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iPhone backup to Mac fails IOS 15.1 MacOS Monterey 12.0.1

Backup of my iPhone 8 running IOS 15.1 fails on MacOS Monterey. It hangs at a couple of points, either with the progress bar in the Finder showing "Backing up" or (most recently) with the Finder window blank with "Software" and "loading" showing. Have tried all the usual tricks:

  1. Rebooting both the Mac Mini and the phone
  2. Different (Apple-branded and generic) USB-Lightening cables
  3. Different USB ports (both on a hub and directly into back of Mac Mini)
  4. Also seems to happen when it tries to back up over wifi

Once it gets into this state, the Finder is apparently hung up, and often will not even allow the computer to restart without a Force Quit of the Finder. Even a relaunch of the Finder doesn't seem to get it out of this state; it just goes back to attempting the backup and is still hung.

Anybody have any additional suggestions? Known bugs in this area?

iPhone 8

Posted on Nov 17, 2021 9:12 AM

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Posted on Nov 17, 2021 9:51 AM

What year model Mac Mini?


Are you using iCloud to sync and share between these devices?

If so, then that maybe causing a problem for the hardwired backup and sync.

see > https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/syncing-overview-mchl923c1147/mac


Strange how some things work and some do not. For example, I have no problem backing up and syncing my iPhone 8 or older iPads using an aftermarket USB to Lighting cable plugged into an old self-powered Belkin USB Hub or plugged directly into my 2018 Mac Mini. FWIW all of my devices have the same User ID, but I do not use iCloud to Sync or Share files between devices.

4 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Nov 17, 2021 9:51 AM in response to Andrew G Eronimo

What year model Mac Mini?


Are you using iCloud to sync and share between these devices?

If so, then that maybe causing a problem for the hardwired backup and sync.

see > https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/syncing-overview-mchl923c1147/mac


Strange how some things work and some do not. For example, I have no problem backing up and syncing my iPhone 8 or older iPads using an aftermarket USB to Lighting cable plugged into an old self-powered Belkin USB Hub or plugged directly into my 2018 Mac Mini. FWIW all of my devices have the same User ID, but I do not use iCloud to Sync or Share files between devices.

Nov 22, 2021 8:55 AM in response to Mjr747

Oh, how I hate problems that only happen some of the time!

More data points:

  • Wife's phone backs up OK to her Late 2014 Mac Mini (Monterey 12.0.1 and IOS 15.1, iPhone 8, so essentially the same configuration that failed for me, except for different amounts of storage, music loaded into phone, etc.).
  • My phone backed up OK last night to MacBook still running Big Sur

I updated the MacBook to Monterey last night. FWIW, this morning the "Back Up Now" button is greyed out, so not sure if it is trying to tell me it's too soon to back up again, or that nothing has changed on the phone so no back up needed, or if it is a problem.

This morning, my phone backs up OK to my Mac Mini, which had not worked for at least a couple weeks. Maybe backing up to a different Mac changed something that made it work again? Who knows.. (Before I retired as a software engineer, I would go into the source code to diagnose these things -- not possible in this situation, obviously. Flakey things like this were always the hardest ones to track down. Working at the level of superstition here, and I hate it!)


I want to leave this open for a while to see if it recurs.

Nov 17, 2021 6:57 PM in response to den.thed

Late 2014 Mac Mini -- oldest one supported on Monterey.


Yes, using iCloud to sync things like Contacts, Calendar, and Notes (but not Photos or Music). But this was all working (although a bit erratically) until about two weeks ago. Not sure if the failure corresponded to installing Monterey, or IOS 15, or something else. Sadly, Apple moving the iPhone/iPad syncing code from iTunes to Finder did NOT improve the code. But at least it was working most of the time, and, come to think of it, seemed to improve a bit with later versions of Big Sur. Now I can't get it to work at all. Will have to try tomorrow to see if wife's is working -- same phone, Mac Mini, same s/w versions, but different amounts of memory, different USB hub.

iPhone backup to Mac fails IOS 15.1 MacOS Monterey 12.0.1

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