iPhone Sync Still Fails to Start in iTunes

And yes iTunes 12.8.0.150! Mac OS 10.13.6 and iOS 12.0.1

I installed the new iTunes but it behaves the same. The iPad Air 2 syncs fine but the iPhone SE sync still fails to start.

Also, when I try syncing via Wi-Fi without the cable, the sync fails to start. On the phone I select sync in iTunes Wi-Fi Sync, and iTunes shows “step 1 waiting for sync to start. It never gets to step 2 (just like with the cable). It doesn’t bring up the error dialog box like it did when trying to sync with the cable, step one just ends without ever getting to step 2, and the Apple logo appears.

The iPhone is recognized. The summary page shows in iTunes and is fully functional. I can see the songs, apps etc. The sync button starts the sync, the sync starts at step 1 (starting sync) but itunes is stuck waiting for the sync to start. The phone is recognized in iTunes but the sync won’t start whether it’s connected by the cable, or only connected via Wi-Fi.

Here’s an oddity. When I hooked the iPhone SE up to the iMac via the sync cable today, iTunes told me about the iOS 12.1 update being available, so I chose to update. The first thing it does in the update process is to backup the phone. That backup went fine.

After the update, I went to iTunes Prefs and deleted the backup - the backup however was the one that had just completed. I deleted it anyway and tried to sync again. No difference. Sync still fails to start.

Also, the manual backup function appeared to have worked when I just tried it. It shows up in Devices in iTunes Prefs. Not sure what it backed up though. After the manual backup, it tried to sync, but again the sync failed to start.

also, all during this issue, when I look at the bar graph in iTunes shwoing type content and free memory available, the bar graph doesn’t match what I see when I look at storage on the phone itself.

Thanks for responding.

The manual backup now process works, the issue is only on the sync side. I will uncheck things as you described today and see how it goes.

I‘Ve been syncing to the iMac. I just upped my iCloud memory from 5GB to 50 GB so I will try syncing to iCloud instead of the Mac.

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.

Ill post back on how things went. And yeah, I’m starting to wonder if my best option would be to wipe the phone clean.

I found the mobile backup files. They’re in the User library like you said. On my computer that Library is hidden. The backups are there when I view hidden files. The backups update properly when I do a manual backup, and I tried restoring the phone from the recent backup and it worked - so I’m assuming if I erase the phone and restore the phone from the backup, I’ll be able to use the backup file. Hopefully the backup doesn’t contain whatever corruption there is on the phone an just load it back in when I restore.

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. Here’s what I’ve got checked/un-checked:

In iTunes - selecting the sidebar items:

Music - Sync checked - when un-checking it starts a Sync process which fails to start

Movies - unchecked

TV Shows - unchecked

Podcasts - unchecked

Books - unchecked

Photos - iCloud Photos is On

Info - Sync Contacts - no option to uncheck - says “your contacts are being synced with your phone over the air from iCloud”

Info - Sync Calendars - no option to uncheck - says “your calendars are being synced with your phone over the air from iCloud”

File Sharing - no option to uncheck

I tried changing the Sync-to location from “This computer” to “iCloud”. That didn’t change anything. The sync wouldn’t start - same as before.

I’ve pretty much out of things to try unless you can think of anything else. Looks like a complete erase of the phone is the next step.

I reported this bug to Apple at Feedback - iPhone - Apple

Coincidentally there is a question on their form about what operating system you are running if you’re having trouble syncing an iPhone to your computer - see bottom of form. Maybe it’s not just me having this problem.

but the iPad syncs fine.

I’ll see if there’s a newer iTunes

The issue isn’t that the iPhone isn’t being recognized. everything is normal in iTunes but the sync just iMessage out at step #1,

That should have read:

The issue isn’t that the iPhone isn’t being recognized. everything is normal in iTunes but the sync just times out at step #1,

Also,the SE syncs ok in iPhoto

Actually it’s Photos, not iPhoto