iTunes 12.1 and iOS 8.3 not syncing correctly (wifi or wired)

Out of curiosity - I decided to reset my iPad 2 to factory defaults - and start over from scratch. After the restore - the Settings / General / iTunes Wifi Sync screen basically indicates "To enable Wi-Fi syncing with iTunes - connect to iTunes on your computer using a cable ..." - and after doing such - and syncing - it appears that everything is syncing onto the iPad (via cable) and the WiFi sync screen shows the date and time of the sync - however - shortly afterward - it reverts back to the "Connect to iTunes with a cable message" as if the sync had never occurred. (in my prior post - I was seeing the older sync dates from prior to the OS X, iOS 8.3 and iTunes 12.1.2.x updates. Something is definitely not working correctly.

~Scott

I have determined that the devices are actually syncing - it just seems to be that the date/time of last sync isn't being updated - although there is evidence that at least one sync attempt with the restored iPad 2 - did in-fact update the date/time on the WiFi sync screen (settings/general/iTunesWifiSync) on the iPad. At first I was thinking this was an iTunes 12.1.2.x issue - however - I had forgotten that I still have an iPhone 5 which was not updated to iOS 8.3 and is currently on iOS 8.2 - and it is still able to sync and does in-fact update and retain the date/time of last sync - with every sync. I did notice that with the iPhone 5 on iOS 8.2 - that the problem with the 60-second availability of the sync window is still a problem on the iPhone 5 - thus that problem must also be with iOS 8.2 (and not so much with iTunes as I had been thinking previously).

I am starting to see more posts popping up on other website about this issue - so maybe apple will fix it quickly. I suspect it is going unnoticed by many people. Also - iOS 8.3 did actually improve on the prior sync issues - but created the new problem of the date/time of last sync not updating. I am not exactly sure what I did to get the restored iPad to update the date/time - but it only did that once - and I suspect it had something to do with connecting-disconnecting-powering-off-powering-on-closing and reopening iTunes in a specific order. Not something you would want to do on a regular basis. I may submit a bug report to Apple - but I suspect that it will reject as a duplicate. I will post back when something changes.

To summarize my findings: With iOS 8.2 - initiating a wifi sync from an iOS device will only work if iTunes is closed and reopened and the Sync Now button is pressed on the iOS device within 60 seconds of opening iTunes. Initiating the sync request from within iTunes - always works.

With iOS 8.3 - initiating a wifi sync from an iOS device will work provided that the iTunes Mac is not sleeping. The sync will complete - but in most circumstances the date/time of last sync will not be updated. Initiating a sync from within iTunes - always seems to work - but still no update of data/time of last sync. Wake for Network Access seems to wake a sleeping Mac - but the iTunes sync doesn't begin - and the Mac goes back to sleep. The wake for network access has never worked with iTunes sync - but works flawlessly with the Remote app on an iOS device. I hope this helps somebody who is having this frustration.

~Scott

Based on my previous response about my forgotten iPhone 5 on iOS 8.2 - I am now convinced the sync issues I have been ranting about in various places - are strictly iOS 8.x-related. I think it is safe to remove iTunes and OS X from the equation. Does seem to me that it is taking a long time to get Sync (wired or wifi) ironed out. Could be that this functionality is a lower priority. Not sure how this got past QC testing - as it's not an intermittent problem - and is quite reproducible. Something to keep in mind - with more and more functionality becoming cloud-based (whether iCloud or something else) - the need to sync with iTunes is becoming gradually less important. I suspect that the concept of syncing will "go away" as things progress - and thus maybe a reason behind the sync issues not being addressed - or not being addressed in a timely manner.

Also - to the best of my knowledge - the only requirement for wifi syncing is that your iOS devices and your iTunes Mac (or PC) are on the same local subnet. The iOS devices (would be wifi by nature) - and the Mac or PC that is hosting your iTunes library can be either wired or WiFi. Some documentation suggests that all devices involved must be wifi - based on the choice of wording - but it really should state "same local subnet".

~Scott

Apple engineers typically do not monitor these discussions - except maybe on rare occasion. The only way to report a bug to Apple is to submit a bug report at bugreport.apple.com (and you may now need to actually be an Apple developer with a paid subscription in order to submit the bug). At the very least - you need to be registered as an Apple developer (which is still free - but limited). Another way to notify apple of a problem is to submit feedback at apple.com/feedback (this is probably significantly less effective than a bug report - but supposedly Apple reads all feedback).

As for the problem referenced in this thread - I would say that sync is actually working better than it has in the past - and it is simply not updating the date and time of last sync. It would be nice if iTunes were to show this date and time as well - but it never has. I think you can safely sync - via cable or wifi - and be pretty sure that it is syncing. Your best bet is visual inspection of the content on your iOS device after a sync.

Many people may not be aware that wifi sync can be initiated either from iTunes (on the machine containing your iTunes Library) or from the iOS device itself. Initiating a sync from the iOS device itself (either manually or automatically) has been problematic since iOS 8.x and seems to be fixed with iOS 8.3. Another functionality that may not be immediately apparent is that you can also do a full backup over wifi - and you would initiate that from within iTunes on the sync window of your iOS device. This will perform the same "full" backup of your iOS device - to your iTunes (Mac or PC) - as would occur when you are connected via USB cable. Backups via cable or wifi - are more extensive than iCloud backups - but I am not sure of the details of the differences.

Also - be advised - that submitting a bug report at bugreport.apple.com can be a tedious and slow process - as you are required to provide a lot of detail - and you won't know if your bug report is a "duplicate" of an existing bug report until you have submitted the bug report - and it may take several days for Apple to indicate the duplicate. All of this is - of course - provided that you can actually submit a bug report without having a paid apple developer subscription. I am thinking about submitting a bug report myself - I have just not had enough free time.

~Scott

It seems the iPhone 6 is having issues - in that (after about a day) it appears to drop off the devices list in iTunes - or it will continue to show in iTunes devices - but communication has been lost and a sync can not be initiated from either the iPhone 6 (Settings/General/Wifi Sync) or from within iTunes - until the iPhone 6 is reattached via USB cable. On the iOS side (iPhone 6) - the sync says looking for Mac - and on the iTunes side - it says it cannot find the iPhone 6 (or it will simply say nothing - and the iPhone 6 will drop off the list of devices. The iPad 2 - however - seems to remain in the iTunes device list and seems to be able to initiate a sync with the Mac (provided the Mac isn't sleeping) and the iTunes side is able to initiate a sync as well. The only issue with the iPad 2 sync seems to be the failure to update the date and time of last sync. So - overall there is some notable improvement in Wifi Sync - but still quite problematic. I should note here that my 27" iMac is on my wired network - and not using a WiFi connection - but I doubt this is the issue since the iPad 2 appears to remain connected.

~Scott

The unexplained space usage has been an issue for quite a while. The only way that I have found to correct that is to reinitialize the iOS device "as new" and not restore from a backup. In most cases (except if you have very little storage on the device) - the excess space usage does not seem to be as much of a frustrating issue as the sync issue. The date/time of last sync was being reported correctly on iOS 8.2. I just updated my unused iPhone 5 to iOS 8.3 - and I see the same issues that are the focal point of this thread. I still have not had time to create a bug report - and I'm sure somebody has already reported it. I can only say that the iPad 2 and the iPhone 5 - do remain connected to iTunes, whereas the iPhone 6 continues to disappear or become inaccessible after a day or so of being set to sync via wifi. I even reloaded the iPhone 6 (for another reason) and it still drops off. I am syncing with iTunes on an iMac - and have not tried it on Windows iTunes - mostly because it would too time consuming and tedious to make the switch - simply for a proof of concept.

~Scott