iOS 8 WiFi sync is broken

I've noticed this issue as well, and it is very frustrating. Granted, WiFi sync was never perfect, but normally a bump to AppleMobileDeviceHelper in Activity Monitor and an iTunes restart would solve the problem and all my iOS devices would be "seen" by iTunes and I could sync my merry life away. Not so with iOS 8. I've tried everything I could think of, from DHCP reservations on my wireless router to unchecking "Sync with this device over WiFi" when connected with a lightning cable, syncing, then rechecking the WiFi sync option. These attempts only temporarily fixed the issue with my iPhone 6; the iPhone 5S has never successfully synced via WiFi since the iOS 8 upgrade. All signs seem to point to a problem with either iTunes 11.4 or iOS 8.0.2, or both. Heck, it may even be a problem with Mavericks 10.9.5. Don't know about the rest of you, but the prospect of waiting for Yosemite and iTunes 12 does not make me smile.

I've seen elsewhere in this thread regarding the security enhancements to iOS8 and the withholding of MAC addresses. I would think that WiFi sync requires Bonjour to function - now we are getting into deeper engineering issues, especially if Apple broke it's own communication protocol by enacting better security.

I'm going to try the other proposed solutions on this thread to see if I can limp along until either an iOS or iTunes update, or Yosemite. I'll start with disabling Handoff; then move to resetting network connections.

Cheers everyone!

Fix.

I just spoke with Applecare and they had me reinstall iTunes. Then they had me plug my device in, unselect sync over wifi and apply, reselect sync over wifi and apply, then shut down itunes, unplug the device and restart wifi. That worked on each device. I even restarted the computer to test it.

Note: you can't delete itunes but can download and runt the installer from apple.com, itunes.

I hope this helps.

Be sure to comment back if this actually works for more than a day. I am betting that as soon as you leave your wifi, connect to another, and then return to your own the connection and syncing will be lost. With one of the earliest versions of iOS this was in fact the fix... Reinstall iTunes. I think it is a much different problem now but, who knows.

I tried that and it worked once for my iPad, then back to no syncing.

It's clear from the posts here that wifi syncing is broken with iOS 8. I've learned that once it's been ascertained that there is indeed an issue, it usually isn't productive to invest a lot of time in trying to find workarounds.

I look forward to an update with a fix in the near future. I hope Apple addresses this in less time than the years it took them to fix syncing with the Podcast app.

I look forward to an update with a fix in the near future. I hope Apple addresses this in less time than the years it took them to fix syncing with the Podcast app.

iOS 8.1 appears to be close to release, as is Yosemite release version, according the various Mac news sites.

That is great news, thanks.

I'm running Yosemite on my MBA, and it seems quite solid now. It makes sense that combining iOS 8 and Yosemite might solve a few issues (or at least make Apple more interested in working on them).

Yeah, I saw my device after resetting the network but it's gone now. This is a pretty substantial problem and don't understand why Apple doesn't fix it.

Not sure why that is great news. This should have worked right out of the box. That's what the upgrade to iTunes was for prior to iOS 8. Really a failure on the part of Apple and they should acknowledge it.

Did the Yosemite update last night and still no change. I strongly suspect that its in the iOS8/iTunes need for tandem updates and Apple has yet to address the issue

> 72 hours, and counting :-)

My devices left Wifi various times, connected to different Wifis. I even rebooted my MBP. iPhone and iPad still show in iTunes.

Did you try syncing them?

Yes I did.

Syncing works. (I trigger syncing from iTunes, not from the divice.)

Here's an interesting conundrum. I tried disabling handoff on my iPhone 6 last night, but that didn't cause the phone to show up in iTunes. When I reset the network connections, rejoined the home WiFi network and reestablished trust between my iMac and iPhone using the lightning cable, my phone finally showed up in iTunes. So I synced it.

Before syncing over Wifi the phone had 13,000+ songs on it and 14GB free (it's a 128GB iPhone 6). After syncing via WiFi, the summary tab shows 980 songs and that it's now over capacity with what the summary tab shows as "Other". I made no changes, mind you. I was simply syncing. Sigh. Methinks Apple has dropped the ball on this whole iOS 8 / iTunes 11.4 roll out.

Looks like I get to restore the iPhone. Again. For the third time. I miss Steve.

The issue with the Other category expanding has been around for a long time. It's not related to the current WiFi sync issue. Google it and you'll find suggestions for resolving the problem.

I did see this happen on my iPad recently, but it resolved itself once the sync (wired) completed.

Looking back at your previous message, I'd say I've done that procedure several times and got the same results as others: rebooting resolves the issue for a while, then it returns.

I also saw my iPad stay listed in iTunes and WiFi sync worked several times over a period of maybe 8 hours before it disappeared from the iTunes list. There's something quite variable going on.