iTunes could not backup iPhone because the iPhone disconnected

After receiving that message several times while trying to restore a new from the box 6s from a backup from my other 10 months old 6s (my old one was unblocked and I was exchanging it for my brother's new one so he can swap SIM cards while traveling without the phone company hassle or the need to used roaming) i came here, read the 24 pages and tried all the solutions suggested. Now I'm posting what worked for me.

- I Deleted the previous backup and restarted the pc (win10)

- using an original USB cable, connected on the back

- don't have any of the apps mentioned here but I deleted a few non essentials, like games, just to make it smaller (= faster)

- I created a new backup, encrypted and with a password, while in airplane mode to avoid interruptions from the first 6s

- Disconneted and restarted pc again

- i connected the second 6s and restored the phone back to factory settings (already had the latest iOS 10.2 from a previously attempt to restore) to make sure it was "clean"; it did all these while connected and turning on and off a few times following with the last step to be restored using the new backup. Never disconnected during the process.

and it worked! Everything was there and just need it extra time while in wifi to update ALL the apps.

I'be never had an issue before creating backups or syncing with my 6s, so, as someone else said, I found the needle in my haystack.

HOpe this helps someone!

rjbokleman wrote:

Greg H,

"Yeah people try to be helpful to a fault,swearing that this or that made it work when the reality is that it was none of the above."

I think you've crossed a fine line here between attacking the problem and attacking people attempting to help. The work-arounds that "worked" for them, perhaps won't work for you.

This issue has been ongoing for months...without any word/acknowledgment from Apple, however, it was entirely predictable given the increased memory size and consumption of that memory by users of the devices.

Nobody has claimed that their issue has been completely resolved by any of these methods - permanently. For example, the deleting of the old backup file is a work-around designed to bootstrap the back up process by iTunes from scratch. It works - at least once - and then a few weeks later the same backup issue returns. All the original poster of this method and other's who have used it have said is that it works to at least get you ONE good backup. Which, is good enough to at least let you migrate to a new phone.

If you really want to pursue this, open a ticket under Apple Care directly with Apple and keep pushing on them.

Sorry bud, perhaps you need to find a safe space, I'll be ore succinct for you, what I'm opposed to is the constant barrage of quack remedies that have no relevance to what really solves the issue at hand.

Hi - I had this same issue and for me I performed a very easy 3 step fix:

1. turn off background app refresh (settings - general - background app refresh)

2. turn on airplane mode

3. turn on low power mode

After I did this, backing up my iphone worked! I had been having this issues since March till I finally figured out the right combination that worked for me.

If you delete it, you no longer have a backup you can restore from, if anything goes wrong.
It's much safer to just rename it, as suggested elsewhere, but check your free disk space first. If you don't have at least the capacity of your iPhone free, then move your backup instead - to an external hard disk, or a suitably large memory stick.

Of course, it would be far better if Apple fixed this long-standing bug!

It's 8/30/2017, I have an iPhone 7 and iOS 10.3.3. I'm getting this same pop up in iTunes every time I try and back up my iPhone. I've tried pretty much everything listed and suggested here and elsewhere but it still has the pop up. Any thoughts or suggestions?

Apple really should do a better job in their error message. I spent so many hours trying to figure out how to back up my iPhone via iTunes because it kept telling me "iTunes could not backup iPhone because iPhone disconnected". I tried all the solutions that people suggested (deleting the backup file, switching USB port, etc.) and every solution failed. I even temporarily disabled autolock and rebootted my PC and iPhone several times. Then, I thought maybe I should remove passcode as iTunes always has the habit of not able to handle this in the past if I remember correctly. Oh, my goodness. Finally, iTunes finished backing up my iPhone (6 plus) without any error this time. Hopefully, someone could benefit from this trick.

I have fixed it. Before that God **** Apple people. They always and only causes trouble. Look at all those comments. Although it is Apple's responsibility, clients try to fix their troubles. We are paying a fortune to buy this phone and where is after-sales help? Updates should be produced to fix bugs and make things and usage easier for the users, but your each update causes more troubles.

My solution is with a completely free alternate software. This is not an ad or I have nothing with the software. Tou just go and download CopyTrans and install it. After that make a full back up on your existing folder or somewhere different as you want. Then open itunes again and you will find your back up over there. Also one more thing; it alerts to remind you the next backup.

Deleting the backup folder and creating a new one helped. This started to happened when I used a 3rd party app called iMazing that somehow must have messed with the backup files.

I wish the error message would be more accurate, though :-)

I was searching for a Solution of this problem. I stupidly restored my iPhone to previous backup as well, hoping to solve this, but unfortunately ended up with lost photos post that backup date.

few days later I updated my iTunes on my MacAir, and the problem was solved immediately. I guess iPhones with latest update, require iTunes with latest update.

Make sure you are using a USB port directly on the computer, not a hub.

Try disabling your antivirus when syncing.

If that doesn't resolve it please tell us your computer type (PC or Mac) and operating system and version.

the next thing I would check is the cable and connector. However, you said you had restored the phone without error, so that is not likely to be the problem.

It's possible that your backup is corrupted, although that usually causes the backup to hang rather than quit. You can try deleting the backup (iTunes Preferences, Devices section); this will clear the problem if the backup is corrupt. If you don't have a backup of it and don't use Time Machine you may want to just rename the backup folder instead of deleting it. It is located at ~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup/. Rename the folder at the end to Backup.sav or something similar.

IT HELPED ME!!!!!!!!!!! THANKS!!!!! 😀

I'm in the same boat, but deleting the back up did NOT help me. I have both an iPhone and an iPad - the iPad backs up just fine, the iPhone always craps out saying that it disconnected (but note that it synchronizes fine, it just doesn't back up). Any more ideas out there?