"Enter your passcode to trust this computer and start a backup." Every time iPhone is on charge.

The settings are on the Mac, nothing to do with iOS16

Click on the phone in the Finder sidebar (or itunes if an oldie) and turn off

Automatically sync when this iphone is connected... and

Show this iphone when on Wi-Fi....

I wouldn’t expect 16.1.1 to fix it, because it isn’t a problem with 16.anything. It is a problem with your phone. Hundreds of millions of phones do not have this problem. You need to troubleshoot what is special about your your phone and computer that is causing this very unusual problem. Have you tried going to iTunes Preferences, Advanced pane, and clicked Reset Warnings? And have you also updated iTunes to the latest version?

This is also not a Windows-specific problem. I experience the same behavior connecting to my Macs running Ventura. The initial connection is fine and I can browse the phone in Music. I sync manually, and as soon I trigger the sync, the phone wants a trust password to begin the backup step. I've made a feedback post.

That's a workaround, not a solution. This feature always worked, and was convenient, especially for those of us who charge our phones via a cable to a USB port. Plus, given that the backup happens when it's plugged in, if you select backup only via cable, there is no battery drain.

So in reality, some programmer screwed up, and it will take a repair and update of the OS to fix it. And that means making Apple aware of it.

BTW, it happens in OS 10.14, too.

Why hasn’t it happened with any of my 4 iOS devices or 3 computers? If a programmer screwed up how did they screw up your computer and not mine? Or a significant number of others among the 2 billion iPhone users? This has not been a commonly reported problem, so it might be a good idea to troubleshoot your specific issue rather than wait for Apple to fix what is probably a non-existent “bug”.

sgucukoglu wrote:

Whether Wi-Fi syncing is a battery drain isn't important; we are concerned here with why it doesn't work for those choosing to use it.

I choose to use Wi-Fi. And it works for me. It never prompts me to trust the computer. NEVER. It hasn’t promoted me for 10 years, except for the first time on the computer than I had back then. I’m on my 4th computer since then, and it never even prompted me when I switched to a new computer. Have you reset warnings in iTunes settings, as I suggested earlier?

OK, I’m going to contradict myself. I’ve checked with an Apple resource, and iOS 16, as an additional security measure, will require a passcode to be entered on the phone when backing up to a computer.

"Why hasn’t it happened with any of my 4 iOS devices or 3 computers?" (Lawrence Finch)

Ahh... so if it didn't happen to you, all the others reporting it must be imagining it? You tossed a handful of attitude at someone you know nothing about, but then it turned out that you were wrong, and it really was happening. Perhaps a bit less of an "I am god" attitude might be in order. One thing my 40+ years as a logic designer taught me was to check first. Less egg to wipe away that way.

But that aside... So it turns out that it was a deliberate inconvenience on the part of Apple? That doesn't make it any better, because they have, in effect, eliminated automatic backup on connection, without the added a step that requires the user to say, "May I?"

It's interesting that Apple is content to have this, and all their sites accept an automatic log in protocol over a far less secure internet connection, but a physical connection between the users phone and the users computer— which can read the mac number of that phone—and a phone that can respond with identification, automatically, as it always has, somehow is no longer good enough.

I began using Apple products with the advent of the 2+. But lately, it seems that nontechnical corporate people are making the technical decisions, and erasing the things that make Apple Apple.

You seem to be misinformed on both topics. The Wi-Fi sync only happens when the iPhone is plugged into power somewhere while on the Wi-Fi. It doesn't randomly sync with your phone while it's on battery, that'd be ridiculous. The "show when on Wi-Fi" will obviously not affect iPhone battery life.

I also have this problem and it happened with iOS 16.1 (as does everyone on iOS 16.1), so go yawn elsewhere.

"...It doesn't randomly sync with your phone while it's on battery, that'd be ridiculous. The "show when on Wi-Fi" will obviously not affect iPhone battery life..."

You are probably correct regarding the time it is actually backing up, but in the context of the original question

"...routinely asks me to type in my passcode to trust this computer and start a backup. This happens whenever the device is put on charge..."

it is is relevant to the discussion.

You would be welcome to answer other questions regularly on the forum. We are all volunteers.