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.
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.
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?
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
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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One of the irritable iTunes features which quickly gets frustrating is that as soon as you connect your iPhone, iTunes opens up and immediately starts syncing your data. Considering that most of us have a lot of emails, photos, videos, and music stored on our iPhone/iPad, this must lead to a lengthy process.
The best solution to this is to turn off auto sync iTunes. Not everyone is aware of this possibility but if you dig into the iTunes’ settings menu, you can prevent the automatic sync from taking place every time you connect your iPhone/iPad. So, if you’re on a friend’s computer or you don’t have the time to sync your iPhone, keep on reading this guide to disable auto-syncing in 2019.
Part 1. Turn off Auto-Syncing in iTunes 12 or Later
Most iTunes users will have iTunes 12 or a newer version installed. If this is the case, follow these steps:
- Connect your iOS device using a USB cable and open iTunes (if it doesn’t launch automatically).
- Click the device icon at the top-left of iTunes and then on the “Summary” tab.
- Under “Options”, untick the “Automatically sync when this iPhone is connected” box.
After disabling this feature, you can connect your iPhone without iTunes automatically syncing.
Part 2. Stop Auto Syncing in iTunes 11 and Earlier
On the other hand, if you have an earlier version of iTunes installed (iTunes 11 and older), you have to use these steps for iTunes to turn off auto sync.
- Use a lightning cable to connect your iPhone, and launch iTunes on your Mac.
- Go to “Edit > Settings > Devices”, and select the “Devices” tab.
- Locate the option “Prevent iPods, iPhones, and iPads from syncing automatically”, and check the box next to it.
Neither of these solutions are difficult but there are a lot of minor features like this which make iTunes bothersome to use.
Part 3. A Great iTunes Alternative: iMyFone iTransor
After you’ve found out how to turn off auto sync on iTunes, it’s still important that you need to sync your data regularly. Doing so minimizes the risk of data loss but if iTunes isn’t for you, you can consider iMyFone iTransor instead.
For those who aren’t familiar with iMyFone iTransor, here are some of this iTunes alternative’s features.
- Take a backup of only your texts, WhatsApp, or WeChat messages.
- Backup iOS data without overwriting previous backups.
- Restore backups from iMyFone iTransor, iTunes, and iCloud.
- Export files from your iPhone/iPad without taking a backup.
It’s clear that this is one of the more advanced iTunes alternatives. In the sections below, we’re going to walk you through some of its different uses.
1. Selectively Export Data from iPhone/iPad to Computer
Firstly, if you want to export data from your iPhone/iPad to a computer, follow these steps.
- Connect your iPhone/iPad, click on “Back Up & Export from Device”, and select “Export Data”.
- Select the specific data types that you want your device to be scanned for. Click “Next” to proceed.
- Once the scan is complete, simply explore the different data types and select the files that you want to export from your iPhone. Click on the “Export” button, choose a file location, and you’re done.
In the past, exporting data from an iPhone wasn’t possible. With this iMyFone iTransor feature, it’s become a possibility.
2. Make A Full iPhone/iPad Backup to Computer
Next, we’ll be looking at how to take a full backup of your iPhone/iPad data using iMyFone iTransor.
- Click “Back Up & Export from Device”, connect your iOS device, and click the “Make a Full Backup” feature.
- On the following screen, read the information and press the “Back Up” button.
- After a few seconds, all of your iPhone/iPad data will be backed up.
If you turn off auto sync iTunes, make sure that you use this method to take a manual backup of your data regularly.
3. Only Sync WeChat/WhatsApp/Messages from iPhone/iPad to Computer
Alternatively, you might find yourself wanting to sync only your WeChat messages. You can do so by following these steps.
- Select “Back Up & Export from Device” from the left menu and connect your iPhone.
- Next, click on “Back Up WeChat”, read the brief that is shown, and click “Back Up”.
- In just a couple of minutes, your messages will be backed up.
For WhatsApp or Messages, you can also use the relevant features and steps.
4. Restore Your Previous iTransor Backup to iPhone/iPad
If you need to restore a backup to your iPhone/iPad, this all-in-one tool can be used too.
- From the left menu, click on “Restore Backup to Device” and connect your iPhone using a lightning cable.
- Select a backup from the list that is shown and then click on the “Restore Full Backup” feature.
- Read through the information that is shown, click “Next”, and the backup will be restored.
As there are both backup and restore features, iMyFone iTransor is the perfect iTunes alternative.
5. Restore iTunes/iCloud Backup to Your iPhone/iPad
Similarly, if you’ve taken a backup using iTunes or iCloud, we can recover those as well.
- Connect your iPhone and from the left panel, click on “Restore Backup to Device”. A list of iTunes and iCloud backups will be shown. Here we will take iCloud backups for example.
- Click “Download iCloud Backup” from below the list, sign into your iCloud account, and then choose it from the list.
- After clicking “Next”, select the “Restore Full Backup” option followed by “Next”, and your iCloud backup will be restored.
There is a lot of flexibility available when it comes to backing up and restoring data with iMyFone iTransor. Each of the methods that we detailed above proves exactly that.
To Conclude
How To Stop Sync Iphone App With Mac Chrome Extension
While iTunes’ auto-sync feature can be frustrating, it’s easy to find out how to turn off auto sync on iTunes. After changing this settings, you can either continue using iTunes or, as we recommend, you can move over to iMyFone iTransor. Let us know in the comments below how these solutions have helped you or if you have any relevant questions for us.