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Block iTunes sync with Outlook 2010

We have a few hundred iPhones that are deployed across the company.


I want to be able to block Outlook Mail, Calendar, Notes, Contacts and Tasks from being Synced when the phone is plugged into the desktop/laptop. All the Outlook data is available to the end users within a secure app so we need to disable the ability for the end user to get ANY Outlook data into the "stock" iPhone applications.


I have tried disabling the Bonjour service, but then the users cant sync pictures or music. I have tried disabling the AppleMobileDevcieHelper, but then iTunes would not run.


Took a look at the com.apple.Outlook.client.exe but cant find it running on the local machine.


Is there any easy way to block iTunes from "reading" from the outlook.ost file?


Thanks in advance

Posted on Jun 2, 2015 12:27 PM

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12 replies

Jun 2, 2015 2:05 PM in response to ChrisJ4203

I did all that but there is NO WAY to control this as an Administrator from the network. As far as I can see you have to do it on EACH individual PC for EACH individual user and there is NO WAY to STOP that user from undoing the changes.


We need the ability to disable the ability to sync and manage that from the network


Thank you for taking the time to reply

Jun 2, 2015 2:22 PM in response to scotinexcile

I'm guessing that you are not using Exchange then, is that correct? If you are using Exchange, then you would be able to disable syncing content as the Exchange administrator. If you do not want the individual users not to the ability to sync anything from the computer, You may need to remove iTunes from their computers, so they cannot sync. I looked in restrictions on the iPhone, and it mentions Contacts and Calendar, and if enabled, are supposed to prevent changes to those. You might need to test that on a device in your network and see if that does what you want. If you give them open access to their workstations, it is kind of hard to prevent certain actions.

Jun 2, 2015 2:28 PM in response to ChrisJ4203

We are using an Exchange Environment but I am not the Exchange Admin. Could you point me in the direction of where I can find info on disabling iTunes sync on a Exchange server?

It looks like iTunes syncs directly with the "local" outlook.ost file which is there because our users work offline a lot. If I could figure out how to stop iTunes accessing the local outlook.ost file then we would be good


End user use iTunes to transfer pictures from their phones to their PC's so removal of iTunes is not currently an option.


Thank you again for taking the time to answer, nice to have someone else to bounce ideas off

Jun 2, 2015 2:34 PM in response to scotinexcile

iTunes is not used to import photos from the iPhone to the computer. That is handled by the computer OS import utility. So the only reason to have iTunes would have been to download the USB driver for the phone. I'm not an Exchange administrator, so I'm not familiar with how to handle those restrictions, but I guess I'm curious if you are acting under an Exchange environment, why would the users need to sync with iTunes to Outlook, that would be done via the Exchange server if that is where the data is stored. All they would need to do is turn on Calendar, Contacts, whatever via the Exchange account settings. I suggest trying to find someone that is an Exchange Administrator to help with those questions and query the users as to why they want to sync via iTunes, and ask IT why they use a separate app to handle the data if they are working in an Exchange environment.

Jun 2, 2015 2:44 PM in response to ChrisJ4203

The Exchange environment is contained on the iPhone inside of the "good" application, which we can control as a IT Dept/Security Dept.


If a user decides to sync, Contacts, Tasks, Notes or Calendar then we have no control over what data they put into the detail of any of those sync apps. So they could copy multiple CC# or SS# into the detail of a Calendar event then have that data outside of our system. We would rather the end users not have the choice to sync but taking iTunes away from them would cause an uproar 🙂


With a new iPhone I tried to use it to copy pictures from Windows to the phone but Windows would not see the device as a "data partition". I could only transfer pics when I had iTunes installed. I am not a huge iPhone user so am prepared to be wrong on that one


Thanks for your input

Jun 2, 2015 2:51 PM in response to scotinexcile

As I said earlier, you had to have iTunes installed to start with to get the USB driver for the phone. After that, once a photo is in the Camera Roll, the iPhone would appear as a digital camera and would allow you to import using Windows.


Again, I think you have some questions for an Exchange Administrator, however it also seems you have some privacy concerns that may need addressing with the employees. I'm guessing they might not have quite the uproar about iTunes if they knew that copying and moving private company information could lead to their termination. My Exchange account is handled by my Exchange Administrator, but I don't need to sync to my individual workstation, since my calendar and contact data is synced via Exchange. I just turn switch on or off on the phone in the Exchange account.

Jun 2, 2015 3:07 PM in response to ChrisJ4203

Nothing to do with the "Good" app. It is all about being able to control the iPhone settings in a Corporate enviroment.

There is no "Apple Admin Toolkit" that you can force "sync" policies to corporate iPhones.


I looked at all the documentation on this site https://www.apple.com/iphone/business/it/management.html but nothing stood out for this particular issue

Block iTunes sync with Outlook 2010

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