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I recently upgraded my Mac to Catalina. Now when I plug my iPhone into my Mac with a USB cable I get the message:
A software update is required to connect to your iPhone
And the iPhone does not show up in Finder.
My Mac has 10.15.7 and iPhone has 14.0.1. Those are supposed to be compatible. What's wrong? They can't mean Big Sur is required.
I used to connect to the Mac without problem when it had Mojave.
iMac 21.5″, macOS 10.15
therustyshackleford wrote:
My iDevices are on the latest versions (iOS 14.2) and I'm also getting that upgrade prompt when plugging my iPad or iPhone into my iMac on 10.15.7.
That makes me think that the upgrade prompt is false, because you already have the correct versions. It may be that the Mac just wants to use wi-fi instead of USB to communicate with your device, so it gives you that prompt because the sw update requires wi-fi. Try setting up a wi-fi connection and see if that helps. Let us know.
there is some info at
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT210611
I saw the same message when I recently updated my iPhone and iPad using my computer. I completed the required update and the iPhone and iPad were now able to be seen by iTunes. I then completed the iDevice updates as normal. I have since connected several iDevices to the computer without further requests to download a computer update.
stedman1: So that required update in the prompt you are referring to led you to upgrade to Big Sur? My iDevices are on the latest versions (iOS 14.2) and I'm also getting that upgrade prompt when plugging my iPad or iPhone into my iMac on 10.15.7. Looking to resolve this without upgrading to Big Sur.
stedman1 wrote:
No, not at all. My iMac is at 10.14.6 and not compatible with Big Sur.
This problem seems to be happening in 10.15.7. Looking to resolve it in this OS without upgrading to Big Sur. Works fine on my 5,1 Mac Pro running 10.13.6, as well.
The update for me turned out to be iOS 14.2. It took some gyrations to get that to happen. It seems that now some communication with the iPhone is only via USB and some is only via wi-fi. The procedure for getting the update starts with using the USB, but the system message said first I must have the update already running. Either I'm misunderstanding something, or that's catch 22. I ended up booting into Mojave (I have 2 volumes on the hard disk for the 2 macOS's). There I could communicate with the iPhone via USB and itunes, and I got the update that way. Then I booted into Catalina and things worked ok. Note that you must go to Finder prefs, sidebar tab, and enable iOS devices.
The moral is update your iOS devices to the latest before upgrading macOS.
After further research, I made the update in the prompt and it was not for upgrading to Big Sur (which was unclear) but for the devices interacting with the latest version of Catalina. It fixed the problem of the recurring prompt.
Open the Finder and look at the sidebar for your device.
QuickTimeKirk wrote:
Open the Finder and look at the sidebar for your device.
I already did. The device is not there. The problem is "A software update is required to connect to your iPhone".
No, not at all. My iMac is at 10.14.6 and not compatible with Big Sur.
As stated, in my case the requested update was simply a small update within Mojave 10.14.6, totally unrelated to Catalina or Big Sur updates.
Software update is required to connect to your iPhone
