I updated to iOS 10. Now my iPhone won't sync with iTunes!

[AlexEgan]

I've read quite a few reports of this problem, some that have been easily rectified, but unfortunately it seems I don't have an easy fix... let me explain:

Ok, my Macbook Pro is OLD but after a few little hardware upgrades runs really well. It's a 2006 c2d: http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/macbook_pro/specs/macbook-pro-core-2-duo-2.33-15-specs.html and therefore the latest OS I can run on it is Snow Leopard. It's super stable so I'm totally fine with that to be honest.

As my OS is so old, the version of iTunes I'm running is old too (11.4). It's the latest version that runs on my mac. Again, it does everything I need it to and synced perfectly well with my iPhone 5S on iOS 9, so all WAS well.

Last week I finally updated my iOS to 10 and I was surprised to see this message pop up in iTunes:

iTunes could not connect to the iPhone “(iPhone name)” because an invalid response was received from the device.

I also used to transfer my photos manually with Image Capture, that now comes up with a notification that my iPhone is locked. I've tried AnyTrans, but it seems my OS is too old... I then found an old version but my iPhone doesn't ever appear. I imagine it's because my phone's iOS is too new.

All the solutions I've seen revolve around updating iTunes, which I can't do. I would love to be able to go back to iOS 9 but I don't have a recent back-up of my phone using that iOS. So as you can see, I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place. What can I do? Is there any software out there that will let my ancient mac connect to my phone?

 

[chscag]

All the solutions I've seen revolve around updating iTunes, which I can't do. I would love to be able to go back to iOS 9 but I don't have a recent back-up of my phone using that iOS. So as you can see, I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place. What can I do? Is there any software out there that will let my ancient mac connect to my phone?

I was going to suggest iMazing but it doesn't work with Snow Leopard. Minimum version of OS X it will work with is Lion. You need to consider upgrading your hardware to something newer if you expect to continue using the latest iOS devices. I too loved Snow Leopard when I had it installed years ago on a 2008 MacBook. Sorry, but it's time to move on. It's only going to get worse not better with regard to iOS devices and security for your Mac.

 

[tjwilliams25]

You should be able to upgrade to at least Mavericks stably with an older Mac without losing much speed. It's the lowest compatible OS with the newest iTunes.

Also, I agree with @chscag: you're going to want to think about updating pretty soon as using an older OS opens you up to security threats.

 

[jr866gooner]

Is it not a simple case of updating iTunes for it to communicate with devices? I'm not a mac user so apologies there!

 

[chscag]

Is it not a simple case of updating iTunes for it to communicate with devices? I'm not a mac user so apologies there!

It's not simple because his version of OS X is too old to update to the latest iTunes version which he needs in order to sync his iPhone. Remember that old movie "Catch 22"?

 

[ballyharpat]

Im having the same problem. I have no music on my iPhone now.
I read that there was an app that I could use-iexplorer- I'm just after downloading that, but I can't connect, I may try and get help on that side of it, in the meantime, if someone comes up with a way to make it work, it would be great!

 

[chscag]

What exactly are you trying to do? The iExplorer app will move music from your iPhone to your Mac or PC and vice-versa. You haven't told us anything else about your Mac, version of OS X, and iTunes. Make sure you check the requirements for iExplorer before you buy it.

 

[AlexEgan]

You should be able to upgrade to at least Mavericks stably with an older Mac without losing much speed. It's the lowest compatible OS with the newest iTunes.

Unfortunately I can't upgrade from Snow Leopard, which means I'm stuck on iTunes 11.4.
[doublepost=1476431706][/doublepost]

What exactly are you trying to do? The iExplorer app will move music from your iPhone to your Mac or PC and vice-versa. You haven't told us anything else about your Mac, version of OS X, and iTunes. Make sure you check the requirements for iExplorer before you buy it.

I described the mac I have, my OS and version of iTunes I'm running in my original post.

I tried running iExplorer (it had to be legacy version 3.8.6.1 as that's compatible with Snow Leopard) but my phone doesn't appear when connected. I troubleshooted using this article: http://iexplorer-support.macroplant.com/customer/portal/articles/1366541 which says my device should appear in iTunes:

If you can't even get your iPhone, iPad, or iPod to appear in iTunes, you'll need to troubleshoot that first since an iDevice is supposed to be automatically appearing in iTunes (when connected via USB).

Once you get your iPhone, iPad, or iPod to connect successfully in iTunes, you should then see it appearing in iExplorer too. If not, you should just need to close and reopen iExplorer.

As my phone gets this message since updating to iOS 10, I can't use iExplorer:

iTunes could not connect to the iPhone “(iPhone name)” because an invalid response was received from the device.

 

[tjwilliams25]

Unfortunately I can't upgrade from Snow Leopard, which means I'm stuck on iTunes 11.4.
[doublepost=1476431706][/doublepost]

I described the mac I have, my OS and version of iTunes I'm running in my original post.

I tried running iExplorer (it had to be legacy version 3.8.6.1 as that's compatible with Snow Leopard) but my phone doesn't appear when connected. I troubleshooted using this article: http://iexplorer-support.macroplant.com/customer/portal/articles/1366541 which says my device should appear in iTunes:

If you can't even get your iPhone, iPad, or iPod to appear in iTunes, you'll need to troubleshoot that first since an iDevice is supposed to be automatically appearing in iTunes (when connected via USB).

Once you get your iPhone, iPad, or iPod to connect successfully in iTunes, you should then see it appearing in iExplorer too. If not, you should just need to close and reopen iExplorer.

As my phone gets this message since updating to iOS 10, I can't use iExplorer:

iTunes could not connect to the iPhone “(iPhone name)” because an invalid response was received from the device.

Then unfortunately you can't use iOS 10 devices with your computer. Snow Leopard has been EOL'd by Apple, so you won't get much help with software tools since most of them hinge on the use of iTunes to communicate with the device.

 

[AlexEgan]

Long shot, but I'm bumping this thread in the faint hope that iOS10.1 resolves this annoying problem...

I'm actually still waiting for the update to appear, but if anyone else had the same problem and has already updated, please let us know what happened. Thanks

*edit* Oh well. I just updated, it's still the same. Worth a shot :/

 

[TrueBlou]

Ok this may or may not work for you but in theory it should. The only way I can think of getting a working version of iTunes onto that system is using Windows.

If you have OS X 10.6.2 you can install Windows 7 using boot camp (although it's not mentioned as supported it apparently works fine.)

Once you've got Windows 7 installed you can then boot it up and install the latest version of iTunes as it's supported in windows 7 and use your iOS 10 devices that way.

That's pretty much the only way I can think of off the top of my head for getting it working.