itunes could not backup the iphone because an error occurred while reading from or writing to the iphone

I had the same problem, tried all the previous suggestions (restarting, upgrading itunes/ios, trying another computer in case USB, using apple lightning cable, etc) Tried 3rd party apps. Tried iCloud. Nothing worked. Then I found a few apps that were pre-ios 11 and when I tried to open them got an error saying the developer needed to update them to work on ios11. Once I deleted those, I was able to backup. HOORAY!!!! Apple's error messages are pathetically useless, they really should be more informative.

Same thing just happened to me. I read through the internet posts...the one that worked was to create more hard drive space on the computer where the back up was. Once i did that, everything it worked.

Thanks breezy,

I also tried all of the suggestions mentioned previous to this suggestion, but it was the action of deleting all of the pre-IOS 11 apps that provided a solution for me.

I wholeheartedly agree about the useless error messages that should be more informative.

Hi

Appple support will not be able to help much besides the usual deleting icloud backups and deleting some apps.

This is caused by corrupt images in your library (from whatsapp) in my instance.

On a mac you can use Image Capture app to backup all your images. This will tell you any images that were corrupt and could not be backed up - delete files from iphone.

You can also use the Photos app to rebuild the library (start the app using optio+command)

I tried backing up my phone on my new laptop and got the same error. I tried everything I could find online but nothing fixed it. I managed to finally fix it by going to account>authorizations>authorize this computer and authorizing my new laptop under my apple id

What I discovered helps my phone sync/backup are two things:

1) Turn Carbonite off

2) On Webroot, click "pause security keyboard entry" so there is a check mark beside the box.

Feel free to uncheck Webroot keyboard and restart Carbonite as soon as your iphone is finished syncing with your iTunes.

It's probably a good idea to make sure all iphone apps are up to date since once that caused an additional problem for me.

I hope this works for you. Good luck!

This was the solution for me too, even with the latest iTunes installed in the High Sierra and the latest iOS version 11.3.1!

Can't understand how this issue is still not solved after so many years...Thanks race774!

Go to:

-settings

-General

-About

-Applications

You will see a list of apps which do not work with IOS 11 and must be updated to continue using them 🙂

I just happened to chance into this, so easier to find the apps and delete them. thanks

im also having this problem on my iphone SE. steps i have tried:

- restarting computer and phone

- updating itunes and the phone

- trying to backup on another computer

- clearing out storage space on itunes drive

- deleting any old apps (though none said anything about not supporting iOS 11)

- clearing space on the phone itself

- deleting and reinstalling itunes

- backing up to icloud (not enough space)

every time i get the same message...i have no issue syncing my phone (it just skips the backing up part giving me the error message) and i have no issues backing up my ipad or my moms phone on this computer (using the same cable and the same usb port)...so i really dont know what to do at this point...and sorry but apple support has not been very helpful when ive called....i have not tried restoring the phone as the only backup i have available is from over a year ago (i was away from this computer for quite some time) which is why i also havent tried restoring to factory settings

nothing seems to be working....pls help

Hello bexaloy,

Thanks for trying those steps. The next steps would be to contact Apple Support using this link: Contact Apple Support

Have a great day.

That is dealing with an encrypted backup it appears.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT205220

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT205220

This was my fix. Worth every step:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204275

l'll repost for each user as I see this specific message/error

This was my fix. Worth every step:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204275

l'll repost for each user as I see this specific message/error

hey man, I keep having the same error, if u found a solution plz reply to me, it's been a month trying to back up but won't work