macOS 11.7.11 displayed my iPhone in Finder over wifi perfectly. But yesterday the mac failed to display the iPhone over wifi, it connects perfectly with the cable. I have been searching all options but I can't make it show in Finder.
Could anyone pls give it a thought?
MacBook Pro 15″, macOS 11.7
Double-check your wi-fi sync settings on both the Mac and the iPhone.
This is, I believe, the only feature that will display the iPhone in the Mac's Finder wirelessly. Otherwise the iPhone only show up in the Finder when it is connected to the Mac via USB cable.
Sync content between your Mac and iPhone or iPad over Wi-Fi - Apple Support
To troubleshoot you can:
• Disconnect the iPhone from your wi-fi network for a couple minutes, then reconnect.
• Disconnect your Mac from your wi-fi network for a couple minutes, then reconnect.
• Reboot the iPhone.
• Reboot the Mac.
• Reboot your router.
Double-check your wi-fi sync settings on both the Mac and the iPhone.
This is, I believe, the only feature that will display the iPhone in the Mac's Finder wirelessly. Otherwise the iPhone only show up in the Finder when it is connected to the Mac via USB cable.
Sync content between your Mac and iPhone or iPad over Wi-Fi - Apple Support
To troubleshoot you can:
• Disconnect the iPhone from your wi-fi network for a couple minutes, then reconnect.
• Disconnect your Mac from your wi-fi network for a couple minutes, then reconnect.
• Reboot the iPhone.
• Reboot the Mac.
• Reboot your router.
Use terminal pls.
what is holding that USB interface captive:
lsof | grep usbmuxd
Stop all connected device services:
sudo killall usbmuxd
sudo chmod 755 /var/db/lockdown
Find cache of Finder:
rm ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.sidebarlists.plist
killall Finder
Check if Mac sees the broadcast:
dns-sd -B _apple-mobdev2._tcp local
Check Apple Mobile Device framework:
defaults read com.apple.AMPDeviceDiscoveryAgent
In the meantime connect with the usb cable and see if it shows-up.
Maybe you are lucky.
I've been facing the same error for a while already.
I have an iOS 26 iPhone 17 and Tahoe 26.5 MacBook Pro M2.
My iPhone always shows up when it's connected with a USB cable to my laptop, but nothing shows up on Wi-Fi.
And I've tried everything: rebooting both devices, making sure they're in the same network, toggling on and off the "Show this iPhone when on Wi-Fi" checkbox, toggling on the "iOS Devices" visualization on Finder sidebar settings, Relaunch Finder from "Force Quit".
But nothing seems to fix it.
I did it all and I have reset all relevant settings. The mac recognizes the iphone perfectly but refuses to display it. The funny thing is that yesterday it could be seen in Finder and then all of a sudden, I could not see it.
I am actually experiencing exactly the same thing with an iOS 26 iPhone 14 and Tahoe MacBook Air.
My iPhone shows up in the Finder sidebar, but fails to populate its data in the window accompanied by the error that "the device could not be found". Which itself is just weird because the iPhone is in the sidebar.
I thought I had it licked with the info I posted previously, but it turns out I did not.
When/if I find a working solution I'll post it.
Sorry to have misled you earlier, my friend.
well I got deeper into the matter and sorted all.
The iphone is advertizing, the mac sees it but doesn't display it.
I have eliminated faults in wifi, and other relevant systems. It all seems to be healthy.
But thinking of it, it disappeared after applying the update to ios 26.5
To my humble opinion the update is the culprit bc all, really all, other possibilities have been tested and eliminated.
I hope that some one stands up and proves me wrong with the solution to the issue.
I have been on it on-and-off bc it takes too much time. It shows perfectly when on the cable but refuses to show on wifi. Thinking back, it all occurred after the ios update to 26.5. Believe me, I did anything within my knowledge and even Ai advise but still. So after all the trials I am still not sure whether is is macOS or iOS. As the Mac sees the phone but doesn't broadcast it. I hope that someone in the Forum has a better idea.
What would you make of this: dns-sd -B _apple-mobdev2._tcp local
Browsing for _apple-mobdev2._tcp.local
DATE: ---Sun 21 Jun 2026---
17:04:58.613 ...STARTING...
Timestamp A/R Flags if Domain Service Type Instance Name
17:05:42.217 Add 2 4 local. _apple-mobdev2._tcp. e2:8e:a2:7f:ea:d0@fe80::e08e:a2ff:fe7f:ead0-supportsRP-24
17:05:46.900 Rmv 0 4 local. _apple-mobdev2._tcp. e2:8e:a2:7f:ea:d0@fe80::e08e:a2ff:fe7f:ead0-supportsRP-24
17:06:33.106 Add 2 4 local. _apple-mobdev2._tcp. e2:8e:a2:7f:ea:d0@fe80::e08e:a2ff:fe7f:ead0-supportsRP-24
17:06:37.794 Add 3 16 local. _apple-mobdev2._tcp. e2:8e:a2:7f:ea:d0@fe80::e08e:a2ff:fe7f:ead0-supportsRP-24 And still running
It is clear now, I am running macOS 11.7.11 (Big Sur) and the iPhone is running iOS 26.5 and thare is the threshold. Running: ping6 -c 3 fe80::e08e:a2ff:fe7f:ead0%en0
PING6(56=40+8+8 bytes) fe80::18d4:7b4f:59df:1202%en0 --> fe80::e08e:a2ff:fe7f:ead0%en0
--- fe80::e08e:a2ff:fe7f:ead0%en0 ping6 statistics ---
3 packets transmitted, 0 packets received, 100.0% packet loss
Running: dns-sd -B _apple-mobdev2._tcp
Browsing for _apple-mobdev2._tcp
DATE: ---Mon 22 Jun 2026---
9:30:34.940 ...STARTING...
Timestamp A/R Flags if Domain Service Type Instance Name
9:30:39.552 Add 2 4 local. _apple-mobdev2._tcp. e2:8e:a2:7f:ea:d0@fe80::e08e:a2ff:fe7f:ead0-supportsRP-24
The phone is seen and recognized but bc of the update to iOS 26.5, it doesn't speak the same language anymore.
On my end, I’ve been facing this issue for a while already, something around months.
I’ll investigate this further and see if I can help with anything.
But my iPhone doesn’t even show up in Finder.
Actually, out of nowhere it started to recognize my iPhone through Wi-Fi. The Handoff had stopped working at the time and it's also working now.
iPhone doesn't show in mac Finder over wifi.
