iPhone/iTunes Wifi sync doesn't work

Okay, this is what worked for me. It's slightly strange but I got mine working by doing the following in order:

1. Connect phone via cable to iTunes.

2. Ensure that the "Sync with this iPhone over Wifi" is checked.

3. Uncheck "Sync with this iPhone over Wifi." Yes UNCHECK the box.

4. Unplug the phone from iTunes. Your phones name should disappear from the left side of the panel.

5. Reconnect your phone via cable to iTunes.

6. Check the box "Sync with this iPhone over Wifi.

7. Unplug your router. Wait 2 to 3 minutes and plug your router back in.

8. After your router starts itself back up and your phone and computer connect to it, disconnect your phone. Your phones name should still appear in the left column.

9. Plug it into separate power source and it should be sync wirelessly.

Thanks, this solved the problem for me

I don't know if others have this situation, but in my case, I have a Time Capsule which generates both a regular WiFi network and a 5GHz network. My Mac was connected to the 5GHz network, and the iPhone to the regular network. I turned off WiFi on the Mac, and then turned it back on and connected it to the regular network, and the iPhone showed up in iTunes.

Sorry this did not work for me, tried it on both iPhone and iPad and no luck.

I think there is a flaw in iTunes and IOS6 that Apple cannot be bothered to address as basically they want all users to work only with Apple software.

I know how you came to this conclusion. Mine works perfectly and millions of others.

Judging by the number of people having the same problems in this and several other threads, and on general internet searches I would say there is a significant number of people having a problem. Glad your is OK.

I have had many problems with Windows over the years and always found the answer on forums, however not this one. The answer will need to come from a 3rd party I suspect.

Does not make me want to move completely over to Apple products though. The iphone and ipad are good products, shame there is not the desire to make them work well with other platforms, might attract more business if that were the case.

I will leave it now and use the cable at the office and a piece of Microsoft software that allows syncing over the net, but in a slightly different way, via a 3rd party. Sorry Apple, your loss!

I'm in the same the same boat. We did a complete hardware software upgrade. New iMac with mountain Lion and iTunes 10.7, a new iPhone 5, and 2 new iPads, all with IOS6. Since then, I have not been able to a wifi sync. This is only one of several bugs. Now regret that we didn't wait another couple of months befor upgrading.

I"m running iOS 6 and OSX 10.7, wifi sync doesn't work for me automatically. If I got to iTunes and select sync it will sync with my iPhone over wifi, but if I try to sync from the iPhone it continuously says "searching for macbook". Hopefully this is fixed soon, it's annoying to have to manually sync after getting used to my iPhone automatically syncing every time I plugged it in.

Same problem here: I've got a 10.8.2 and a couple of iOS6 devices - none of them syncs over WiFi, though all possible settings have been checked. It simply doesn't work.

Made an account just to like this! Haha! Has been troubling me for quite a while 🙂 Thanks! 😀

thanks altarheel1111, i did steps 1 thru 6, unplugged phone from imac, phone still showed up, plugged into wall charger and iphone synced right away over wifi.

Okay, solved this problem with my iPod Touch only to have it happen with my new iPad. Then I noticed the iPod was also not showing wirelessly. Previously, I mistakenly thought it had something to do with Bluetooth settings (I know, I know, not the same thing as wireless and not related, but there was a coincidence that repeated itself in my trials, and I was desperately obsessed).

This time, I tried doing a series of the following things... and it worked. Syncing with the wire, completely syncing all data this way. Selecting, deselecting and selecting again "sync this (device) over Wi-Fi." When the iPad/iPod disappeared when I unplugged it (after all this, the data sync complete with mac), I connected once again with wire. Then it still said sync... of course there was nothing left to sync... I hit sync anyway. Then you get the "revert" and "apply" buttons. I made sure "sync this (device) over Wi-Fi"was checked... I hit "apply" and then unplugged. BINGO.

This has worked with both my iPod touch and iPad... and I quit and restarted iTunes a few times, and they are still there. The test will be if I take them out of range and bring them back in... we'll see.

Message was edited by: emsnyc (made corrections to "sync this (device) over Wi-Fi" term).

OK now tried all the things that others have suggested in this thread and still cannot get WiFi sync to function in any way. many of the posts here seem to agree this is a problem that has manifested itself after various software upgrades, or perhaps we should call them "downgrades" as functionality has been lost.

I have no more precious life to waste on trying to solve Apple's shortcomings. I will keep my eyes open each time software is upgraded to see if the problem has been fixed.

It is amazing that Apple have not posted on here, one wonders if they bother to look.

There is one sure thing though. I will not be invested any more money in Apple products until they sort out these basic functions to allow us to use their products efficiently. This is a shame as the iPad and iPhone are great products, the Macs look great, but if you cannot get them to communicate properly, what point is there in further investment?

Yeah, I agree. What I did last night worked... for hours... I tried restarting, doing various things to test it... all my devices remained synced... until today. I do not know what unsyced 2/3 of them as the iPhone was the only one to leave the house.

I tried again, fiddling with the sync, unplug, plug in checking and unchecking "sync (this device) over Wi-Fi" box and unplugging and checking and unchecking, and selecting "apply"... in various orders until it worked. Honestly, I have no idea what worked, and it's of little consequence when it will be just all undone within a day and I don't know why. It's all a lot of magical thinking at this point. Any of the above solutions are as good as the next because clearly, there is a glitch that makes them all inconsistant. I refuse to call apple over this. Last issue I had, I was on the phone with them for hours. As you may know, the staff are tireless in their efforts and polite, but reaally I would have preferred an answer of "I'm not really sure what's going on," to the glorious waste of time... I believe the staff were not informed about system wide glitches--- which at that point were in the iTunes system. They were receiving other calls like mine and I had to question them to find that out. The problem resolved itself when iTunes straightened out. (I was unable to play anything from iCloud). It was not my TV, my router, the complex settings the apple technician had me adjust and change until we eliminated countless possibilities. All because Apple refused to admit, that iTunes was having problems that day. No biggie! It happens! Just be honest. At least with your staff.

The long and the short of it is, I will be syncing with a wire for some time to come. Where's the progress?

iOS 6 has so many bugs, I've considered getting a Samsung Galaxy. Apple has really taken a step backwards quality-wise. Other bugs I've encountered are:

1. Not being able to highlight text in iBooks

2. When syncing wirelessly, iTunes constantly tells me that I've changed iPhone settings and I have to click 'yes' or 'no.'

3. Constant Bluetooth issues with phone. Some devices won't pair. People say I sound far away when talking on the Bluetooth devises that do pair. The phone will disconnect a call if I'm talking on Bluetooth with one call and not answer an incoming call. When the incoming caller hangs up, the phone disconnects the current caller. That's very frustrating.

4. Shortcuts don't always work when typing on iPhone. I have shortcuts set up such as typing 'gm' will automatically fill in as 'good morning.' In iOS 5, it always worked. In iOS 6, it's temperamental.

These are just a few minor issues but Apple better get it together. The ease of iCloud and the quality of its products are what keeps me. But after dealing with iOS 6 bugs, coupled with what I hear about the Samsung, I've considered switching phones though I still don't want to. Switching phones is what got me to Apple. It started with the iPhone. Shortly thereafter, I had a MacBook Pro, Apple TV, Time Capsule, and iPad. I guess I could leave Apple just as fast as I came to Apple. Lets get it together Apple before there's a mass exodus of loyal customers. Go back to your revolutionary ways before you get left behind; not just revolutionary products, but quality products.