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iTunes stuck on last stage of sync, "Waiting for items to copy", NEVER COMPLETES??

Ive upgraded all my software, OSX, iOS 5, new iTunes, etc. Now, whenever I try to sync my phone, either via WiFi or USB, I get stuck on the last stage that says, "Syncing Genius Data to Iphone (Step 7 of 7) - Waiting for items to copy". It won't complete the sync. Whats up???


Also, not all of my previous Ringtones will upload, so I cant use them. HELP!

iPhone 4, Mac OS X (10.7.1)

Posted on Oct 12, 2011 6:18 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Oct 12, 2011 7:40 PM

I have the exact same problem - updated to ios5 and iTunes 10.5 today and now can't complete a sync because it's wating to genius items to copy. Kind of frustrated.

301 replies

Nov 9, 2011 6:10 AM in response to matobii

I had the same problem with my iphone 4, i kept on going for several hours... always the same message "waiting for... to be copied". I tried EVERY solution that was suggested... nothing worked... until I read the one with the voice memos.. I tried to delete all the memos, and... it worked 🙂 so thanks to everyone who suggested that solution... 🙂 (sorry if my English spelling and choice of words are incorrect) 🙂

Nov 9, 2011 8:51 PM in response to matobii

My story, fwiw:


iPhone 4 (ios 5, 9a334) syncing to MBP with itunes 10.5 (141) was hanging on "waiting for items" on Genius data


I tried


1) Disabling Genius: Hang switched to "Waiting for changes to be applied" (ugh)

2) delete voice memos (I had none): no effect

3) stop syncing photos and books: no effect

4) 5-sec phone hard-reset: no effect


What finally got the behavior to change was

--All of above plus:

--Activate airplane mode, then do 5-sec reset

--Quit iTunes and turn off airport on macbook pro

--connect restarted phone via cable

--run sync


It got the podcasts and tracks synced (what I was originally hoping for) but now the sync is stuck for 15 minutes on "waiting for items to copy" for "Syncing Artwork..."


I am going to do a factory settings restore and restore from backup when I get a chance, but I hope Apple can figure out what's up with this one... I like the ability to keep using my phone during syncs, but it's somewhat less valuable a feature if the syncs never complete

Nov 11, 2011 5:42 AM in response to joely jane

I got mine to completely sync by unplugging my router to turn off my wifi. It seems that it defaults to a wifi sync even if you are plugged directly into your computer. By turning off my wifi it did a nice "old-fashioned" wired sync just fine.


UPDATE: After doing that once, now i can plug in and do the wifi sync just fine, too, without having to turn off my wifi, very interesting.................

Nov 12, 2011 7:26 AM in response to matobii

Unfortunately, today the sync stopped working again on my iPhone 4, even closing all apps as I previoulsy posted did not make it work.


Stopping the WiFi did not solve anything.


So I entered settings DURING the sync and set the airplane mode to ON. Suddenly, my running sync completed successfully.


So give Airplane mode a try, it might help you also.

iTunes stuck on last stage of sync, "Waiting for items to copy", NEVER COMPLETES??

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