Will iTunes 12.6 work with iOS 11?

Hi, I have exactly the situation you mention above...I got an iPhone 8 Plus running ios 11 and did the backup on iTunes 12.5.2 with my iPhone 7 Plus. When I went to restore the backup to my new phone, I got the message below. I updated iTunes to 12.6 hoping then it would work, but no dice. Any thoughts of a workaround? iTunes 12.7 won't download because I am running an older OS--10.9.5 Mavericks. I don't want up upgrade my OSX just for iTunes if I can avoid it. Thanks for your thoughts!

Would be nice to see several replies from people who have actually installed iOS 11 and used it with iTunes 12.6.

While the single answer "Yes" is encouraging, I'd like to see more evidence before installing iOS 11 and being hugely unhappy with having to upgrade iTunes to horribly misfeatured latest version (removal of app support).

Exactly what do you want / need to know?

the fact that I went through the whole iOS beta with iOS 11 on 2 different versions of iTunes and had no problems, that I am on iOS11 on 4 different devices with no problem on the 12.6 iTunes...

That the apps still download to the computer, and they happily allow me to customise each and every device as I want , everything updates, the backups are there...

iTunes for bothe the Mac OSX and the windows 7,8,10 etc. platforms gave absolutely nothing to do with iOS!!! iOs is for the phone not the computer, hence you have another version of iTunes on iOS...

its like asking .." if I upgrade my phone to an X.. will it still work with iTunes?", or " will the phone still connect to my new computer ?" the only way the iPhone is not going to connect is if you do not have a USB cable or a Wireless connection on the computer...

With the difference of iTunes focusing on Movies and Music, dropping Books and apps etc, its still the same..

So there is a long winded answer, that only requires a Simple YES... does the previous versions of iTunes work with the Current Future Versions of iOS... Still a YES

For future reference.. the only way that iTunes would not work would be if Apple released a phone and did not provide Drivers for the phone to interface with the computers, and that would once again be down to hardware and not the software...

You seem to be taking my response as a personal attack on yours. As I said, I'd like to see responses from a number of people who have gone through the upgrade with no problems.

Was not an attack on your response.

It was not an attack, nor personal... The majority of "users", only go onto forums when the things DO NOT WORK, is they work then they do not tens to come back on and say that they did.. they go on their happy way.

the only annoying part of you're post was the fact that you had not looked for the "not working" posts, had obviously not found the working posts (because there are not really that many) and the fact that your wanting everybody to possibly take a risk in finding out whilst you stay safe!

ok admittedly its prudent to wait a few hours / days to find out if a fix posted up works, but if it does not then there will be a lot of complaints about it!

this is the basics of basics... interface software has nothing to do with the actual connecting to the hardware and an other operating system, its base binary 1 & 0, if it works it works, if it does not it does not...there are no in between's

Ok I can get a little tetchy at silly questions, that's because of 2 things,

1. I have worked as support for 35 years and silly still comes over as silly... and

2. I am up in the middle of the night with 3 hours sleep eating pain killers (Not your fault)

So take it as read, if the item connects to the interface software, and sees the hardware, then its going to work, for ALL the bits it was capable of.

in the case of a Restore... then it is a valid question! Apple changed the file system to a new one, so will the old file system work with the new file system, and are the backups compatible...

2 answers to that one,

1. once more the iTunes is an interface, But the interface has the backup routine built in, so there could be a difference in the way the routine works. So Quite possibly (in fact in some cases of old Definitely) the routine was changed and the old version could not restore the new version, but the new can restore the old... 12.6 > 12.7 = possible no, 12.7 >12.6 =most likely yes

2. the backup reads the data from the hardware, so as long as the iTunes can see the device, it can back it up. the difference in the format is irrelevant, as its already going from the Apple format to either NTFS or FAT or FAT32 on windows, and restoring from the file created. the hardware device does the local format, and only the saved data is restored, not the format

simple way of looking at it, your apple device can read web pages from windows Linux and unix, as well as very old system like Texas Instruments DX10, if you go from iOS 3 > 4 >5?6 etc., it makes no difference about the data it receives, its all ascii... sending it back is done the same way, if there is going to be a problem, normally the system will inform you that certain characters cannot be used... other time it will not... ie EMOJIS... 🙂 is : ) on different operating systems its relayed as what the system has...but the actual transmitted data remains the same

LOl, also to explain my hatred for Silly type Questions...

I had a 16 year old sister in law, who is in her own words "an expert on windows and in fact anything computer", she is constantly getting tossed off of the computer for looking at "undesirable web sites"

her fix ... in her expert opinion, is to go in and delete the history, and clear the browser data next is to open up the computer, go into the main drive, find all of the file modified during her time on the computer and delete them.

then tell her Mom that it is to be safe to make sure the there are no viruses or Trojans that came in from the websites, eventually the computer ALWAYS stops working.. but this is a windows fault, or a mac fault, and its quite common for computers used a lot.

So off tot he store it goes to be virus cleaned and reinstalled, with her words of wisdom, it will mess up again on the next update, as Microsoft and Apple do not know what they are doing....

Given an iPhone , to keep her away from the computer, and Told NOT to clear the browser History... she has not yet cleared the browser on Safari, its been on the same web page for over a year, with no updates... Her mom thinks "she is now learning to live without the internet!!! "... Her Mom does not know about Opera, Firefox , puffin etc, and since she cannot get to the operating system , point and click has not failed YET.

She has a very vocal opinion about iTunes, media player etc, yet never uses them on a computer with her phone... she does not back up, downloads app after app, sees no problem in the new iTunes because you don't need a computer if you have an iPhone...

and when you drop it and break it, you just get another iPhone... she's on #3 ...... This is Apples Future sales Market, and you wonder why they restrict it????

oh and a PS.... I was not allowed to install the parental controls, on any device, since she was 13, because her Mom does not want to impose force restrictions, and all her to grow up with her own sense of right & wrong....

She thinks her Mom is an Idiot!!

I'm going to be in exactly the same position when my iPhone 8 comes. I'm using one OS up from you (El Capitan) and that does run iTunes 12.7, though I have now downgraded to 12.6.2, as I absolutely hate it . The reason: I have slow broadband and multiple devices including iPhones, iPads (and iPods) and not enough bandwidth to download to each one separately.

Seems I'll have your problem when my phone arrives. I think I'll create a separate small partition (or on a separate HD) with a stripped down OS and iTunes 12.7. My iMac will not run Sierra. I'm hoping I can keep the iTunes folder where it is?? No, that won't work as I2.7 updates the iT library and 12.6.2 can't read that one for my other devices. Perhaps using symbolic links rather than aliases for the old library?? What a bummer! Thanks Apple.

I'm going to be in exactly the same position when my iPhone 8 comes. I'm using one OS up from you (El Capitan) and that does run iTunes 12.7, though I have now downgraded to 12.6.2, as I absolutely hate it . The reason: I have slow broadband and multiple devices including iPhones, iPads (and iPods) and not enough bandwidth to download to each one separately.

Seems I'll have your problem when my phone arrives. I think I'll create a separate small partition (or on a separate HD) with a stripped down OS and iTunes 12.7. My iMac will not run Sierra. I'm hoping I can keep the iTunes folder where it is?? No, that won't work as I2.7 updates the iT library and 12.6.2 can't read that one for my other devices. Perhaps using symbolic links rather than aliases for the old library?? What a bummer! Thanks Apple.

Just had another thought - I only need to restore once (hopefully!) to my new iPhone 8 so I'll create a clone of my drive with CCC on a separate drive - update iTunes to 12.7 on that - restore my iPhone 6 backup to my new phone. I can then go back to my usual hard drive with iT 12.6.2 and can backup the new phone and everything else to that from now on. If I really have to restore in the future I'll just go back and do the same again. What a pig!

There are a couple of posts already up on how to roll back iTunes 12.7 to 12.6... just follow the instructions there!

the iPhone 8 Does Not REQUIRE 12.7!!! it requires the drivers for the iPhone 8 encapsulated in the iTunes 12.7!!!

So unfortunately unless you can get the iPhone 8 drivers on their own (I have not looked to see to be honest), then your going to have to install 12.7.

BUT once you install the iTunes, the drivers will be put into the /etc/drivers section of the OS, this means that once there you can remove the iTunes 12, and then roll back to iTunes 12.6.

once again... looking at the PC, (simply because it can be changed by the user as required!)... you take out your radion graphics card and install an Nvidia gtx280, it does not work, because the computer has not got a clue how to talk to it! so

you install the Nvidia drivers for the gtx290..low and behold, you get the graphics on screen. you then come into money and buy a GTX 1080ti all singing all dancing Nvidia go faster card... it once more does not work... this is because your original drivers wewre released befor the 1080 was even thought of... so you install the 1080 drivers and it works!

you did not have to install a new copy of Windows, you did not have to install a new copy of iTunes, word, or any other software ...Just the drivers

you could argue that the drivers are only compatible with the latest release of the OS software... well that's probably the DUMBEST move apple will ever make!!

I have the latest 15" MacBook pro.. My partner has the 17" MacBook pro, which she loves! the last OSX upgrade was not permitted onto her 17" but a less spec'd MacBook was permitted to have the upgrade... will this mean that she is now banned from buying an iPhone X or 8? until she buys a new computer that is not going to be what she wants or needs? or am I just going to take the iPhone drivers from my OS version and put it into hers....

welcome to the modern age where everything under the age of 30 is just about computer illiterate, attached to mobile devices and has no clue about saving money (don't judge me..I'm old and have enough doing the job for you lmao). the throw away age of the 80's 90's is now in full swing...

Don't believe me? just as the people around you iPhone / android windows makes no difference... Just how many actually back up the devices to a computer??? and how many are getting a new phone because they need the functions? (in the case of the androids, how many actually ever upgraded the OS on the phone???) or is it "everybody else is getting, so I will as well (hiding the fact that they are sheep behind the fact "I'm due a phone upgrade with my contract renewal!"

iPhone 3 > iPhone 4 it looked nicer, did more and the ios upgrade Killed the 3

4>4s the other half wanted an iPhone, and I was going to be buggered if I was buying her a better phone than mines lol

4s to 5... it was metal, and sturdier plus the other half had Broke 3 iPhone 4's

5>5s I wanted it and gave the other half the 5

5s>6 that one was a contract phone (the only one that was, the rest were pay as you go)

5>6s the fingerprint sensor sold ,me, I like security

6s >7...did not happen, 6s was good enough

7>8>X back to glass..not for me

next iPhone I get will be when the ios Upgrades make the phone unusable

Personally I'm not bothered about eh iPhone 8, as I'm not going to get it, nor the X.. the 8 is basically the what would have been 7s, except its GLASS, an I have long memories of the iPhone 4 & 4s... as seen already too many videos on smashing iPhone, I never smashed my 4's but one of the disability problems I have is motor control of my arms, meaning that it would only be a matter of time!

I figured out an easy workaround--just took my old and new phones to the T-Mobile store and they did a backup of the old phone on their store computer (which was running iTunes 12.7) and restored onto the iPhone 8 for me. Took about an hour from start to finish. All came over just fine. One less first world problem to deal with!

I've flagged some of your earlier answers as helpful, as indeed they are. But in defense of the OP, there is nothing silly about this question.

iTunes 12 queries connected devices and knows what version of iOS they are running; the iOS version information is available to any developer writing an app that accesses a connected iOS device. While it is true that there is presently no technical reason that a desktop app cannot talk to an iOS 11 device, it is entirely up to the desktop app developer what to do with the iOS version information. It is entirely possible for the iTunes developer, i.e, Apple, to not support interaction with a connected device running iOS 11. Given that Apple wants people to move away from maintaining devices with iTunes (as evidenced by Apple removing the capability from iTunes 12.7), it is neither silly nor surprising for a user to wonder if Apple had intentionally made the previous version of iTunes unable to maintain an iOS 11 device. The only sense in which the question is slightly silly is not a technical consideration, but rather that Apple would be shooting themselves in the foot to a degree if they upset users who wanted to delay an upgrade to iTunes 12.7, or who had to delay an upgrade (e.g., if they are on an enterprise computer with upgrade restrictions).

As an example, there is nothing technical that is preventing Apple from allowing iTunes 12.7 to maintain an iOS 11 device. They simply chose not to do it. Presuming the OP is not an Apple mind reader, it was reasonable to wonder if iTunes 12.6 is able to work with an iOS 11 device in the way it works with iOS 10 devices. iOS 11 was in development long before the last iTunes 12.6 update, and Apple could have done any number of things to tailor iTunes 12.6 to iOS 11.

Given that it's not a silly question, I'm grateful that you and others have taken the time to answer it!

@romad: Yes, I saw it. I already knew about 12.6.3. BTW, I've tried to flag that post as helpful, but for some reason the site is not letting me do it. BTW, the link you posted there is faulty (has an extra "http" at the end); if you can still edit that post, you might want to fix it. readers here who pursue the 12.6.3 option should probably have a look at this article: http://osxdaily.com/2017/10/09/get-itunes-12-6-3-with-app-store/. Esp. pay attention to the discussion at the end. Evidently installing 12.6.3 is simple if you are currently using 12.6.2; but if you are moving back from 12.7, you may have to take extra steps.

Unfortunately, Apple Discussions only allows a 5 minute edit window, so I had to reply to myself with the corrected link.

Only the OP can mark replies as "helpful" or "solved", Tom, but thanks for the thought.

YES

Yes, with iTunes 12.6.3

You can choose between Mac, PC 32-bit, or PC 64-bit