iPhone stuck at Step 3 When Syncing Apple Music

Hi @dpx,

thanks for your direction.

perhaps it doesn’t work for me because I am not using iCloud to sync.

i only sync to my windows laptop.

in this case I need iTunes to load the new albums purchased from iTunes on my phone .

this processed mentioned here, each time i tried, ended the sync immediately… it did not complete the sync.

that is, it was stuck on stage 3 “preparing sync” and when i used the process here, the sync stopped…period. It did not go to step 4 or 5 and did not subsequently update my phone.

however, by trial and error I got it to sync.

a) I turned off auto sync.

b) I simply powered the phone down while it was stuck in on stage 3.

c) when it came back up after the power on cycle, the phone loaded, again in iTunes, then I pressed “sync”.

It sync immediately went to step 3, then 4, 5, then loaded my new music and updated my playlists instantly.

hopefully it will work the next time.

thanks for your help.

Thank you for your guidance.

I have an iPhone XV which locked up synching to iMac at Step 3 using the USB C that came with the iPhone.

Following suggestions on this Discussion I dragged out an old USB A to USB C cable, connected the iPhone and at last achieved a quick sync with my iMac.

Pete

I am on:

iPhone 14 Pro Max

iOS: 17.2

Mac OS Sonoma 14.2

Exact issue, solved by using my iPhone Xs cable, USBC-to-USBA(2)

I’m glad I popped on here. I’ve been trying for two days to sync my new iPhone 13 with the USB-C that came with the phone. As soon as I switched to my old USB-A it started working. No idea why, as it worked for transferring pictures just fine, but I guess I’ll know to use the old cable from now on.

I have the same problem.

FIX: I unplug the iPhone when the sync stalls at step 3, plug it back in, and restart the backup and it works just fine. Go figure!

Sometimes, if you wait long enough the sync works on its own.

Well it shouldn’t be affiliated, since iPhone syncs via Finder now…but I had my phone plugged in and it was stuck in the syncing step 2 of 3. Then my Mac got a prompt to download Safari version 17.3 and suddenly, now my iPhone is syncing correctly every time.

MacBook Pro (early 2015)

macOS Monterey 12.7.3

iPhone 14 Pro

iOS 17.3

Prompted to update Safari around 9:40pm cst.

Hello everyone all the solutions such as what I said in my earlier comments are not necessarily working. I realised this is quite random, for example last night I was trying to sync my iPhone 14pro, on m3 MacBook pro, I tried three different ways, over the Wi-Fi using new USB C (new cable) and using USB A (old one) via an adapter,

here is the result:

all of them could stuck, but when you alternate method it starts working.

it is more consistent when you turn backup off on the mac.

it is definitely an issue with (finder/music) on mack as I have old iTunes on windows pc and it works flawlessly.

I hope this helps.

Music, Photos sometimes have taken me multiple times to actually sync. This is a fairly recent thing (for me), so maybe try to sync 2-3 times and check each time for proper syncing. Agree, definitely pain in the butt.

Wow, I've been struggling with this for a while, and ending the task "MDCrashReportTool" worked! iTunes, Windows 11, iPhone 13 iOS 17.2.1. This seems like a big bug, I'm surprised it hasn't been fixed.

Beware - the suggestion for "erasing and starting again" is misleading advice, and doesn't work.

"Erasing and starting again" isn't a way of re-syncing a phone, its the procedure for restoring a phone from the last backup/known state.

You should only restore a phone if you have ALL of your data backed up on your Mac or in the iCloud.

Since most of you can't get your phone to sync, you probably cant get a successful backup either.

On the Finder "sync" screen, refer to the option for "Back up all of the data on your iPhone to this Mac"

Examine the timestamp for "Last backup to this Mac" to see if you can live without your data since then.

Had the same problem: tried a few times, waited long time. After about third restart and waiting 15 minutes in 3 of 5 sync I double clicked MDCrashReprotTool and force quit the app. Step 4&5 flashed by finally.

There used to be a time where Apple tools worked much better. This sync is less optimal. I hope there will be one day a "skip" and a "I find this feature broken - report to Apple" feature one day. I didn't change anything on my computer in this walled garden.

Syncing through finder still needs the crash report to be deleted!

Still doesn't work for me. iPhone 13, iOS 17.3.1, MacOS Monterey 12.7.3, Safari 17.3. Still gets stuck on "preparing to sync" until I force quit MDCrashReportTool.

Ever since this new iTunes update, my iPhone 13 Pro gets stuck at “Preparing to Sync” I’ve been using the same Anker USB cable for years since my iPhone SE 2nd Gen and had no problems and even lent my cable to my friends and they’ve had no issues. After reading some of these comments, force-quitting MDCrashReportTool in my Windows Task Manager made my syncing work. So this should be there will be ANOTHER update soon to fix this problem. Or just downgrade iTunes for now.

I've done this when it's stuck on "Syncing (Step 2 of 3) - Preparing To Sync" and once I click Force Quit on the MDCrashReportTool, it shows "Syncing (Step 3 of 3) - Waiting For Changes To Be Applied" really quickly and ends. How do we know the sync actually occurred and that the Finder Window isn't just showing "Syncing 3 of 3" quickly before exiting and abandoning the operation due to the Force Quit? Because if I then click "Sync" again, it gets stuck on Step 2 of 3 again until I repeat the process above.