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iOS 17 connecting to 2012 iMac with El Capitan os

Just updated all my phones and iPads to iOS 17 and can’t connect to my iMac 2012 that has El Capitan os installed. It prompts software update but only say unavailable when trying to update iMac. What is the best way to get all my music from iTunes and photos from iMac? Any way to update it? Or better to try iCloud subscription and transfer from iMac to iCloud?

iPhone SE, iOS 14

Posted on Sep 22, 2023 5:44 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Jan 1, 2024 5:49 PM

OpenCoreLegacyPatcher runs very well on 2012 and newer. Dortania. MrMacintosh on YouTube. LowEndMac on FaceBook. Big community, well supported.

12 replies

Oct 14, 2023 11:18 PM in response to JJ4160

I think you need to upgrade your iMac to High Sierra or better for it to be able to manage an iPhone that is running iOS 17. I've seen people here say that the requirements to manage an iPhone are really tied more to the version of iOS that it is running, than to its hardware model.


If that's the case, then the Technical Specifications for iPhone 15 family phones (which initially shipped with iOS 17) give you an idea as to what you need to manage any iPhone that's been upgraded to iOS 17:


iPhone 15 - Technical Specifications


As others have pointed out, you can upgrade a 2012 iMac to Catalina (but no further). If you upgrade to Catalina,


You can get High Sierra, Mojave, or Catalina from here:

How to download and install macOS - Apple Support

Have Safari set as your default browser, and use Safari, when visiting that page. Otherwise clicking on the links to download one of those OSes may result in an very misleading error ("this item is unavailable").

Oct 14, 2023 11:26 PM in response to SP00LER

SP00LER wrote:

I'm in the same boat. Did you find any solutions?

I have a 2013 mac that is almost out of storage. Bought a $1500 new iPhone and now it looks like I need a modern mac to make all my music transfer so I will likely be returning the iPhone.


If you have a 2013 Mac, you can upgrade to High Sierra, Mojave, or Catalina. Possibly even further, to Big Sur (if your Mac is a Late 2013 MacBook Pro, a Mid 2013 MacBook Air, or a Late 2013 desktop Mac Pro.


macOS Catalina is compatible with these computers - Apple Support

macOS Big Sur is compatible with these computers - Apple Support



Oct 14, 2023 11:31 PM in response to Servant of Cats

Note that the Technical Specifications for the iPhone 15 refer to iTunes 12.9.


If you're using High Sierra, iTunes - Apple is the normal place to download iTunes, but it appears that it is still on iTunes 12.8.3. You may need to use the link in the iPhone 15 Technical Specifications to grab iTunes 12.9 (that is, assuming that the link there, to a different page, works).

iOS 17 connecting to 2012 iMac with El Capitan os

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