Upgraded to iTunes 11.4 and now it won't sync my iPhone 5s-sync button is greyed out.

I spent almost 3 hours on phone support for this, only to be told that Snow Leopard (10.6.8) is considered by Apple to be "obsolete." The only resolution is to downgrade to iTunes 11.3 (an intensive, time-consuming process, but I did it successfully) or to upgrade to a machine that can run a 64-bit OS, like Lion, Mountain Lion or Mavericks.

That's it, end of story. Apple will not be "fixing" this is a later release. It's not broken, it is as Apple intended. They have to sunset operating systems at some point and Snow Leopard is at its sunset.

Personally, I am in no position to replace my aging, but perfectly good iMac, so I will be in no hurry to replace my iPhone 5 with a 6. I suppose if you run Parallels (or similar) you could run iTunes from there and sync your iPhone 6's, but I haven't talked to anyone who has done that yet.

iTunes WILL work with 10.6.8 on a 32 bit machine and be able to sync iOS 8 devices such as the iPhone 6 and other devices. Have a read of some of the previous posts, I faced the same problems. A new-er version of 11.4 iTunes was (rather quietly), released which resolved these issues. I feel your pain, but after the latest version fixes, all is well. It isn't obsolete just yet...

I wonder how many Mac's Apple wound up selling from this "error" in iTunes 11.4 (that had people think their old computers and OS's were obsolete) which was then quietly fixed 2 weeks later? Obviously, Apple's priorities are very clear.

Many iPhone users have met the same issues as you, of course I am. I google on the internet and find the answer to fix the problem that iPhone won't sync with iTunes. It's no longer a problems which annoy us, and you can just try this way that I have try before.

What you need is iPhone Transfer, it really help, and you can try it. I hope my opinion can works for you.

"What you need is iPhone Transfer, it really helps, and you can try it."

What the **** does an iPhone transfer program have to do with fixing an iTunes sync problem?

Smells like spam to me ...

Hi cwa2,

Thank you very much for these instructions.

Finally managed to uninstall the buggy iTunes 1.11.4 and reinstall 1.11.3.1.

I hope my iPhone 5c will sync now. That's something I will test in a few hours.

For what I understood, upto now apple has not yet released a fixed iTunes? Or am I wrong?

Thx Theo.

Thanks so much for your help, folks, and especially cwa2!

Since I have an old Mac Mini as a cheap media and file server, I obviously faced the same problems as all of you. And, as many of you, it drove me insane not to be able to determine the problem and even to know whether this would be a hardware failure. Plus, I started to take it personally, since I have hands-on computer experience since 1978 and started do doubt my mojo. 😟

I'm not sure whether I will follow cwa2's workaround or look for other solutions, but this thread certainly made my friggin' day! 🙂

Nele

Hi, Ksanti

I want to show you how to solve the issue that iPhone won't sync with iTunes.

You can follow the ways below to sync iPhone with iTunes:

1.Reboot the iPhone or restart the computer

2.Try a Different USB Port & USB Cable

3.Sync iPhone with iTunes via iPhone Transfer. Run iPhone Transfer and connect your iPhone. Sync iPhone files to iTunes.You can choose one of the three methods to sync iPhone with iTunes. If you choose to sync iPhone to iTunes with iPhone Transfer.

You can use it to transfer music form iPhone to computer and backup iPhone with a click of a button.

"If you choose to sync iPhone to iTunes with iPhone Transfer."

What the **** does an iPhone transfer program have to do with fixing an iTunes sync problem?

This is the 2nd "iPhone Transfer" spam I've seen in 2 days now.

Oh, gee, look at that - "Augustine Arvin" just signed up today and this is their first post.

How do we report spammers?

I just got my iphone 5 to sync by:

1. unchecking the Sync Music box

2. Sync the phone to wipe all the music off the iphone

3. disconnected the iphone from the computer

4. reconnected the phone

5. rechecked the Sync Music box

It gave me a message that I did not have enough storage, so had to reset some of the playlists and artists that I was syncing. Once I did that, it performed the sync.

Since Apple has silently fixed iTunes, and the original issue no longer exists, it seems this thread is now irrelevant. Best to just ignore the spammers who are attempting to sell $39.95 software to fix a non-existent problem. Perhaps if an administrator pays attention, this thread can be closed.

"Since Apple has silently fixed iTunes, and the original issue no longer exists, it seems this thread is now irrelevant."

Well, true - the original issue no longer exists. As the OP I can certainly see why you'd want your thread closed.

As to "silently fixed iTunes", the jury's still out on that 🙂

One final comment - the most recent version of iTunes I can access, iTunes 12 Beta (version 12.0.0.140), still has a 64-bit-only version of AppleUSBEthernetHost.kext - so anyone hoping for a permanent fix to all of iTunes 11.4's ills, prepare to be disappointed.

FWIW, I had this very same issue with my 4th Generation iPod Touch. I spent HOURS trying to figure out what the heck happened. The last time I had synced happened to be the night when I had to jump through hoops to transfer the free U2 Album from iTunes over to my iPod (the album was NOT showing up as being free when I accessed the iTunes store directly from my Touch.)

I went in about 2 weeks ago to transfer some Audible Books to my Touch, and everything was broke. I was convinced some setting got FUBARd when I transferred the album - went looking through all sorts of threads here, searched Google, you name it.

Just now, I downloaded and installed the "magically fixed" 11.4 version to which airmoe pointed in his thread on page 13 of this very long discussion, and it would appear that all is once again well - everything is syncing and working just as it had been...

Thanks!

If I ever have a child I will name him or her cwa2! Okay, slight exaggeration here, but thank you so much for your clear instructions. I absolutely love my iTunes massive podcast and iTunes U collection and for the first time in ten years Apple rendered it useless. YOU should be working for Apple for the following reasons. You thought through a problem, you communicated it clearly, you helped many solve a problem. If not Apple, I'm sure you will or are succeeding in whatever you do. As for Apple shame on them.

Been using iTunes for 10 years now and the current version is the worst I have ever been involved with. I currently have a macbook pro with 10.9.5 and 11.4 ( 64 bit). I sync my iTunes library with two devices a iPhone 5s and itouch, which i have updated and restored back 2 times in the last week. List of problems that I am having:

1. Itunes playlist will not add selected playlist to the devices.

2. Playlist that are added to devices will not have the proper music

3. Music that are on devices will not play properly (song only plays to the halfway point)

What else have I tried.

1. restore both devices to new config

2. switched to computer back-up instead of iCloud (iTunes menu)

3 selected to manually add music (iTunes menu)

4. unchecked sync automatically (iTunes menu)

Please provide some feedback.