iPhone 4S won't sync APPS or MUSIC

Mine is exactly the same. Downloaded new version of itunes, transfered purchases from my old 3gs to itunes, backed up 3gs, linked new iphone 4s, restored 4s using 3gs back-up, it has transfered my contacts, photos, messages etc, but wont transfer music, apps etc.

When I press Sync it goes through the normal timeframe for step 1 and 2 'preparing to sync' but step 3 just flashed up for a nano second and then finishes, without transfering any of the stuff. Grr.

I had the same problem, my photos and app data wouldn't transfer no matter how many times I backed up or synced. After over an hour on the phone with Apple Support and the only answer being "yeah, that happens sometimes" I figured it out. Here's what I did: In iTunes, go to Edit - Preferences. in the Devices menu, check the box that says "prevent iPods, iPhones, and iPads from syncing automatically". Then I selected all of the previous backup files & deleted them. Then I clicked "Reset Sync History". Plug in your old phone, sync & then right click on your iPhone in the list on the left and select "backup". After it's done, unplug it and plug in your new phone. Right click on your iPhone in the list on the left & select "restore from backup". Worked like a charm!

I'm having the same problem but I dont think a restore will work for me. I was having problems with my old 3G/iTunes before I got my 4S. It would not back up. I had deleted all the old backups (per someones advice) hoping it would create a new one...well, it never did. Soo now I have my new phone with no back up and it has taken two days of off and on trying to sync when Im home and I've been able to get a few apps to copy onto it here and there but no songs yet. And it takes hours yes HOURS for one app to copy onto my new phone. Not to mention the problems with Siri (Im not able to connect to the network) BS and the dictation not working half the time. What did I spend my money on again?!?!?? Im at my wits end here people!!!!!

Restore isn't working for me. It still will not sync with my music and apps if I try to load my 3GS backup onto the 4s. Any other thoughts?

I have spent 4 hours on the phone with apple this week and have had to do backups multiple ways. I, too, am stuck after multiple backups and restorations still left without my playlists...they are in itunes / library but under devices/iphone/music they are not there. i don't understand. i'm not doing another restore but I (thankfullY) was able to get all my app data to new 4S phone through an icloud backup on iphone 4. So what's up with the playlists not transfering. that part i just don't understand. I wouldn't imagine i"d have to recreate it b/c I see all my playlists fine - they are just not showing up as options to sync to phone or ipad. anyone have a solution?

Did you delete your old backup files & reset your sync history? That worked for me, hope it works for you!

How did you get your contacts when you deleted your old backup files?

Because you delete all of the old backup files & then make a new one from the old phone before restoring the new phone from the new backup. I think maybe when you make a new backup when there are already some on file it only does a partial backup, so when you try to restore the new phone, it only get some of the data. But when you delete all the old files & start fresh, it backs up everything.

we were able to take a backup of the iphone 4 from Icloud and then use that backup with the iphone 4S ....then we used playlists from my old computer and exported them to a flashdrive and now I have almost all of my playlists back - just a few that weren't on the other computer.

we realized that my missing playlists were on my ipod but then when i synced it it didn't do what i was hoping in that i was hoping to export those playlists but it deleted them. is there a way to get a previous version/backup of the ipod playlist or my itunes playlists from "last week"? I just don't understand how some of the music transfered but not all....so all things considered I have a full music library but recreating some of my favorite lists will be time consuming to start over. not the end of the world but if there is something I am missing that could fix it I would love to know. I have time capsule but cannot seem to locate the file that would have the playlists listed....

ive just recieved my new 4s and had exactly the same issue.... cant get my apps to load at all.....

spent 2.5 hours on the phone with apple tech support and they hadnt a clue......

ive just followed sweetin77's advise above... and alls worked a treat

thanks for that

now.... can some one help me get my e mail to work......?

I have the same problem. Everything but my music will sync. My playlists come up but no music in them. None of my music is itunes purchases, it is all music from cd's I have had. I can't do a backup because this is my first iphone. I do have an ipad that syncs perfectly fine. What should I do?

I have the same problem as Mark. Only the music I've purchased from iTunes will sync to my iPhone 4S. I have restored the phone, uninstalled and reinstalled iTunes, etc. Nothing works. Please help. Thanks.

In other words, my entire music catalog of CDs will not sync.

Not sure if this will help you but I finally got my music on my iphone. For whatever reason itunes lost all my songs file pathing and the location it thought they were in they were not. I found this out by actually trying to play my music in itunes. Once I found that out it then made sense as too why my music wasnt't syncing. I had a backup of my itunes library so imported it and made sure all my songs had the correct file pathing and then my phone synced fine.