Updating iOS using Mac: Message about "purchased items on the iPhone...that have not been transferred..."

Question

Updating iOS using Mac: Message about "purchased items on the iPhone...that have not been transferred..."

Attempting to update my iPhone 6s from 12 to 13.6.1 using the MBP 16 with Catalina (10.15.6) I Get the warning message:

There are purchased items on the iPhone ... that have not been transferred to your Mac. You should transfer these items to your Mac before updating this iPhone. Are you sure you want to continue?

No further information is given, and no guidance as to what the items are, or what kind, nor about how to find this out. In particular, I don't know if this refers to apps that are currently offloaded from the iPhone to save storage. If so, do I know that they will be properly restored after the update -- or, at least, will still be able to be restored/re-downloaded with their data intact?

The mac is configured to back up all the data on the iPhone.

Does anybody have any information? I don't have much purchased content besides apps and their data on this phone.

Posted on Aug 18, 2020 6:16 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

MarcusS13

Community Specialist

Aug 19, 2020 11:43 AM in response to Randal_DiVanz

Hello Randal_DiVanz,

It sounds like you are trying to update your iPhone using your MacBook Pro from iOS 12 to iOS 13.6.1 but you keep getting a message saying there are purchased items that have not been transferred to the Mac. Since you are updating the iOS and skipping some iOS versions, you should try backup the device first:

How to back up your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch

Transferring purchases from an iOS device to a Mac running macOS Catalina is now done from within the corresponding app on your Mac that contains the content needing to be transferred. With your iPhone connected to the Mac, open an app on the Mac such as Apple TV or Music. Right-click on your iPhone under the Devices list, then select Transfer Purchases:

What happened to iTunes?

You could also try downloading purchase content to your Mac so there is nothing that needs to be transferred.

Updating iOS using Mac: Message about "purchased items on the iPhone...that have not been transferred..."

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