iTunes could not back up the iPhone "iPhone Name" because the backup was corrupt or not compatible with the iPhone.

Question

iTunes could not back up the iPhone "iPhone Name" because the backup was corrupt or not compatible with the iPhone.

Hello everyone,

I keep getting an error; "iTunes could not back up the iPhone "iPhone Name" because the backup was corrupt or not compatible with the iPhone. Delete the backup for this iPhone, then try again."

To solve this problem, I have checked couple of discussions here on apple.com, I have deleted my previous backup, now there is no backup file, I have also tried using; If you can't make an iTunes backup of your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch - Apple Support , I have reseted the Lockdown folder too.

I have MAC OSX Yosemite - 10.10.2 with iTunes being up to date with the version 12.1.2 and the device I try to backup is iPhone 5S with iOS 8.3

Thanks in advance for your support.

iPhone 5s, iOS 8.3

Posted on May 20, 2015 11:28 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

Lawrence Finch

Level 10

201,722 points

May 20, 2015 11:30 AM in response to Iphone 4's antenna problem

The other possible cause of that error is if one or more apps on the iPhone has a corrupt or nonstandard database.

ALSO: have you tried to make an iCloud backup?

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Answer 2

May 20, 2015 11:31 AM in response to Lawrence Finch

No, I haven't tried to make an iCloud backup but how can I determine which app or apps are causing this? Is there a tool that can I use?

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Answer 3

May 20, 2015 11:44 AM in response to Iphone 4's antenna problem

There's no easy way to tell which app it is. But first try an iCloud backup. If it's an app the same problem will occur. Go to Settings/iCloud and tap on Backup.

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Answer 4

Feb 7, 2016 7:24 AM in response to Iphone 4's antenna problem

I had a similar problem with my iPhone 6 (iOS 9.2.1) and iTunes (12.3.2)

I tried deleting the previous back-ups, but the problem kept coming back. It got to a point where i could not even backup even after I had deleted the back-ups via iTunes/Preferences/Devices. I had to go into ~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup to figure out which was the backup for my iPhone and delete that particular folder. Even then, the problem came back after I had backed up the phone once.

I came across this thread and it got me thinking that it could be a corrupted app that is causing the problem. I went through all the apps on my phone to try to figure out which was the one i had installed recently that may have caused the problem. And then i found it. It was an app that i had installed outside of the AppStore. I figure since Apple curates the apps stringently, it is unlikely (but not impossible) that they would allow one in that might corrupt the ecosystem. So i deleted the offending app, and tried again, and lo and behold, everything worked as it should be!

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