fan28
Level 1 (115 points)

Q: iPhone continues to wifi sync to old computer

My son has a new MacBook, and he has set up iTunes and synced his phone to his new computer. Unfortunately, his phone continues to sync over wifi to both his new computer and to our family computer.

 

I have found posts suggesting that I turn off wifi sync on his phone from the old computer, but this actually causes the phone to stop wifi syncing on either computer. Another suggestion was to reset all settings on the iPhone, but this did not work. The final suggestion I have found is to rebuild the iTunes library on the old (family) computer so that the iPhone will no longer recognize it. Before I took this more drastic step, I thought I would check here to be sure that's the best advice.

 

Both computers are up to date and running Yosemite with the most recent version of iTunes. The phone is a 5S, and it has the most recent iOS. The media for the iTunes library on the old computer is on an external hard drive, while the iTunes Library.xml and .itl files are in the User>Music folder. If it is really true that I need to rebuild the iTunes library, I'd appreciate some reassurance that the media files won't end up back on the computer hard drive. I have about 10,000 songs I'd rather not move again. Thanks!

iMovie '11, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2)

Posted on Jul 11, 2015 8:36 AM

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fan28

Q: iPhone continues to wifi sync to old computer

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  • by Brett L,

    Brett L Brett L Jul 13, 2015 8:32 AM in response to fan28
    Community Specialists
    Jul 13, 2015 8:32 AM in response to fan28

    Hi fan28,

     

    So if I understand you correctly, your son wants to sync his iPhone with his new MacBook (congratulations to him for getting that by the way - a fine computer!) but it continues to sync via Wi-Fi with your family computer. Is that right?

     

    If your son can connect the iPhone to the old computer, open iTunes and look at the device summary page, there are several options at the bottom. One of these is Sync with this iPhone over Wi-Fi. Uncheck that box and click the Apply button. See this article - Sync your iPhone, iPad and iPod touch with iTunes using Wi-Fi You are undoing the steps taken.

     

    Thanks for using Apple Support Communities.

     

    Best to you.

  • by fan28,

    fan28 fan28 Jul 13, 2015 8:43 AM in response to Brett L
    Level 1 (115 points)
    Jul 13, 2015 8:43 AM in response to Brett L

    Thanks so much for your response. Unfortunately, this step seems to turn off wifi syncing on both computers. The iPhone takes that "don't sync over wifi" very seriously:) He'd still like to use wifi sync with the new computer, and turning it back on there turns it back on for both computers!

     

    This morning I found a suggestion to forget all computers by tapping Settings > General > Reset > Reset Location & Privacy. He plugged into his computer and did have to redo the "Trust this computer" step. We'll monitor throughout the day, but hopefully his phone will no longer trust the home machine. He can redo his privacy and location settings more easily than I can rebuild my library.