Mavericks and iTunes 11.1.2 Won't wifi sync iPhone

Brill..............

Well done. Just goes to show .... it's good to share.....

I hope many others find the thread. Well done.

Mine is still working too....

😉

HappyScotsLass

Clearly geezerhiker, you have the wrong expectation if you think connecting a Mac by ethernet to a wifi base station must mean it's on the wifi network. Obviously if the iPhone isn't on the same network as the Mac the devices can't find each other.

You just proved Wifi sync works for you. Then you had to change the topology and that of course didn't work. In order for the devices to find each other they have to be on the same network. It's likely you can set up the base station properly with NAT (Network Address Translation) or as a bridge and that this will work, but then you have to do that.

I'm glad it worked for you finally. If you want an explanation geezerhiker you have to tell us how your base station is set up. Also post a screen dump of your network settings in OS X.

At this point, Wifi sync should work for everyone provided they have set up their networks properly. There is no inherent bug with IOS 7 and OS X 10.9.3 that prevent wifi sync.

Wifi sync will never work unless the iPhone is visible in iTunes. If it isn't visible there is a network error, most likely a set up issue.

Therefore if you still lhave issues with wifi syncing (with IOS//OSX10.9) please stop blaming the updates. It's more likely to be something you did or that you missed doing. This is not voodoo. There are always technical reasons why syncing doesn't work.

Replying to Mik B:

Clearly geezerhiker, you have the wrong expectation if you think connecting a Macby ethernet to a wifi base station must mean it's on the wifi network. Obviously if the iPhone isn't on the same network as the Mac the devices can't find each other.

I don't buy that. The machines are on the same network - it shouldn't matter how the devices are physically connected to the network. That sort of thing is supposed to be sorted out in one of the intermediate network layers. If not, then that is a plain and simple defect in the network setup.

Again, I'm not saying the physical means of connection is not a problem in this case - just that it shouldn't be. And wasn't in previous versions of OSX / iOS.

Mik B wrote:

...Therefore if you still lhave issues with wifi syncing (with IOS//OSX10.9) please stop blaming the updates. It's more likely to be something you did or that you missed doing. This is not voodoo. There are always technical reasons why syncing doesn't work.

I admire and envy your faith. The fact remains that I made absolutely no changes to my network setup for a considerable period before sync stopped working - I hadn't even thought about it for months or years, since everything was working and fifty four years of computer experience has taught me not to go looking for trouble.

And today I changed no network settings; I did nothing, really, except delete some files. I'll agree that it is not Voodoo - it is not as predictable or rational as Voodoo.

"The machines are on the same network - it shouldn't matter how the devices are physically connected to the network."

On any other typical wifi base station it's not by default. That this could be the case with your network settings you already hinted when you wrote you have 2 different IPs on your mac. As you refuse to post your base station set up then we will never know what's the case with your Airport base station.

You're being irrational for no good reason. To learn is more rewarding than pretending things are inexplicable. There's no need to defend your position. We all have been there. To overcome is a choice.

"I admire and envy your faith."

It's not faith. It's knowledge.

One fact is that DHCP means network settings do change. Another is that if you have 2 networks on the Mac you can't predict what network one service may want to use or not. This is why there are network admins to set up networks.

If your symptom is that your iPhone does show up in iTunes and if the iPhone and that the computer you want to sync with is verified to be on the same network (which commonly is the wifi network) and it still doesn't work, then you should familiarize yourself with these facts about interference from the Airport (extreme 5th) manual, all which are true for most wireless networks:

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Sorry I didn't reply sooner, but I have stopped receiving email notifications about this thread ( don't know why; didn't change anything; the "stop email notifications" button is still present.)

Just thought you might like to know that this afternoon I attempted a wi-fi sync from the iPhone and there was no response. I went to the iMac and the phone still appeared in iTunes but disappeared after I attempted another sync. I made absolutely no changes to anything network-related in the meantime.

As to the dialog about faith and other nonsense, I have a hard time believing that I and all these other people are having trouble with this same network issue, none of us are aware of having made any changes in our network settings, but somehow it is our fault. When the situation changes overnight after the machines in question have done nothing but go to sleep a couple of times, I just don't see how it can be other than a fault of the system.

But I will go along for a bit more to see if I can test your faith (Oops. Oh well, I'm sticking with that word for now until I see evidence to the contrary.) You said awhile ago,

If you want an explanation geezerhiker you have to tell us how your base station is set up. Also post a screen dump of your network settings in OS X.

I have never done much other than accepring the defaults in my network and Airport setups, but what sort of "dumps" would enable you to diagnose the problem. I don't find any way to dump settings other than taking screenshots. There are a lot of windows in the Network pane of System Preferences - what shots would help?

It has been a while since I've posted anything to this thread, but I have been following it. I thought I'd reply to your message.

You seem to be experiencing the same symptoms I am having.

The following is 100% reproducable for me:

1. Reboot my Mac and open iTunes.

2. My iOS devices all appear ready for Wi-Fi sync, and syncing works fine at this point.

3. Put the Mac to sleep (wait until the sleep procedure is completed (usually fans stop spinning)).

4. Then wake the Mac from sleep.

5. Open iTunes again and no iOS devices will appear (unless they are attached via USB).

6. After this point, iOS devices will never appear for Wi-Fi sync until the next time I reboot the Mac.

I am running Mavericks and have an iOS 7 and iOS 6 device - the problem affects both of them.

The majority of the cases I read on this thread of people successfully getting Wi-Fi sync working seem to include a reboot of their Mac at some point. This is the key step... It will continue to sync successfully via Wi-Fi until the Mac goes to sleep.

In a previous message in this thread from me and from another user (sorry, don't remember the name) it was also discovered that if you open the Console utility, you can see some suspicious messages about a device being ignored because the machine thinks it's a duplicate (something like that).

I have reported this information as a Bug Report to Apple.

There is an NDA related to any bug reports, but I think I'm safe to simply say that I have reported it as a bug.

geezerhike, It would be useful if you post screenshots (Screen dump for certain folks, like designers and developers, sorry about that) from System Preferences > Network. One shot per network you're on so that we can see IP, mask, router and DNS. For the Wifi you may need to go into Advanced > TCP/IP.

I assume you know that in OS X Cmd-shift-4 followed by the space bar and a click on the dialog you want a screenshot of is the most effective way to get the shot you want (which ends up on the desktop for those that never have done this).

On IOS it's pressing the Home and Sleep button at the same time — I actually had to look that up myself as I've never done it — after you've gone into Preferences > Wifi > [network name] and you can see the networks ettings of your iPhone (image is added to the camera roll).

If we work together as a collective and share useful information, these are most likely solveable issues.

Kudos for making a proper Bug report. I will try and provoke this error with your suggested method with sleeping this coming weekend. I've got to finish off some work now.

Here are some screenshots I made yesterday.

It seems to allow only 2 images.

More screenshots

And the iPhone:

And

Mik B wrote:

Therefore if you still lhave issues with wifi syncing (with IOS//OSX10.9) please stop blaming the updates. It's more likely to be something you did or that you missed doing. This is not voodoo. There are always technical reasons why syncing doesn't work.

It may not be voodoo, but it should "just work" like most Apple stuff used to be famous for. It worked for me since Apple started wifi sync... then, like so many, just stopped.

I'm not above saying it might have been something I did, though the fact that I have the same issue on 3 different Macs, have tested everythning here, used two completely different networks, etc. etc. makes me think something in an update has caused an issue - possibly some file corrupted somewhere.

At this point I'm almost to the point of testing Yosemite and hope if something did break for some of us in Mavericks, maybe its magically fixed. I have enough certifications and enough years in IT to know how networks are set up and when something should work or not.

Typically in IT you look to the last change that happened. Unfortunately by the time I noticed wifi sync wasn't working it could be one of many things. I keep waiting for someone to come up with a real repeatable pattern that will solve it for the rest of us.

My biggest fear at this point is that Yosemite won't fix it, and none of the great new tech they are putting into it that seems to rely on wifi will also be broken... no taking phone calls on the Mac, or passing emails off between iOS and OS X...