Could not back up because the "iPhone disconnected"

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46 points

Could not back up because the "iPhone disconnected"

Since December I have been completely unable to create a backup of my iPhone 7 Plus to my iMac 27" Retina model. I get the same error every time, and nothing I do seems to make a lick of difference. I've tried doing it over wifi, and always plugging it into the USB port with the lightning cable.

Both phone and Mac are up to date with the very newest OS and iOS.

I'm hoping I don't get the usual "reinstall your entire operating system and do a full format of your iPhone" kind of response. This seems to be the usual advice for any problem I've had in the past - haha.

iPhone 7 Plus, iOS 13

Posted on Jan 31, 2020 4:22 PM

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Answer 1

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Valo_Soul Author

Level 1

46 points

Feb 22, 2020 8:42 AM in response to i_rina

For anyone else who may be struggling with this; After days of wasted time, I finally solved it myself. I had to delete all iPhone old backups from within the Finder, and then start a fresh one. This was the only thing that fixed it. I suspect this has something to do with partial backups being incompatible with versions made on Mojave vs Catalina. It seems to have killed the old ones in the change over, but there's no notice of it. Clearly a fault on Apple's behalf.

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Answer 2

i_rina

Community Specialist

Feb 3, 2020 2:30 PM in response to Valo_Soul

Hi, Valo_Soul,

It looks like you're having trouble backing up your iPhone 7 Plus to your Mac. When you try, I see you're getting an error that the iPhone has been disconnected. I'm happy to help!

The error you're receiving typically means the computer is having difficulty communicating with your iPhone. This can occur for a number of reasons, so I'd recommend going through the following troubleshooting, testing between each step:

Restart your iPhone: Restart your iPhone - Apple Support and your Mac: How to turn your Mac on or off - Apple Support.
Try another USB-to-Lightning cable.
Try another port on your computer.
Check for debris in your ports on both the iPhone and the Mac: How to clean your Apple products - Apple Support.
Try backing up to another computer, if possible.
See if you're able to back up in safe mode: Use safe mode to isolate issues with your Mac - Apple Support.
See if the issue continues in a new, test user: How to test an issue in another user account on your Mac - Apple Support.

Best.

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Answer 3

Valo_Soul Author

Level 1

46 points

Feb 22, 2020 4:16 AM in response to i_rina

Hello,

Thanks for the tips. I’ve tried everything listed here and nothing worked except backing it up to an old PC I had, using iTunes.

Also, in regards to safe mode - the iMac wouldn’t even see the iPhone connected. It wouldn’t charge the device through the USB port and it did not list the iPhone as a connected device, so I couldn’t try backing it up when in safe mode.

I really have no idea why this won’t work on my iMac. Same error message every time.

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Could not back up because the "iPhone disconnected"

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