Does the new iOS 13.4.1 support iTunes sync prior to Catalina?

Question

Does the new iOS 13.4.1 support iTunes sync prior to Catalina?

Thanks.

iMac 27", macOS 10.13

Posted on Apr 8, 2020 12:34 PM

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Answer 1

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Girshon Rutstein Author

Level 2

433 points

Apr 8, 2020 1:44 PM in response to Phil0124

I am running iTunes 12.8.2.3 OS High Sierra 10.13.6

The iphone is not showing in iTunes, no matter what I do. I demonstrated to Apple senior advisor screen share and he said that he is been getting many calls with the same issue. When I connect to iMac I get 2 messages:

Could not send messages to the device
Could not read from device

Here is a discussion where people have the same issues.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/251233548

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Answer 2

Demo

Level 10

166,500 points

Apr 8, 2020 1:11 PM in response to Girshon Rutstein

These are system requirements to sync an iOS device running iOS 13.

Syncing to a Mac or a PC requires:
- macOS Catalina 10.15 using the Finder
- macOS El Capitan 10.11.6 through macOS Mojave 10.14.6 using iTunes 12.8 or later
- Windows 7 or later using iTunes 12.9 or later (free download from itunes.com/download)

It works with El Capitan, Sierra, High Sierra, and Mojave.

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Answer 3

Apr 9, 2020 5:02 PM in response to deggie

Reset SMC,
PRAM,
New user
Delete the iTunes preference files
Change the USB wire

Hooked up my iPhone to another iMac High Sierra, and message popped up: "A Software Update is Required to Connect to iPhone"

So I did that to see if my other iMac works However, after a while, I got another alert:"Installation failed: ."Can't install the software because it is not currently available from the software server"

I found this online:

Since macOS is not compatible with the iOS version that your iPhone is using, to get iPhone working with iTunes, you should:

Get the newest macOS that works with your Mac. For example, if you are using macOS 10.13 High Sierra, update it to macOS 10.14 Mojave.

I doubt about Mojave either.

So Apple Senior advisor gave up and said: 'Since I support Catalina, I can only suggest installing it and sync with the finder"

This is the end of the story

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Answer 4

Apr 8, 2020 2:42 PM in response to Girshon Rutstein

Probably because its not easy to replicate.

i.e it may be a case of specific configuration on the affected computers.

As I said works perfectly fine for me. So its hard to believe its an actual issue with 13.4.1 or itunes 12.8 they can actually identify, let alone fix.

If it works for some, but not others means something other that the software is at fault. Otherwise it would not work for anybody.

And note, I'm not saying it isn't happening. I'm just saying it may just be the result of something Apple can't fix.

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Answer 5

Apr 9, 2020 8:40 AM in response to Phil0124

I wish!!!

I know Apple computers well, have been using for 30 years. I have no idea how you got your iPhone showing on iTunes.

Yesterday I must have spent with the senior advisor more than an hour. We tried everything, nothing worked.

Reset SMC, PRAM, etc.

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Answer 6

Apr 8, 2020 12:54 PM in response to Phil0124

Phil0124, Its not the iTunes issue, its the OS on Mac. I asked if it will support iTunes on High Sierra? Because the iOS13.4 is not compatible. Thanks. I just don't want to make another mistake and try the newest iOS. The iPhones are not mac's, they can not go back.

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Answer 7

Apr 8, 2020 1:26 PM in response to Girshon Rutstein

The iTunes version is important too. You can be running High Sierra with an older version of iTunes and it may not work.

I can sync my iPhone 11 Pro running iOS 13.4.1 with my mac mini running macOS High Sierra running iTunes 12.8.2.3

When you connect the iPhone it may require an update to iTunes.

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Answer 8

May 10, 2020 12:14 PM in response to Girshon Rutstein

When you get the installation error it is because the OS release date was a while ago and you lose permissions after a period of time. To fix this, just change the date on your computer to something in the past when the OS was new and try updating again. Then after update, change date back to current date. This worked for me when I installed High Sierra on iMac

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Answer 9

May 15, 2020 6:24 AM in response to Girshon Rutstein

I have this same issue. I was told by Apple today not to update my iPhone unless I can update my OS to Catalina. I can’t do that because I run some legacy programs like CS5.5. Thank goodness my phone didn’t auto update or I wouldn’t be able to sync. I’m running Mojave right now.

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