How to sync everything from iphone directly to Mac using USB cable (no ! iCloud)?

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Level 4

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How to sync everything from iphone directly to Mac using USB cable (no ! iCloud)?

How do I sync everything from my iphone directly to my Mac using a USB cable. I do not want to use iCloud!

It's looking impossible to get my voice memos, notes, text messages, etc. to backup if I sync using the Mac OS 12 Finder.

I have to (reluctantly) start using my Macbook Air running OS 12 Monterey for backing up my iPhone SE (iOS 14) and iPhone SE 2 (iOS 14). Until now, I use my old MacBook Pro with iTunes 12 for syncing my iPhone SE. No problems. The last time a screen broke, I restored from backup and everything was put on the replacement iPhone SE.

Now I can't use the old Mac/iTunes for restoring to the iPhone SE 2 because the old Mac can't "open" the iPhone SE 2 without a new version of iTunes which it can't run.

I tried syncing the iPhone SE 2 to the Macbook Air / Monterey and it looks like the voice memos and notes are nowhere to be found.

Thanks in advance.

iPhone SE, iOS 10

Posted on Jan 7, 2024 10:46 AM

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Answer 1

a brody

Level 10

85,296 points

Jan 7, 2024 2:13 PM in response to Marlinespike

You realize, that when you connect an iPad or iPhone to the newer Finder, it will allow you to backup just like iTunes did, but through the Finder, when you select it in the Finder's left sidebar. Then the body of the Finder window will have an option to back it up. All backups are stored in your Users -> yourname -> /Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup folder, which is also called ~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup

Back up iPad - Apple Support

Use the Go menu -> Go to folder to select

~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup

to find the backups your Finder has made of your iPhone or iPod.

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Answer 2

a brody

Level 10

85,296 points

Jan 7, 2024 10:53 AM in response to Marlinespike

https://drfone.wondershare.com offers a really great utiltiy to pull data off your phone's ipfw backup file. When you do a full backup then the IPFW file created in ~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup will give you all your data to use with Dr Fone. The one thing you can't really recover is Music. As part of copyright, when you rip audio files they got broken into parts that can't be pieced together except by the device that had the music transferred over to it.

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Answer 3

muguy

Level 10

91,166 points

Jan 7, 2024 11:26 AM in response to Marlinespike

If you wish to backup, see How to back up your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch - Apple Support

If you wish to be able to access the content:

notes will sync using iCloud. Or, if your notes are part of your email, your notes can sync through that account

Text messages can be forwarded to your Mac, Forward SMS/MMS text messages from your iPhone to your Mac or iPad - Apple Support

Media files can be synced using finder or itunes

Some content isn't synced to the Mac but may be shared trhrough email, airdrop, etc.

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Answer 4

muguy

Level 10

91,166 points

Jan 7, 2024 11:46 AM in response to Marlinespike

I'm assuming you linked to that app because iphone syncing/backing up/restoring in this newer Mac OS is degraded/non-existent compared to the old way of doing it in iTunes?

How so? It's very much the same thing as before, just done in Finder instead of iTunes. Your backup still contains all of your content, including notes, texts, memos, music, etc. And, that backup can be used to restore your device if necessary.

As for syncing, your notes will sync if you attach them to your e-mail account and set that account up in notes. Those pull from your email server where they are kept.

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Answer 5

a brody

Level 10

85,296 points

Jan 7, 2024 11:56 AM in response to Marlinespike

Image Capture will do photos and videos on your iPhone and iPad directly.

You could get a free OneDrive account and try to do things over OneDrive instead of iCloud. At least OneDrive offers 10 times the free space over iCloud.

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Answer 6

Marlinespike Author

Level 4

1,899 points

Jan 7, 2024 11:41 AM in response to a brody

Thanks for the reply a brody. It looks like the app you linked would suffice for making backups but isn't really a syncing solution. :( It's also expensive considering iTunes used to do all of that for free.

I'm assuming you linked to that app because iphone syncing/backing up/restoring in this newer Mac OS is degraded/non-existent compared to the old way of doing it in iTunes?

I've seen you around on the discussion boards and been getting great advice from you for years. If a 3rd party app is the only option for a proper local sync/backup I will have to look into updating my older Mac so it can use iTunes 12.8.2 or switching to my Linux computer for doing sync/backups.

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Answer 7

Marlinespike Author

Level 4

1,899 points

Jan 7, 2024 1:02 PM in response to a brody

Thanks, a brody. I do currently use image capture for offloading photos and videos before deleting them from my iphone.

What I like about using (free) iTunes to sync daily is that with one click:

all of my info is backed up to my local Mac in case of disaster (e.g. broken screen, battery bug endless crash loop, etc.)
all of my calendar/contacts/voice memos are synchronized between my phone/Mac
- and that means all of my voice memos are available on my Mac in iTunes
there is no "cloud" intermediary touching my data (e.g. Apple, Google, Box, Microsoft, Amazon etc.)

The other app you linked is also subscription based and will be expensive over time. I appreciate your help with possible solutions. However, I'm not interested in "renting" software.

It looks like I'll have to get a different partition for the old Macbook Pro and install a newer OS so I can run iTunes 12.8.2 for the iPhone SE 2.

Overall, I've been hugely disappointed in the Macbook Air and the more "modern" Mac OSs. Losing the ability to 1 click sync to my own computer is a massive step backwards.

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Answer 8

Marlinespike Author

Level 4

1,899 points

Jan 8, 2024 12:28 PM in response to a brody

Yes, I've backed up the iPhone SE 2 using the Mac OS 12 Finder and confirmed the location of the backup file in the library and made a copy of it on an external back up drive. However, the voice memos are nowhere to be found on the Macbook Air. :( Neither are the local "on my iphone" notes. I also haven't found a way to move over or manage my ringtones to sync to the iPhone SE 2. Also there's no way to view/manage the phone (as in iTunes) when it's not plugged in: you can't see anything about the phone. :(

The iPhone SE 2 was being used without a SIM card as a sort of mini ipad for photos and voice memos mostly. Now I may have to restore it from a backup of the iPhone SE to get all the "stuff" on it (e.g. texts, photos, app data/documents, network and email accounts/passwords, etc.) and actually use it as a phone.

Before restoring it as the predecessor phone, I wanted to back up and download everything. It looks like I will have to manually airdrop all of the voice memos one by one to the Macbook Air. There's only a couple notes and those can be deleted but it's annoying that if I had a lot of notes they like voice memos wouldn't sync to a folder. It's also an ominous sign of inconvenience ahead. :(

My next step is either going to be installing a slightly newer OS on an external drive for the MBP to run iTunes 12.8.2 or to install Next Cloud https://nextcloud.com/athome/ on my Raspberry Pi file server or my Linux desktop computer and see if that's a better option for syncing all of my data.

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