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Syncing iPhone 11 Pro Max or iPad Pro 12.9 2020 to new MacBook Air M1 kills 3rd Party apps on those Devices.

Tl:dr at bottom.


Initial Issue

When I sync my iPhone 11 Pro Max (running Latest 14.3 iOS) and my iPad Pro 12.9 2020 (running latest 14.3 iPadOS) to my 4-day old MacBook Air M1(Running Latest version of MacOS Big SUR) it essentially kills 3rd Party apps on my devices other than the MacBook Air. I can try and open a 3rd Party app and unless already opened prior to Sync and still open in background it will start to open for a second and then return to home screen as if nothing happened.


Troubleshooting

I originally thought it was a issue with my iPhone and I troubleshooted as such. While I am a IT Admin I am no Apple Genius and am new to the Ecosystem after having avoided it my whole life until this year. Now I am in deep. I do, however, have good troubleshooting and googling/forum searching skills. I did the following to troubleshoot what I believed at the time was an iPhone issue;


  1. Power on and Off Multiple times throughout all other Troubleshooting Steps.
  2. Delete and reinstall the apps (Even though it was all 3rd Party Apps)
    1. This didn’t work either. The App deleted fine but when I tried to reinstall It would download ¾’s of the way and then go right back to as if I never clicked download.
  3. Reset All Settings.
  4. Restored from an iCloud Backup by Resetting Phone Completely and used my Backup to Setup Phone.

Submission was too long with all the troubleshooting steps I have taken and my Appointment with Apple Repair Specialist. So all that was put into the Additional Text, for anyone wanting to really get an Idea of what's going on I would suggest reading it.


Please Help

Hoping for some suggestions as searching for hours online has brought me no results and I can't find a single case of this otherwise. I have verified it is a genuine MacBook Air via its Serial number and can't think of anything else to try. This is my very first time with a Mac at all and feel out of my element. Any help, tips, guidance, or anything is appreciated.


Tl:dr

When plugging iPhone or iPad into MacBook air and Syncing in Finder App it keeps me from opening third party apps. All major troubleshooting steps taken and still it's happening. Thought it was phone at first now closed in on MacBook and resetting it. Hoping for some help.

MacBook Air 13″, macOS 11.1

Posted on Dec 17, 2020 7:40 AM

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Question marked as Best reply

Posted on Dec 21, 2020 11:25 AM

Well, I tried something and it is working for 2 days so far (crossing my fingers)

  • I checked that my old pc was dismissed from the list in the apple id (tap on your avatar in settings)
  • I made a last backup
  • I restored my iPhone.
  • I restored my last backup
  • I made a sync AS SOON AS the iphone was starting up and just BEFORE 3rd apps start to reinstall (all grey)


For my watch, apps didn’t launched at all but I just used the watch app on phone to unload/reload them from the list.


Worked for my ipad too.



29 replies

Dec 23, 2020 8:07 AM in response to woodmeister50

I didn't move my library from my Windows machine or my old MBP either. Both the iPhone and the M1 were set up as new devices without migrating any data. The only data that "migrated" is whatever is stored in iCloud that synced when I first logged into my account.


And I've tried wiping the phone, as well as using a user account that's not logged in to iCloud, so I'm not sure that's the source of the problem.

Dec 30, 2020 6:47 PM in response to DrEagleTalon

I really wish we could get apple support to escalate this and help out. I literally can't use my Devices like I want to. I Bought into this whole Apple Ecosystem over a year ago for the convenience of everything working together. Every time I get on the phone its like they are avoiding escalating and basically dismiss my issue as me being dumb and tell me to take it in for repair or send it back. I have went to 2 different Apple Certified Repair Shops and neither could help. I know I am only one person but I am seeing this pop up more and more. I would appreciate it if anyone could come back here and link any other Forum Posts with this same issue.

Dec 30, 2020 8:35 PM in response to DrEagleTalon

Apple did escalate my case. Still waiting for Engineering to respond. The holidays seem to be slowing things down a bit.


Here are links to all the related forum posts that I'm aware of.


https://discussions.apple.com/thread/252187935

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/252182225

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/252146674



[Link Edited by Moderator]


Mar 18, 2021 2:35 PM in response to DrEagleTalon

Yes, I have the same problem. At first I thought it was probably because of my iPhone, as it's too old (iPhone 6). Yet after I update my phone there's still this problem. And as long as I use a USB cable to connect my iPhone and my macbook M1, then all Apps (except the Apples') cannot be used. They all turn grey or just skip and skip and quit out. Every time I have to use my old MacAir to reset my iPhone.

Syncing iPhone 11 Pro Max or iPad Pro 12.9 2020 to new MacBook Air M1 kills 3rd Party apps on those Devices.

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