The items on the iPhone which are not initially on the Mac will be transferred to Mac. It is, therefore, possible to sync your iPhone, iPod or iPad with iTunes to your Mac. ITunes enables you to sync movies, albums, books, audiobooks, podcasts videos, photos and other items such as contacts and calendars. If you mean have the same apps on both devices then you can redownload them (if they are still in the store and are compatible with the device e.g. Some apps are iPad only, some are iPhone only) via the Purchased tab in the App Store app on the device that they are not currently on.
Syncing iPhone to Mac was a regular activity just a few years ago. With faster mobile speeds, more space, great streaming apps like Spotify and Listen, and more people syncing their data with iCloud, the need to physically sync isn’t as great as it used to be. Particularly once Apple made it so that iOS updates didn’t have to run through iTunes on your Mac.
But, let's face it, we still want to add movies, music, and TV shows to our iPhones. We also want to save our photos and videos directly to our Macs from time to time. That’s when we need to sync our iPhones with iTunes.
In this guide, we’ll reveal some best practices for syncing. We also have some secret tips for maintaining a clean and optimized Mac that is free of junk cache files generated during syncing.
How to sync iOS devices with Mac
Syncing iPhone with Mac via cable
The most common way to sync iPhone to Mac is with the cable that came with your phone. Use this cable to connect your iPhone to your Mac and then launch iTunes (if it doesn’t launch automatically) to start syncing your media.
iTunes doesn’t just help you sync your media. Here are some other popular syncing options to get the most of your iPhone and Mac:
Sync notes from iPhone to Mac
Sync iPhone contacts to your Mac
Sync messages from iPhone to Mac
Sync Mac calendar with iPhone
These are easy to sync in iTunes or by turning on iCloud sync in each app. A little more challenging is how to sync Outlook calendar with iPhone. How to delete all the apps from mac.
Sync Outlook calendar with iPhone
Recently, Outlook 2016 had problems syncing with iTunes but the problem seems to have been resolved. Just make sure everything is up to date.
To sync Outlook calendar with your iPhone follow these steps:
Make sure the iTunes plugin is added to Outlook plugins (File > Options > Add-ins > COM Add-ins). Note - Outlook 2016 doesn’t use the plugin to sync anymore so it won’t be there for this version.
Connect your iPhone to your Mac and launch iTunes.
In iTunes click on your iPhones name and then click on the Info tab.
Scroll down to calendars and choose the calendars you want synced.
Click Apply.
The same method can be used to sync Outlook contacts with your iPhone - just look for the Contacts section on the Info tab.
iPhone Sync to iTunes over Wi-Fi
If connecting your iPhone to your Mac via a cable feels like a strait jacket, you can now break free by setting up a sync through your Wi-Fi connection. That’s right, no more looking for cables. If only we could charge this way as well…hey Apple, what are you waiting for?
Can you delete apps required on mac. There is a downside to this freedom; the speeds won’t be as fast as when connected with a cable. But if you value convenience over speed, let’s get to the steps you’ll need to setup wireless iPhone sync with Mac.
Unfortunately you’ll need your USB cable to set up Wi-Fi syncing for the first time.
Connect your iPhone to your Mac via your cable.
Launch iTunes and click on the iPhone icon.
Click on the Summary tab.
Under Options check the Sync with this iPhone over Wi-Fi box and click Apply.
Now you can remove the cable. Freedom is at hand!
That’s it. Now, in future, when your iPhone connects to the same Wi-Fi connection it will be available for syncing in iTunes.
Now go ahead and throw that iPhone cable in the trash!*
*Don’t do that. That’s a terrible idea.
Clean up iTunes Syncing Cached Files
How to sync iPhones to iTunes? Solved!
Now let’s look at some iTunes tips and tricks to solve other iTunes problem – its love of wasting space.
For every good thing iTunes does it seems to generate unnecessary junk (it can be photos caches like images copies from iCloud, music caches like duplicates from iTunes, movies files caches from media players, or download histories of iOS devices); junk which it won’t clean up itself. With a few easy steps you can clean up after iTunes to free up space on your hard disk and make your system faster.
Remove iTunes Backups
iPhone backups can take up a lot of space. You may find that you have old backups that aren’t needed anymore or a current backup that you’d like to move to an external drive or the cloud to save space on your system.
Luckily this is not hard to do.
Open iTunes Click Menu > Preferences > Devices
Control-click the backup you want and show in finder to then move it somewhere else.
To delete instead, highlight the backup and click Delete Backup.
Confirm
You can also use CleanMyMac X, which is a specialist Mac cleaning app that is brilliant for removing iTunes junk. It even has a section called iTunes Junk!
Remove Old iOS Updates
Mac productivity apps 2018. If you update your phone by syncing your iPhone with iTunes, instead of running the update from the phone itself, then you’ll probably find that iTunes has kept the old iOS setup files. After the update, these files serve no purpose other than to annoy you when you discover how much space they are wasting.
To manually find these old iOS update files navigate to ~/Library/iTunes/iPhone Software Updates and move them to the trash.
Alternatively, to automatically remove old iOS updates and other iTunes junk, CleanMyMac is the one-click solution. It only removes files you don’t need, which gives peace of mind for those who worry about doing something wrong.
Remove Broken iTunes Downloads
It’s frustrating enough when an iTunes download fails. But it’s even worse when you realize this download, which you can’t even use, is taking up your precious hard drive space. Thankfully, removing broken downloads is as easy as it gets with CleanMyMac X.
Within CleanMyMac you will find a Smart Clean scan as well as a specialized iTunes Junk scan. Either option will quickly hunt down your broken downloads and present you with the option to remove them from your system with a single satisfying click.
Remove Photos Cache
Cache files serve a purpose, increasing the speed of certain actions, but the real world impact is minimal. With all the syncing that occurs today, you may not realize just how many cache files are being created without your knowledge.
One of the worst offenders is Photos, so if your Mac is low on space one of the first things to look at is your Photos cache folder. You’d be surprised how big it can get. One solution is to delete the cache folder. Your actual library photos will remain untouched.
To remove your Photos cache files:
Open Finder and control click on Pictures > Photos Library and click Show Package Contents.
Drag the Photos Cache folder to the trash.
Important Note - Manually deleting the cache folder could potentially cause a corruption of the Photos app. A safer and easier solution would be to download and install CleanMyMac X.
To use CleanMyMac to safely remove your Photos cache files:
Download, launch CleanMyMac
Select Photos Junk in the left menu
Locate your library and click Scan
Click Clean
Remove Duplicates
Speaking of photos, once you start using multiple devices it’s very easy for your iPhone photos to get backed up and duplicated all over the place. Things can get messy very quickly, and an iPhone sync with Photos just complicates the process even more.
Manually looking through your system for duplicate photos is a nightmare. Instead, try a Gemini 2 The Duplicate Finder. It will quickly scan your system and present all your duplicate photos, making it incredibly easy to choose what stays and what goes.
It’s not just duplicate photos that you can get rid of. You can also use the app to scan your iTunes library for duplicates of songs that you’ve accumulated over the years.
You’ll be amazed at how many of them are hidden all over your Mac, and how much space you can free up. As with CleanMyMac, Gemini is incredibly safe. In fact, if you remove a photo by mistake, it can easily bring that photo back from the dead.
One-stop sync solution for your iPhone
We’ve described several ways of syncing different data between Mac and iPhone or any iOS running device. But if you are looking for one-stop solution that will sync all data between Mac and your iPhone directly, within one app and without the need to use cloud storages — take a look at SyncMate.
This app will sync contacts, calendar events, folders with files, Safari bookmarks, photos and music directly between native apps on Mac and iPhone. You can mount iPhone as Mac disk and work with it’s content in Finder, view text messages and calls history on Mac, backup iPhone data on Mac; sync can be performed in background and automatically. Note, due to iOS limitations folders on Mac can be synced with User/media folder on iOS only, as well as Mount option allows mounting this exact folder only. More about syncing iOS with Mac using SyncMate along with the full list of sync options and sync directions for them can be found here.
BTW, iOS devices are not the only ones SyncMate supports. With SyncMate you can sync data on Mac with Android, mounted or MTP devices, other Macs, Google, iCloud and Dropbox accounts, Microsoft service — one app fits all.
Sync and Swim
When we know we have to sync our Mac with iPhone, it can feel like a chore. We hope that this guide has given you the tools to make syncing iPhone to iTunes much easier and more productive. Not just for you but also for your Mac, which will surely benefit from a good iTunes cleaning from CleanMyMac, Gemini, and the manual tips we revealed in this guide.
Here’s to the beginning of a new and harmonious relationship between your Mac and your iPhone.
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Back then, syncing Macs with iPhones was such an easy feat. As long as you have a properly working Mac, an iPhone, and a Lightning cable, then there’d be no problem. Use the cable to connect your iPhone to your Mac, launch the iTunes app, and the syncing process will commence. But let’s face it. That was years ago, before Catalina was introduced. Today, many Apple users have reported that Catalina and iPhone are having syncing issues.
How To Sync Apps On Iphone To Macbook
Hello, MacOS Catalina!
Officially released to the public last October 7, 2019, macOS Catalina is the sixteenth major release of Apple’s desktop operating system. It follows Mojave, which was launched in 2018. Catalina is the first ever macOS version that supports 64-bit applications.
How to uninstall apps on mac os mojave. Catalina works on all Macs that support Mojave, except for the 2010 – 2012 Mac Pros. Here is a complete list of Mac models that support Catalina:
iMac (Late 2012 or later)
iMac Pro (All models)
Mac Pro (Late 2013 or later)
Mac Mini (Late 2012 or later)
MacBook (Early 2015 or later)
MacBook Air (Mid-2012 or later)
MacBook Pro (Mid-2012 or later)
What’s New?
With the release of Catalina, a number of changes have been introduced. Some apps have been revamped. New features have been introduced. Also, a beloved app has finally bid goodbye: iTunes.
During the official launch of Catalina, Apple confirmed the news about the demise of iTunes. However, the death of this app has given birth to a powerful trio of media apps: Apple Music, Apple Podcasts, and Apple TV.
Yes, we’ve all grown to love iTunes despite it being problematic and slow at times. But without it, does it mean that we’ll all be having syncing problems between Catalina and iPhones?
Well, that isn’t really much of a problem. In fact, Apple recognizes the fact that sync issues between macOS Catalina and iPhones exist. Although they’re still working on solutions and possible workarounds, we’re excited to show you how to sync Catalina with iPhones. But before that, let’s first discuss the problems.
iPhone Not Syncing with Catalina Problems
Since the release of Catalina, many iPhone users reportedly experienced issues. Here are some of them:
The Automatically sync when iPhone is connected option gets enabled in Catalina, causing iPhones to automatically start syncing once connected.
The syncing process takes more than an hour to complete, and there is no way to interrupt it.
There are no obvious improvements and progress during the sync process. Worse, there is no way to know what is happening.
There is no way to sync ringtones. Although some users suggest to drag and drop ringtones to the iPhone from a Mac, it is obvious that they don’t have complete control over the process.
Playlists are randomized.
After the syncing process, the Space scale does not show the amount of available space.
Every playlist folder comes with a subfolder of the same name and with the same content. As a result, users end up having hundreds of playlists, each having the same songs.
After hitting the Sync in Finder button, the process takes several minutes to complete. The ideal time should only take seconds.
Duplicates of the Playlist folders are created in the Music app of iPhones.
It is not possible to manage the Playlist folder.
On MacBook Pros, the sync process leads to the creation of a closed loop where all playlists are copied from one device to another and every device ends up having more and more playlists.
The sync process removed all the playlists from iPhones and added them to a Mac’s Music library.
The Finder app does not recognize the iPhone.
5 Ways to Resolve Sync Problems with Catalina & iPhones
Even if iTunes has been eliminated from the latest macOS version, there are still ways to sync your iPhone with Catalina. We’ve listed them below:
1. Restart Your Mac and Your iPhone.
The first thing you need to do if your iPhone does not sync with Catalina is to restart your Mac. Oftentimes, a quick restart is all your computer needs to fix issues.
The same applies to your iPhone. It is likely that there are lots of active apps and processes that are keeping your iPhone from syncing with your Mac. Restarting it can sometimes resolve the problem.
2. Enable the Sidebar Option.
The Finder app is a handy app for organizing your media, folders, documents, and other files. It includes the Finder menu bar, the windows and icons on your Mac, and the iCloud drive. It was given such a name because it literally helps users find and organize files.
It’s the first app that you see the moment your Mac completes the startup process. It opens right away and stays active as you use other apps.
To use this app to sync Catalina with an iPhone or vice versa, follow these instructions:
Make sure your iPhone is connected to your Mac using a Lightning cable.
Tap the Trust button on your iPhone and input your passcode.
On your Mac, open the Finder app and go to Preferences.
Navigate to the Sidebar tab.
Click Show these items in the sidebar.
Make sure that the iOS Devices option is enabled.
Now, enable the Sidebar This way, Catalina can detect whether or not your iOS device is connected.
Next, navigate to the General tab.
Disable the Open folder in tabs instead of windows You’ll know you’ve done it right when you click on your connected iPhone and a new Finder window opens.
3. Delete the Preference List File.
For this tip, we will still use the Finder app. However, the aim is to delete the Preference List file. Here’s how:
Open the Finder app.
Navigate to Go -> Go to Folder.
Input /~Library/Preferences into the text field.
Hit Enter.
Find the file named apple.finder.plist and drag it to the Trash bin.
Finally, restart the Finder app and check if you can connect your iPhone to your Mac without problems.
4. Use Finder’s Relaunch Feature.
If you’ve reached this point but you still cannot access or sync your iPhone, we suggest using Finder’s Relaunch feature. Here’s how:
Disconnect your iPhone from your Mac.
Restart the Finder app by pressing the Option key and right-clicking on the Finder Select Relaunch.
Use your Lightning cable to connect your iPhone again.
Check if the Finder app can now detect your iPhone.
5. Clean Your Mac.
It is also possible that junk and unnecessary files have accumulated on your Mac. While some cause problems and issues, others keep processes like syncing from completing.
To get rid of junk files, you have two options: manual and automated. The manual method is quite time-consuming and risky as you have to go through each folder and delete suspicious and unwanted files. The automated method, on the other hand, is fast and easy. All you need to do is install an app and let it do the job.
One highly recommended app for this job is Outbyte MacRepair. Have it installed on your Mac, run a quick scan, and let it find all space hoggers on your Mac that are causing problems.
Wrapping Up
How To Sync Apps On Iphone To Macbook Pro
Just because your iPhone is not syncing with Catalina doesn’t mean you should hate the OS forever. As with other new operating systems, errors and problems like this are normal. Let’s just be thankful that Apple is working on some workarounds.
Now, if you are still experiencing issues with syncing your iPhone with Catalina, you may seek help from Apple Support. Chat with them directly and ask for a detailed guide or instructions on how to resolve the problem.
Do you know other ways to resolve the syncing problem with Catalina and iPhones? We’d love to know. Comment on them below!
How To Sync Iphone To Music App On Mac
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