Issues with iPhone sync from MacBook after iOS17 Update

I am joining this club ! 3 days asking myself what was wrong with synchronization and after a few searches I end up here... I had several thousands of pictures and vídeos that I kept synchronized with my iPhone 13 against around 30.000 in my Mac book pro. Everything worked fine until I got no space in my Mac... So I decide to try iCloud, then I realized that if you travel a lot or living in 2 countries is not compatible because of the data charges of the communications company... So after paying 10€ for a month and analyzing the 2 TB iCloud I decided to cancel the subscription to take a better solution: buy a brand new Mac (1TB memory) I though it would be smoothly as always, but then, the change from iCloud to local has been a pain, just because it was impossible for me to turn back into the local previous syncing...I didn't know what to do until I have read this solution that seems to work for the moment... I am at step 6 of 6, let's see if the selected folders and pictures from my Mac are finally copied into my iPhone ! Let's hope !

I have an Apple Watch too and I performed the toggle off of bluetooth.

Why is happening? The question is, do I have to do the same everytime I want to sync? Have you tried to sync wireless already? This will be my next step, once all pictures are copied.

I had exactly the same problem with that my phone to desktop would never proceed beyond the preparing for sync. Left it once overnight to prepare for since but also did not help by giving more time.

The below mentioned tip that the bluetooth needs to be switched worked fortunately well for me and the problem is solved now.

If that is a bug there should be some notification and bugfix

I have also struggled with this and have used the suggestions above. I am just trying to sync music. I have an iPhone 15 Pro on 17.3 and a new iMac with 14.3 running. The problem started in the fall. I also have an up to date Apple watch series 8.

I have found that music will sync properly when connected to the computer if I turn off the Apple watch before I connect the phone. Bluetooth on the phone does not have to be turned off.

This discovery certainly improved the situation, but there is obviously a bug which needs a fix.

I can get to #2. When I click my phone in finder, I just get a blank screen. When I click my phone in Music, it shows my phone name but Sync Settings is grayed out and the word Loading... appears below with a spinner under it. It never moves past that. It used to work perfectly. Now it doesn't.

I've been struggling with this issue. When I select music in the finder to sync with the phone, it only downloads a very small amount of what I've selected. I have more than enough memory available on the phone, and I've checked the Apple Music library on my MacBook Air to confirm the songs and albums exist.

I feel like Apple is neglecting this functionality because most people use the Apple Music service or Spotify. I know it's a bit old school to load music on your phone, but my audio files are much higher quality than streaming.

to complicated to sync iphone to imac, iphone is connected to imac, i entered the code, and still not sync together, maybe i need a master degree to understand a basic question, iphone 17.3.1, and imac is 14.3.1, updates never done together, i give up

Yes! This can be sooooo annoying. I wish Apple had never gotten rid of iTunes. I’ve used iTunes since 2004, and no problems until Apple Music showed up. I like to manually manage all music, artwork, etc. I have a 2023 MacBook Pro 16 and iPhone 14 ProMax running iOS 17.4 and the syncing issues just started a few weeks ago.

What worked for me-close all apps running, complete shut down of both devices, then restart, connect usb cable to iPhone & MacBook. Syncing is back to normal, still not what it was with iTunes, but I can deal with it for now-as long as it’s working.

i’m so sick of having to go through this BS every single time there’s a software update. It really makes me want to go back to windows. Apple seems to have a lot of issues with their software. Very disappointed.

Thanks. Didn't work. I was toggling off but no luck.

The fix of toggle-off iPhone bluetooth worked for me to sync to my Mac...Thanks!

Turning off Bluetooth on my iPhone fixed the sync issue. Worked like a charm.

I spoke too soon..... 10 minutes after my note, sudden;y the iMac recognised the contents of the phone and iPad. Now syncing.

This worked!! Bluetooth off, syncing restored!!! iPhone 14, mac book pro

@UltraMuyGnarly This worked for me! What kind of nonsense is this, though...to have to turn off bluetooth to get your phone synced? Hmm...

I toggled off the bluetooth and wham it worked! However, it wont do it again. I do have an apple watch also, this makes no sense. Terrible on the part of Apple. Seems like a poor oversight.