Solved: iOS 12 not syncing with iTunes 12.8 Mac OS 10.3.6

[charles.hine]

No iOS 12 USB or wifi sync with Mac iTunes 12.8. iPhone is in SysInfo USB tree, as is iPad when I connect USB, but neither appears in iTunes. iTunes does recognize an ancient iPod nano. iPad iOS 10.3.3 recognized for a few iPhone USB attempts to connect, then iPad also disappeared from Mac iTunes. Hours spent trying to find a workaround.

I may have solved my problem. USB sync seems to work. See:

https://macpaw.com/how-to/reset-itunes-on-mac How to uninstall iTunes on a Mac

Apple download page for iTunes 12.8 alone

https://support.apple.com/kb/DL1977?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US

I connected my iPhone to the MacBook, after uninstalling, and reinstalling iTunes 12.8. I then received a message saying I needed to download software (without iTunes running) which, when installed, would allow my iPhone to connect to iTunes. It appears iOS is now syncing with iTunes.

Useless apple link, it is removal of iTunes from Windows https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204275

As far as I am concerned support at Apple.com is abominable. This is not the first time I have spent FAR more time than necessary, chasing down information that could be readily available.

Assuming I am correct, and my problem is resolved, this was a VERY straight forward fix, taking less than 1/2 hour, and Apple made it impossible to execute expeditiously.

No instructions about how to uninstall Mac iTunes, even with an apple support specific search (How to uninstall Mac iTunes site:https://support.apple.com)

Repeated referrals to a link, purportedly to download iTunes 12.8, which downloads Mojave. It will be many, months before I try that, despite the fact that I was initially tempted. I understand that that iOS 12, supported by Mojave, ameliorates some of the mess apple made of iOS podcasts.

My experience upgrading to High Sierra was a disaster, requiring many hours, multiple trips to the Apple Store, and finally settling for a disk image from the Apple store. I don’t think the disk image was totally virgin, for my MacBook has never been the same since.

I had to search many third party websites to find this information. I have no information about the Macpaw software, but clearly providing this information up is a major service to the Mac community. I will check out Macpaw software.

MacBookPro11,2 Mac OS X 10.13.6 iPhone 5s iPad 4th gen iTunes 12.8.0.150 iPhone iOS 12.0 iPad iOS 10.3.3

[Simon]

I wonder if what you essentially experienced is that you somehow needed this mystery update in order to properly sync, and the only way you were able to trigger its download is by re-installing iTunes. That update and how Apple handled it is a real train wreck.

What's with this strange, nonstandard update to iTunes?

I recently started seeing an odd software update on my Mac whenever I plug in an iOS device. There’s an Apple support article about it, and looking at the discussion off that article shows that this update is generating some degree of confusion. https://discussions.apple.com/article/HT208831 It starts with a dialog to update your software in order to communicate with your iOS device. The first strikingly odd thing is that it’s not the usual update mechanism - the dialog box is not coming from …

[seth (Seth Anderson)]

I agree with @Simon - especially since something similar recently happened to my partner’s iTunes/iPhone (iTunes didn’t recognize her phone, despite it appearing in the USB tree). I didn’t have to uninstall iTunes on her Mac, just reinstalled iTunes via the standard Apple.com/iTunes link which hasn’t changed in decades.

Reinstalling triggered the “strange, nonstandard update”, after that finished, iTunes was able to sync her iPhone again.

Didn’t seem like that big of a deal to me, but YRMV
¯_(ツ)_/¯

[Simon]

Thanks for reminding us of that URL, Seth. Seems to be the simplest way to re-install iTunes. I had totally forgotten about that page.