How can I fix my iPhone 11 sync stuck at step 1?
iPhone 11 (iOS 18.3.2), MacBookPro 2011 (Sequoia 15.3.2). iPhone sync was stuck at Step 1. "Force Quit" Finder didn't work and there was no MDCreshReport process in Activity Monitor (which is seen often with "Stuck at Step 2"). Forcing power down (holding down the power button) and powering up the MacBookPro again did not work, i.e., sync was still stuck at Step 1. I noticed that two processes, mds and mds_stores had higher %CPU loads and also longer running processes. I Force Quit those processes. After that, those processes relaunched themselves and the Sync Settings window's message changed from Step 1 to Step 2 (Preparing to Sync). After a little while, the backup and sync concluded successfully.
[Re-Titled by Moderator]
iPhone 11