My Mid 2012 Mac book Pro 13-inch is currently running Catalina Version 10.15.7 and I want to connect with my iPhone 10 and I need to do a software update will my Mac be able to run the upgraded OS system?

Digit14 wrote:

Thanks, can I still back my phone up on to my mac as my iCloud family storage is full and I don't want to loose my photos and videos. How do I go about it?

My primary personal computer is a mid-2012 running Catalina (10.15.7) and I'm able to use to update any compatible iPhone to any current version iOS . And it's really good because I can do it with an upgraded, larger capacity SSD than my original hard drive (which failed but I had a backup) and it's nice to have ample capacity for backups.. It may not last forever though. Eventually it's no longer going to be supported, but there's no way of knowing when support will end for newer versions of iOS and iPadOS. For instance, my older MacBook running Snow Leopard stopped support for the latest version of iOS a while ago.

Backing up to a computer is preferred. Especially a Mac where one can "archive" (take a snapshot of a backup that doesn't get overwritten unless it's deliberately deleted) specific backups. The backups are always faster and (as long as you've got enough available storage on a computer) there's not much worry about only having a partial backup. Also - if you've got a backup of your boot drive (usually where the backups are stored, but there are ways to move it to an external drive) then that's also backing up the backup, just in case the boot drive has a problem (which has happened to me).

Also - if you really need to back up your photos and videos in your Camera Roll, that's easy enough to do using the Image Capture app on a Mac. You can copy (they say "transfer" but it leaves everything intact on the device) over everything into a single directory. It's also more convenient if you need your photos for use in email, editing, etc.

Transfer images in Image Capture on Mac - Apple Support

WheelieNick wrote:

The latest os your MacBook can run is Catalina I am afraid. This is due to hardware limitations and the age of this laptop

I don't think that was the question though. It was about updating iOS through a Mac running Catalina. As far as I know, Catalina is fully capable of supporting any current version of iOS or iPadOS and performing backups. I do it regularly.

That little update for iPhone support is available just by saying OK in the message that pops up. It installs the update in about a minute, and is ready to go. In most cases no Restart is required. (Of course if you have any issues, just Restart and they will likely clear up.)

Afterward You use FINDER to sync your iPhone, not iTunes.

The latest os your MacBook can run is Catalina I am afraid. This is due to hardware limitations and the age of this laptop

If an update message pops up when connecting your iPhone, then that is just a very small update for allowing macOS to work with your iPhone. It is not a typical OS update or upgrade.

Should be no problem. So far Catalina still supports the latest versions of iOS or iPadOS. It just serves as the gateway for it.