stuck on waiting for changes to be applied

It is amazing to me how many different things people have tried to fix this problem. The only fix that has worked every time is to delete the medialibrary database file on the device itself using a program that allows one to read files. I've described what I do in this thread:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5324684?answerId=23388123022#23388123022

I believe that some bug in Tunes progressively screws up the library file on devices by leaving junk behind that you cannot get rid of, which eventually slows syncs to a crawl. Deleting the corrupted library file, warm rebooting, and resyncing (which rebuilds the library file on the device) gives me several weeks of trouble-free syncs before it gets stuck again. It does take a while to put the files back on the device so I usually let it run overnight (I've got a very large library). So far I've used the same technique to fix stuck syncs on my iPad 2, iPod Touch 4, iPod Touch 5, iPhone 4s, iPad 2, and iPhone 5. It isn't a permanent fix, but it does get things working for a while before "gunk" builds up in the database and you need to repeat the process again. I'd still rather do this than delete my entire iTunes library and rebuild it from scratch, remove all purchased music, or restore my iPhone to factory settings repeatedly.

Based on past "ghosted" files, I think the real problem isn't the media type so much as it is purchased items. When this problem first cropped up, for me the ghosted files were primarily in *.m4p format . I removed all of these files and reinstalled them in *.m4a or *.mp3 format. After some initial hiccups (I believe linked to corruption of the database file on my device), syncs worked flawlessly for a while, then it got stuck again. Another issue seemed to be "matched" music, so I removed all of those files and turned off Match. That also seemed to help for a while. My guess is that iTunes is doing something in the background to verify that your purchased music is allowed to be on the device, and something in this process corrupts the device library file over time. It always amazes how much extra space my iPhone suddenly finds once all those ghosted files are gone and I've resynced.

I'm ticked off enough about this problem that I rarely purchase music from iTunes anymore and rely on Amazon instead. I've kept my Match subscription temporarily, but plan to switch entirely to Amazon Cloud as soon as all the tags on my music files are clean. Apple's premium prices are only worth it if the product and software work. This problem has existed for years and it doesn't seem to be a priority of Apple's to fix it. Given that, I'm already looking at tablets made by other manufacturers to replace my old iPad, and I've been doing the same with phones. This is almost as bad as Windows registry errors or BSODs.

I'm in the same boat. If I make one change to one song or playlist, my sync can take up to an hour. It's absolutely infuriating.

The iTunes programmers clearly do not care at all about the quality of their software, or they wouldn't have left this bug to fester for years and years.

One thing I do is report this bug on a daily basis here: https://www.apple.com/feedback/iphone.html

I'm sure it does absolutely no good, and I imagine that those contact forms don't accomplish anything, but at least I feel like I'm doing something. Maybe if enough people keep reporting this bug Apple's programmers will decide they care about the quality of their products and actually do something to address it.

I'm not holding my breath, though. This is a bad bug, and they haven't addressed it in years, so it's clear they don't give a crap. Which is sad to see; they used to write such good software.

Now it just feels like I'm using Windows.

Absolutely. I've switched now. I keep an old iPhone 4S around just for curiosities sake. My phone gets used for 2 things: music and phone stuff. Not videos, games, emails or anything like that. Why would I pay £600-800 for a phone that is just a phone? Since copying music to it is an exhausting, impossible experience.

It's funny what one event like this can do. A bug is a problem and to leave it well over a year before fixing it shows a huge ineptitude. Something is wrong at Apple, be it the programmers, the managers, the systems in place to report bugs. And here we are in a 33-page forum thread with many people having the same problem. They've lost one in me now, I no longer buy an Apple product with that gleeful excitement. I buy it and wonder what has been broke to get this product to market. I've switched my phone and once my iPad goes I'll be done with tablet computing. My iMac is 3 years old, once it goes I'll just build a PC. All because it took a year for the worlds biggest computing company to fix a major problem. I know that shouldn't be such a big problem but Apple play up the experience so much that when that's gone you're not left with much.

I suggest you raise holy **** if you bought a new device. If you bought it from an Apple Store contact them repeatedly, make a case of it. Report it here https://www.apple.com/feedback/ipodtouch.html and here https://bugreport.apple.com/ you've currently got a broken device, let them know it.

Good morning,

after having read tons of forum postings I have found out, that the iTunes database on my iPhone was corrupt. Then I discovered this posting: Resolution Steps: iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch library corrupted and showing ghost entries which will not play or music that is on the device in iTunes but inaccessible.

After having deleted the database and reconnected my iPhone to itUnes everything was alright.

Maybe this might help other users too...

Joachim

Hey guys. I spent a while with a VERY smart Apple Care rep and he solved this for me. All you have to do is rebuild your iTunes library and it fixes the problem. The problem is related to having music in your iTunes library but it's not found on your computer. Once you rebuild the library you'll get a message saying that "Not all music was added to library because it could not be found". After rebuilding the library, it worked like a charm. Basically remove the iTunes Library.itl file and move the iTunes Library.xml file to your desktop and then open up iTunes and import the library using the xml file you placed on your desktop. Here is a detailed link to do this: iTunes: How to re-create your iTunes library and playlists - Apple Support. I'm quite confident that this will work for everyone. I used to work Apple Care a while back and completely forgot about doing this otherwise I'd have done it in the first place. It logically also makes all the sense in the world. I hope this helps the many other people who have faced this problem.

After trying everything, including completely wiping all my data from my phone twice (as suggested by the Genius guys), and resyncing everything (what a pain), I finally came across this solution and it worked for me:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread...art=0&tstart=0

Good luck everyone!

...my back to the drawing board approach was to notice that there was an iTunes update 12.3.0.44 http://www.apple.com/itunes/download/ .

Downloaded, installed and applied. Then synced and the "Waiting for files to copy" error disappeared and I got a full sync without problems. I also had had one of the hard disk errors at times:

'Attempting to copy to the disk "Macintosh HD" failed. An unknown error occurred (-4).'

, but not this time. I then rechecked Voice memos, synced and the 'stuck on waiting for changes to be applied' error did not recur.

All good, and only the standard IT help disk response (after switch off and on) - always update the software.

I am still under warranty and I did try what you mentioned.

As per apple support...

• I created a new user profile with admin rights
• logged in
• set up fresh iTunes
• no playlists
• no apps
• no voice mails
• no genius
• no icloud
• I downloaded tracks directly from the itune store (so the tracks are not the issue)

I tried syncing and still had similiar issues.

So that rules out the library, tracks, and playlists

This problem started right after upgrading to ios 7. Apple won't let me go back!

I am a professional Full-time DJ. I now have a $800 BRICK on my hands.

May be this is simpler and worked for me:

• In Itunes click on “music” of your iPhone
• If you see any song with a dotted circle to its left and in degraded text, write down its name
• Go to “music” in your iTunes library and unmark each and every of these songs
• Synchronize your iPhone
• Again in iTunes go back to your “music” ON THE iPHONE and make sure that all of the circled degraded songs have disappeared, if any found and you are sure they are unmarked in your library, remove from library and resynchronize the iPhone
• Mark songs you unmarked in your library
• Resync your iPhone

I hope it works for you.

Thanksbes2dt10 for the advice. What I did:

• Checked "manually manage music" checkbox (in the "options" box in the "summary" screen for iPhone, when it is plugged in)
• I also had the "only sync checked music" checkbox checked
• When I did that and then did a sync, it appeared to be copying music to my phone. I don't know if it was copying music to a new "manually managed section" on my phone, or what. It took a few minutes to start, and maybe 10 minutes to finish doing whatever copying it was doing.
• After that, all my music was on the phone. But I wanted to get out of the "manually managed" mode, so I went back and unchecked the "manually managed" checkbox and did another sync.
• That sync didn't take very long to finish. I guess the music was all on the phone now, after the whole "manually managed" sync had done its thing.
• Now it all appears to be fine.

I think what this process did was replace all the music that was on my phone by what was on the computer. In any case, it's fixed now.

Just went through this for the third itteration of iOS7 (7.1, 7.2, 7.4). Happened every time. Last two I just ran it overnight and eventually it fixed itself. This time, screw that.

• Turned off Find My iPhone
• Deleted my one ancient voice note (it HAD been duplicated) both on my pjone and in iTunes [Emailed it to myself first.]
• Devices > Turned off auto-sync.

Everything's cool now.

Reinitialized FMiPhone, still fine. Leaving auto-sync off since I prefer that anyway.

I experienced this issue last night after backing up an iPhone 5S (on 7.0.4) and then restoring to a replacement iPhone 5S (also 7.0.4).

I was eventually able to fully repair syncing by logging out of iCloud, iTunes, and Home Sharing at a specific point in the "restore backup" process.

Here's how I made this work for me:

1. Make an encrypted iTunes backup, if you don't already have one.
   I encountered this issue while restoring from a backup I took a few minutes prior.
   If you are having this issue and haven't created a backup, do so now.
   The backup needs to be encrypted, or else you'll have to login to all of your apps again.
   
2. Restore the iPhone to default state.
   Connect the phone via USB to iTunes, click "Restore Phone" on the device screen, confirm data wipe, etc.
   DFU restore also works fine.
   
3. Begin the "Restore Backup" process, unplugging the phone when it reboots.
   On the phone screen, complete the initial setup by connecting to Wi-Fi (or not) and then choosing "Restore from iTunes Backup".
   Pay close attention to iTunes and to the phone.
   Unplug the phone immediately when the Apple logo appears. This happens a second or two after the iTunes progress bar reaches completion.
   iTunes will present a dialog saying "Leave your phone plugged in". You must ignore this request, and unplug it before it finishes rebooting and tries to sync automatically.
   
4. Complete the setup process on the phone, logging into iCloud if it asks you to do so.
   It seems unnecessary to login to iCloud at this stage, but it's necessary to do this step, or you risk breaking your iCloud settings and needing to restore again.
   The setup process is complete when you reach the home screen and can locate the Settings icon.
   
5. Logout of iCloud, iTunes, and Home Sharing, and disable the iTunes "Show All" options.
   To log out of iCloud, go to Settings > iCloud > Delete Account. If asked, choose "Delete" rather than "Keep".
   To log out of iTunes, go to Settings > iTunes & App Store > Apple ID: xxx@xxx > Sign Out.
   To log out of Home Sharing, go to Settings > Music > Apple ID: xxx@xxx > Sign Out.
   If you're already signed out of any of the above things, that's fine.
   To disable the iTunes "Show All" options, go to Settings > iTunes & App Store > Show All. Ensure that both "Music" and "Videos" are disabled. This step may not be required, I didn't try without it.
   
6. Sync with iTunes over USB.
   Plug the USB connector into the phone and computer.
   iTunes should begin syncing immediately.
   Restore Backup sets a hidden flag that forces an immediate automatic sync, ignoring the global "Do not sync devices automatically" and device "Sync this device automatically" options.
   Unplugging the phone earlier ensures that the automatic sync occurs *after* we've logged out of iTunes and iCloud.
   
7. Do not use the phone until the sync is complete.
   I didn't use the phone during my successful repair, so this step reflects that.
   You're logged out of iTunes and iCloud, so a lot of things will quietly (or loudly) break if you try to use them.
   If all goes well, it should start copying apps and then music, rather than hanging at the "Waiting" screen.
   
8. Logout of iCloud, iTunes, and Home Sharing, and enable the iTunes "Show All" options.
   I entered my Apple ID information at the Settings pages for iCloud, iTunes & App Store, and Music > Home Sharing.
   If you don't use Home Sharing, skip it.
   Enable the "Show All" options if you disabled them in Step 5.
   
9. Confirm that the music you synced from iTunes is now on the phone.
   At this stage, I had a mix of songs copied from iTunes, and "cloud" purchases with the download icon.
   
10. Sync with iTunes over USB.
    At this stage, it should simply work.

For the curious, or if the steps above don't fix the issue, I have some miscellaneous notes:

• I thought of this because I heard that iCloud was causing issues with syncing for some users, and realized that it might be interfering with the restore from backup.
• I did not alter any playlists or songs, aside from (perhaps unnecessarily) removing Voice Memos.
• While debugging this issue, I deleted all voice memos from iTunes, which had no effect on the problem. I advise trying the steps below without deleting voice memos.
• Each attempt was a Restore + Restore Backup, to ensure that no issues were carried over from prior attempts.

I hope this is of some help.

Good point ExTech, I did the same thing, almost all of my iTunes library entries are changed (sort order, composer name, artwork, etc.). To be honest, I consider it unacceptable software quality to see so many mistakes being made by the software that manages my music library. Some examples:

• Wrong sort order of albums, sometimes correct in iTunes, incorrect on the iPhone, sometimes the other way round. Changing the "Sorting" fields only helps sometimes.
• Art work displays correctly in iTunes, but is missing on the iPhone.
• Duplicate entries that I can't remove, or more precise, that come back after I delete them.
• The last title does not show up in the iPhone when I view albums in the horizontal format as tiles. When I resize (e.g. from two to three tiles high), it suddenly shows, and stays even when I go back to the original size.

All these things seem to fix themselves over time, but sometimes come back after several months.

If I wanted buggy software I could probably pick many less expensive solutions.

Unacceptable indeed - I can't believe there's STILL no fix after 18 pages of comments and 87,000 views on this one problem!

hz6 wrote:

I consider it unacceptable software quality to see so many mistakes being made by the software that manages my music library. Some examples:

• Wrong sort order of albums, sometimes correct in iTunes, incorrect on the iPhone, sometimes the other way round. Changing the "Sorting" fields only helps sometimes.
• Art work displays correctly in iTunes, but is missing on the iPhone.
• Duplicate entries that I can't remove, or more precise, that come back after I delete them.
• The last title does not show up in the iPhone when I view albums in the horizontal format as tiles. When I resize (e.g. from two to three tiles high), it suddenly shows, and stays even when I go back to the original size.

I just made it ten days, personally, but this latest long sync is a doozy. Wiped out nearly all of my non-purchased songs, and I'm still holding my breath to see if I wind up with a HUGE yellow "Other" stripe from the songs still on the device but no longer recognized.

I've personally experienced everything you've just mentioned. The tiles thing has never really worked for me. The other things I've managed to fix by wiping the phone and restoring from backup (don't you just HATE that?).

I'm trying to keep my spirits up, but this is really stretching on a long time. I wish some prominent bloggers would get wind of it. But it really does annoy me that Apple could be so non-responsive. Getting-things-done was Cook's famous talent, and it's the one thing Apple is apparently not doing under his reign.

medialibrary on iOS was borked in my case, too.

resulted in erratic behaviour, some changes outlined in this thread or simply waiting a long time seemed to help, but only temporarily.

simplified steps I performed to fix it without having to re-setup the whole device:

• cancel all pending syncs on iTunes and the device
• clear out all songs on the device (settings->general->usage->music, left swipe on All Music, delete)
• use iExplorer (eg. http://www.tomsguide.com/us/download/iExplorer,0301-46194.html) or a similar tool to delete Media/iTunes_Control/iTunes/MediaLibrary.sqlitedb on the device
• power down and restart device (this will create a new MediaLibrary.sqlitedb)
• resync (waiting for changes to be applied will take a while on first clean sync as it's figuring out the changes. that's ok, don't cancel)

nothing required on the iTunes side except triggering the sync.