iPhone Sync Still Fails to Start in iTunes

pgoodwin wrote:

I don’t see this in my library:

Finder (~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup/)

Not sure why you can't find the BackUp folder, I don't believe you can alter it's location without Terminal hacking, so just make sure you are looking in the correct Library, it's the "User" one (ie. under your name).

A comment you made earlier is interesting, when trying to Update to 12.1 a successful BackUp was made, but you could not then do this again manually. Syncing and BackUp are two different processes, you even have two buttons in iTunes for them, "Sync" is bottom right while "Back Up Now" is towards the middle, when you tried the "manual backup" did you still click the "Sync" button or did you try the "Back Up Now" one. You might find the latter works, and if that's so I would guess the issue is purely on the syncing side of things, may be in the form of a conflict in a setting.

You could try selecting your device (top left) and in the sidebar under "Settings" select each category (Music, Films etc) and untick the "Sync" box top left.

When you have unticked everything from Music to Photos under the Settings sidebar, try the Sync process again.

If you still have the same issue after that, then I don't believe you have much option other than try a Restore as New, in other words wipe your iPhone. If you have iCloud syncing enabled on your Mac (or any other device) then when you log back in on your clean iPhone and enable iCloud syncing your data will come back down from the cloud.

As you can see this can include Contacts, Calendars etc., so you get a good start in getting the device back to how you had it, although you will need to add back your Mail account and obviously download your Apps again.

Hope some of the above helps.

When you Erased your device, did you SetUp as New first, because by Restoring from your iPhone BackUp might have reintroduced the issue!

You could try the Erase again, but this time SetUp as New (ie just enter your Apple ID), then see if it will Sync. If it does then you have to forget your iPhone BackUp and the only one you can use is the iPad's.

If when Setup as New the issue is still present, then possibly it's still something within iTunes itself that's behind the problem, but I would believe if that was the case you would be having trouble with the iPad as well.

All the above is of course via iTunes, you could also try Erasing device via iTunes and Restore a BackUp from iCloud (if you have made one), this might not then carry over the problem because I believe the process works slightly differently, a long shot but still worth a try.

pgoodwin wrote:

iPhone SE running iOS 12.0.1

iMac running Mac OS 10.13.6 and iTunes 12.6.2.20

Thank you for listing the version numbers! They indicate the problem.

Your iTunes is too old to communicate to your iPhone.

Download current iTunes from:

http://www.apple.com/itunes/download

pgoodwin wrote:

I installed the new iTunes but it behaves the same.

So you're running MacOS High Sierra 10.13.6 and now hopefully iTunes 12.8 (or later).

This article applies to you. You've been through a lot of it ... pay special attention to the end.

If your iOS 12 device isn't recognized by iTunes, you might need to upgrade macOS or iTunes - Apple Support

Have you tried going into iTune Preferences and under the devices tab deleting the BackUp for your SE, it might be corrupt and if so not allowing the sync to take place.

ps. Also check the connector port is clean, if fluff is compacted at the bottom of the port it can prevent the cable plug from seating properly, and subsequently not making contact with all the pins. (clean with something no metallic, wooden tooth pick etc and be gentle).

If you can still sync with Photos it's unlikely to be a dirty port or damaged cable (your iPad rules out the latter), I would still look at a corrupt previous BackUp, as previously suggested try deleting the existing one and see what happens. You can do that from within iTunes or by using Finder (~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup/), you will probably have two numbered/lettered folders, select the one with the oldest date (the other more recent will probably be your iPad's).

Why you managed to "fixed" it previously by booting into Safe Mode I'm not sure, you might have just got lucky, but you have nothing to loose by deleting the old backup anyway, it's probably too out of date to be any good anyhow even if it isn't corrupt.

pgoodwin wrote:

whats really strange is that the iPad syncs fine. I’ll look to se if there’s any difference between the phone and the iPad in what’s checked for syncing.

That would tend to indicate the issue is within the iPhone or what’s being synced with the iPhone.

If you can’t track down the specific area, then a Restore might be the only option, I’ve read (you need to check further though) you can Restore an iPhone from a iPad BackUp (or vis versa), so it might not be that hard to get the iPhone back up and running again.

Just another possible for you to consider.

pgoodwin wrote:

...As for the Syncing process, I can’t check or uncheck anything in iTunes for the phone because as soon as you hit “Apply” to the change, it attempts to Sync and the process fails...

http://osxdaily.com/2013/06/30/itunes-not-syncing-iphone-ipad-ipod-fix/

If the issue is linked to the sync process and not the backup (which your manual backup seems to prove), when you “deselect everything” before going to “Apply”, I would have thought it would accept that option because you are not in fact then trying to sync anything that can stop the process, I would double check that everything is unticked with regards to syncing, even on the front summary.

If you are certain all is correct but the sync still fails I’m out of ideas, there are a few articles I’ve found that you can read, but I think the only option left is a Restore, at least you have a backup so it might be worth a try to see what happens.

Why won't my iPhone sync with iTunes? (I wouldn‘t mess with removing and reinstalling iTunes though).

This article talks about ”Reauthorizing iTunes” which might be worth a shot.

10 Tips to Fix iPhone Not Syncing Problems Quickly- dr.fone (I would ignore the push at third party software, you are trying to fix iTunes/iPhone Syncing).

I’ll keep looking but at the moment I’m out of ideas I’m afraid.