Lately I have been having problems syncing my iPhone with iTunes. The most recent error is "Sync Session Failed to Start". However, even before when I could sync, it wasn't fully syncing. For example, as I listen to music on my iPhone, I will give it a star rating, but that data won't transfer to iTunes. Additionally, the "plays" and "Skips" stats are not transferring either.
Can anyone help?
iPhone 4S, iOS 5.1.1
Had the same problem and fixed it by opening Photos and reselecting "Open Photos for this device". I had previously restored my phone, and it was set to sync photos with Photos in iTunes, but Photos was no longer set to open when the iPhone connected. I corrected that conflict, and sync started.
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN,
BOYS AND GIRLS,
If you are running an OLD iPhone like me (in my case the 5c) a *very* simple solution on WINDOWS is to simply:
Uninstall ALL Apple proprietary software on your computer (including Apple application support, Apple mobile updater, etc.) (Make sure your iPhone is disconnected, of course)
Then, Google (or your choice search engine, I'm a Google man myself) "legacy iTunes" and go to Apple's old iTunes page for backwards compatibility.
Install the oldest iTunes you can for your specific device (that is compatible with your computer, i.e. if it says "old video card" and you don't have an old video card, don't get it!)
What is "old" specifically, I don't know.
Once you have removed ALL Apple software from your computer, you can begin installing the iTunes that was made closer to the time your iPhone was made. In particular, look at the iTunes release date compared with your iPhone's release date.
Upon opening the launcher, disable automatic updating.
Then, install the software and enjoy!
Hopefully works the way it did for me!
On you iPhone, force close all the Apps in the multitask window.
Follow these steps to force an app to close:
to close it one by one until all cleared
Now do a Soft reset of your iPhone:
Hold both Home and Sleep button for around 10secs until you see the Apple logo then release. After it returns to Home screen, connect to sync and see if this resolves the issue.
That helped a little bit and allowed my phone to sync, however, it is not updating the music or the data associated (Rating, plays, skips, etc.).
Excellent. Worked for me. Thank you.
This worked! Thanks!
It is not working for me 😟 Anything else need to be done?
OK, restarting iTunes did the trick!! Thanks!!
Try this.
STOP iTunes.
Plug your gadget into the USB port.
START iTunes.
If it starts automatically, STOP it and RESTART it with the gadget plugged into the USB port.
I dunno why, but it works for me!
When the Sync would try to start, a Dropbox "photos" popup would await a response - Always use iPhoto, Cancel or [Agree - can't recall now]. I kept clicking Cancel - I don't think I need it - and then searched ASC for help. When I tried the "soft reboot" solution, I answered "Always use iPhoto" to the Dropbox popup. Sync went well after that. I don't know if there's a connection; I love my Macs and iPhone because I don't understand all the goofy stuff Windows would throw at me, and my Apple devices just work! I've found ASC helpful, and thought I'd pass along my experience in case it could help someone else. Thank you!
Thank you!!! It worked!
Worked for me, thanks so much
I dunno either but Carl, you're a genius. It worked for me. Thanks.
Try quitting iTunes and starting it again. It worked for me.
Super Helpful, this thread came up first in search when I typed "sync session failed to start." Thanks!
Sync session failed to start
