Can’t sync with iTunes after iOS 17.1.1.update

Not mine. Windows 11. After upgrading my iPhone 14 Pro to 17.2, iTunes recognizes the phone but when syncing, it gets hung on preparing to sync.. I still have my old iPhone SE 2020 which has iOs 17.0 and it syncs fine. If anyone knows a way to downgrade back to 17.0 please let us know.

Just for reference: My iphone 12 with ios 17.3 is syncing music, movies and photos perfectly with itunes 12.10.11.2 on Windows 7 SP1 (bootcamp installation on MacOS 10.12.6 Sierra). I can also back up and restore the iphone with this setup.

I’m in the same boat with an older iMac. Have you had any luck?

I am running Windows 11 and have the same problem, this has happened on older updates also I have tried all the usual hacks to try and fix but I am certain the problem is a connectivity problem which Apple need to fix

same this is ridiculous. always forcing you to update things, yet when you do things break. this is why I typically don't upgrade. now I need to figure out how to downgrade my phone back if that is still even an option. IDK, because the Macbook Pro I sync with is older and has a TON of legacy music production items on it and upgrading it is NOT AN OPTION as it would most likely break everything I have been working with for the past 10 years............

After the update on my iPads to 17

.1.1, iTunes not functioning as usual. I selected an album, played the first tune and then could not access another one, the graphics and tracks disappeared and couldn’t navigate around iTunes or play any further tracks. iTunes still listed in full in Settings, but wouldn’t play from there either. Apple support took screenshots and have forwarded this to an engineer. Both iPads are working correctly, it’s either something that’s happened to the account or iTunes within this update. I’m awaiting the outcome.

omgthedonny wrote:

now I need to figure out how to downgrade my phone back if that is still even an option.

Downgrading the OS isn't an option on an iPhone – except in the special case of uninstalling a beta test version.

I don't believe it ever was.

CowKow wrote:

It should get the library from the phone, not the computer. When I did the backward install, there was no issues because the file that iTunes reads is on your phone already.

iPod synchronization was always from a master library on a Mac or PC, to an iPod, wiping out whatever was on the iPod before. Move the iPod to another computer and synchronize with that computer, and everything from the old one would be overwritten.

The model changed slightly once there were iPod touches and iPhones that let you buy downloaded music directly from the iTunes Store. Then, at least for a while, synchronizing with a Mac or PC would upload tracks that you had bought on the iPod touch or iPhone to the master library on the Mac or PC.

But unless they've changed the manual synchronization model, it's basically from the computer to the phone. If you move the phone to a different computer whose music library does not contain all of the tracks that are on the phone, and synchronize against that, I believe that you'd lose all of the tracks not on the new computer. The way that you preserve your library is by safeguarding your computer's music library – not your phone's.

Many of us who have been using iTunes since its inception also have music purchased elsewhere in that library, including ripped from CDs, Amazon music purchases, etc. If the only source of music purchase for a given user is from Apple, then the entire history is there and there is no need to physically sync anything. If, however, tracks are imported into iTunes is from diverse sources over many years, that means losing the portion that was not purchased from Apple

I purchased iMazing but still haven't learned how to use it. Have you had any luck with it for this purpose?

Newer versions of iOS only have Apple Music so it's not clear if one were to use iMazing if there would be any way to restore playlists that would have otherwise synced in iTunes.

I'm not a millennial. Cassettes and CDs were the thing back when I was in school. However, I tired of the iTunes Store issues, not the least of which included being forced to re-purchase a huge amount of music because back in the early days of the iTunes Store updating one's email — not to be confused with changing Apple IDs — was enough to break one's purchase history. (And don't even get me started on DRM!)

In 2005 I bought an iPod Photo and straightened out my iTunes library and have left it alone ever since — in Snow Leopard! Recently I tried to get my library out of SL and into HS thinking that my phone should support it (per the tech specs it does) — but iOS 17.x does not. I then used iMazing (third party app) to port my iTunes folder into the Music app on the iPhone Pro 12 but my playlists are gone. (Sigh.)

So much for Apple's old marketing slogan: "It just works". When I finally get this mess straightened out, I will no doubt refuse to make changes to my music library for another 5+ years because that is how much I dread having to re-do everything as a result of "upgrading". (I upgrade as little as possible because of headaches like this! Prior to the iPhone 12 Pro I was using an iPhone SE 1st Generation!)

Maybe the millennials are on to something!

Update: After an Apple support chat last week I was offered access to a senior engineer but unfortunately nothing came of it (case assigned and call scheduled but no call came). I then put in a second request, this time through the Apple website, and that phone call failed to materialize too. Since I'm having no luck getting a hold of anyone at Apple who can confirm or deny whether this is a bug or an expected break with iTunes under iOS 17, I'd be interested in hearing from others who have had greater success reaching Apple senior tech support.

FYI: The iMazing tutorial on syncing with iTunes is either outdated or incorrect. Their support has confirmed for me that playlists don't transfer, even though the screen shot in their undated tutorial implies otherwise.

So far the comments here seem to center on Sierra and High Sierra. If anybody reading this is using iTunes with an iOS 17.x iPhone that is newer than 12.8 but *older* than Catalina (where the iPhone loads in the finder), please do us a favor and confirm if your iPhone can be seen (i.e. maybe someone with iTunes in Mojave can try this?)

Does anybody have an alternative to iMazing that supports the import of playlists?

Purchased a refurb iPhone 12 from Apple and while setting it up today I also found out that that it wouldn't let backup his phone to my iMac running High Sierra (10.13.6). The new phone is running 17.2.1. When I tried to select the new iPhone in iTunes it said I had to update iTunes to version 12.10.10. What? I can't find a version any higher than 12.8.3 anywhere. Where is this 12.10.10 prompt coming from?