tt2

Have you tried the steps outlined in the first reply to this thread? If you're not able to resolve things on your own try Apple Support. I'm afraid I don't have an explanation for you, but I know that High Sierra is supposed to be able to support iOS 13 so it isn't a question of definite incompatibility.

tt2

Had you previously synced this phone with the iTunes library on this computer? If not then that dialog would be expected. Unfortunately it does seem that occasionally iTunes will not recognize a previously connected iPhone and issue that warning in error. As long as you have the media that syncs to the phone in your local library it should present a problem, however if that isn't the case see Recover your iTunes library from your iPod or iOS device - Apple Community to reclaim your media. The set-up as new device option doesn't change any content on the device but is needed so that iTunes can connect to the device and back it up. There should be a second warning later if you try to set up syncing which will warn that media on the device will be replaced by the selection from the computer. Make sure that you have everything in the library first, and ideally a backup, before you proceed.

tt2

Thank you so much. This worked perfectly. I was about to give up, then entered "backup iPhone 6s plus using iTunes 12.8.2.3" on Google and found this post as the third entry. For anyone else out there, here is the info on my devices:

• iPhone 6s plus with iOS 13.3.1,
• connecting to a MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2014) using USB running OSX version 10.13.6 (High Sierra),
• using iTunes 12.8.2.3.

At first I was nervous to run the MobileDeviceUpdater.app, as your instructions said "it should notify you of a software update. Install it...". It was unclear what would be updated - the MacBook Pro OSX, the iPhone iOS, or iTunes update from 12.8.2.3 to something(?) else. From what happened, it appears that the update was only for a driver in iTunes and that the iTunes version stayed at 12.8.2.3.

Again, thanks so much!

On OS 10.11.6 (El Capitan) with an iPhone 6s on iOS 13.

iPhone wasn't recognized by iTunes but was visible to the OS (About This Mac > System Report > USB)

This fixed the problem for me! Thank you very much!

@turingtes2,

It's great to know that your reply helped many people to overcome their problems.

Actually I've got the same problem. Necessary info is given bellow:

iTunes 12.8.2.3 in MacBook Pro 13.3" (Early 2011) with OSX 10.13.6 (High Seirra) can't find the iPhone 7 Plus with iOS 13.3.1

But I can't make this work eventhough I've done the process that you suggested. Is there any other way so that I can connect my iPhone to iTunes?

Thanks in advance.

Hey,

I tried your technique but when I opened iTunes afterwards, it prompted me with: "Welcome to your new iPhone" and suggested using an old backup or set it up as a new phone. I clicked it away since I wanted to do neither and I got scared it would overwrite my current phone data.

Was that the wanted outcome of your solution? If so - what should I have done instead of clicking it away?

I have a MBP, Early 2011, running macOS Sierra 10.12.6 and iTunes 12.8.2.3. iPhone is on iOS 13.3.1

Based on this chart, the latest devices with iOS 12 (iPhone Xr, Xs, etc) still support back to El Capitan (10.11), so as long as you update iTunes (to the version released when iOS 13 is released), it will probably work.

Thanks

--Cory Bjork

[Link Edited by Moderator]

Thank you for responding so quickly!

I have previously backed up my phone with this computer, unfortunately it's been a while. So I don't have a current backup of my phone on my mac. So when I get prompted with "Welcome to your new iPhone" and whether or not to restore it from a backup or set it up as a new phone, should I proceed to set it up as new or will that delete the data currently on my phone? I don't want to restore it from a backup because the backup I have is so outdated.

As far as I understood your reply, setting it up as a new device is necessary, so that I can do a backup but then you wrote, that I ideally should have a backup before proceeding. But that is my whole issue: I can't make a backup because my phone wasn't recognized by iTunes. Now that it is, thanks to your first reply to the original thread question, I get prompted with the "setup from backup or as new" dilemma.

If it changes anything about your reply to my issue: I don't need to connect my phone to iTunes because of media syncing (as in music, films etc), but solely because I want to do backups of my phone.

Thank you for your help!

How long does this update take? It's been saying "Downloading 1 item" for 10 minutes at least. I'm running iTunes 12.8.2.3 and have iOS 13.4.1 on an original iPhone SE. I'm on a 2011 Macbook Pro running Sierra for whatever that's worth too.

I have a macbook pro 2011 with the defective gpu and I can’t update it because it is forced to only work with the first gpu! (This is what i have done: https://gist.github.com/cdleon/d1eff7246a25193304284ecec40445b0)

So, do you know if there is something i could do to make my iphine work with my macbook again?

i tried to update but since the macbook restarted it couldn’t boot again because of the gpu, so i did the procedure i linked again.

Thabks in advance!

Hi. the problem here I run into (not sure if related) is I see a dialog box with iphone image, it starts to download, then I keep getting "Installation Failed: Can't download the software because of a network problem." I am not having internet connectivity issues. Mac 10.13.6 w/ itunes 12.8.2.3 and iphone 11.

addendum...it works now. that download required that itunes not be running - did not get the "network problem" anymore when I quit itunes before download. Also I realize sometimes it's just a bad usb cable that does not allow for itunes / iphone connectivity. thank you for the help!