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Fixes for iTunes syncing issues

ErikGrim

ErikGrim

macrumors 604
Original poster
Jun 20, 2003
6,534
5,172
Brisbane, Australia
Updated for iOS8.

Firstly there are two separate bugs: The "Waiting for sync to start" bug where you'll get stuck on this step. That one is simple. iTunes can't sync when your passcode is locked. Unlock your phone, and make sure it doesn't lock before you finish the sync. Stupid I know. (I think this has been sorted since iOS7)

The second one was much much harder to nail down. The symptoms include: "ghost songs" on your phone that will stop new syncs, cause your iPhone to skip over them when playing/shuffling. And not having your phone sync new or all of your songs. The common denominator: When looking at your phone in iTunes there will be grey circles in front of a bunch of songs/media.

A million different temporary cures from logging in and out of the iTunes store on your phone and your iTunes; turning off 'Show all songs'; turning off iTunes Match; selecting your iTunes library in your music apps sharing options (obscure); turning on and off sync (the most common temporary cure); resetting your phone settings; restoring from backup or most destructively restoring from fresh, deleting all your data and settings. Yes, the equivalent of the good old nuke your PC and reinstall Windows option we've all derided for so long is now a common troubleshooting technique for your Apple device. Sheesh.

Have you tried all of the above already? Too scared to nuke your phone and start afresh? Grab a copy of iExplorer or PhoneView (the demo version will do) and follow these instructions:

MAKE SURE EVERYTHING IS BACKED UP TO BOTH YOUR LOCAL MACHINE AND ICLOUD.

Connect your iPhone to mac, open PhoneView, go to Settings>Show entire disk. Here I would recommend you back up all the contents of your phone. Or if using iExplore, open the media section.

Deleted the following folders:
  • Purchases
  • Downloads
  • iTunes Control>Sync>Media,
  • iTunes Control>Music

Deleted the following files from iTunes Control>iTunes:
  • MediaLibrary.sqlitedb
  • MediaLibrary.sqlitedb-shm
  • MediaLibrary.sqlitedb-wal

You may get away with only deleting purchases, but just to be safe nuke them all.

Restart your phone by holding home and start buttons for five seconds.

Resync with iTunes (make sure you reset all the options for only syncing what you want, deleting these files makes iTunes think you want to sync everything).

This should (most likely) cure your ghost song troubles once and for all.

Credit to this obscure fix goes to an leeg330 on old thread I dug up on the Apple Discussion forums with people having issues with ghost songs on iOS5.

This SHOULD fix your syncing bugs once and for all. I got nailed again with the beta upgrades rendering me unable to sync music at all with the GM. And this saved me once again.

Why can’t I make this a Wiki? Doesn’t save my changes when I check the box.
 
Last edited:
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gave it a shot. still stuck on "preparing to copy items."

iphone 6 w/ 8.0. imac with itunes 11.4.
 
I am having different, but still very significant syncing issues. Since installing IOS8 on my 4s, I:
Can't with any regularity sync my information. That includes music and movies/videos. Again, these all worked before I upgraded. Sometimes they sync, most of the time they do not.
Sometimes from sync to sync, the "others" column will grow immensely, it is almost as if it changes from sync to sync randomly and by large numbers - i.e. now it is at almost 7 gb and just a few minutes ago when it synced it was at 1gb...
The phone will show me a video is there, and then I click on it and it is not actually on the phone - yes - I have the settings set to only show m e what is physically on the phone.

I have tried restoring, upgraded to IOS 8.02, deleting all the music on the phone, etc. Nothing works. Itunes match is off, I have reset network settings because someone said that would work - but didn't.

Any help would be GREATLY appreciated.
 
Here with the synching problems as well using iTunes and iOS 8.02 on an iPhone 6. Same issues with phantom songs. Haven't tried the nuking method but EVERY TIME I sync, it "redownloads" songs or artwork, it seems every other time I synch I get the ghost songs problem.

So annoying.
 
Major Synch Issues Still Going On

This is still a major issue, every time I synch my iPhone 5 IOS 8 to iTunes 11.4 it re downloads songs and artwork over and over and my videos are still not on my iPhone, they show in iTunes and even the bar graph at the bottom when my phone is plugged in iTunes says I have 33 videos using up space but there are only 4 videos on my iPhone.

This is so messed up, never had these synching issues with 7.0
 
Uninstall, Reinstall, Backup to iCloud, Restore from iCloud.

IMPORTANT Completely uninstall iTunes (The Correct Way)

IMPORTANT Backup to iCloud...

1. After a clean iTunes installation Restore or Restore and Update.

2. During the setup after the Restore, Restore the device from the iCloud back up you just made.

3. Trying syncing the device.
 
Been trying to sync my iPhone 6 Plus for days now. Upon restoring from my iPhone 5S backup, the sync hangs at applications, requiring a restart of the sync multiple times before all the apps make their way back on the phone. A few videos, a few random songs and all other media (podcasts, books, etc.) make their way over, but a full sync never completes. I've tried everything I can think of... just seems like a bug to me.
 
I had syncing issues but I cleared my iTunes casche in advanced prefenefences and it has been perfect ever since.
 
I couldn't authorize my new 6 with my new mba yesterday so I de-authorized all computers and now when I re hook up to sync , there is no authorize option available?!?
 
Unexpected problem on iPhone 6. Cannot purchase music or App.

ErikGrim said:
Updated for iOS8.

Firstly there are two separate bugs: The "Waiting for sync to start" bug where you'll get stuck on this step. That one is simple. iTunes can't sync when your passcode is locked. Unlock your phone, and make sure it doesn't lock before you finish the sync. Stupid I know. (I think this has been sorted since iOS7)

The second one was much much harder to nail down. The symptoms include: "ghost songs" on your phone that will stop new syncs, cause your iPhone to skip over them when playing/shuffling. And not having your phone sync new or all of your songs. The common denominator: When looking at your phone in iTunes there will be grey circles in front of a bunch of songs/media.

A million different temporary cures from logging in and out of the iTunes store on your phone and your iTunes; turning off 'Show all songs'; turning off iTunes Match; selecting your iTunes library in your music apps sharing options (obscure); turning on and off sync (the most common temporary cure); resetting your phone settings; restoring from backup or most destructively restoring from fresh, deleting all your data and settings. Yes, the equivalent of the good old nuke your PC and reinstall Windows option we've all derided for so long is now a common troubleshooting technique for your Apple device. Sheesh.

Have you tried all of the above already? Too scared to nuke your phone and start afresh? Grab a copy of iExplorer or PhoneView (the demo version will do) and follow these instructions:

MAKE SURE EVERYTHING IS BACKED UP TO BOTH YOUR LOCAL MACHINE AND ICLOUD.

Connect your iPhone to mac, open PhoneView, go to Settings>Show entire disk. Here I would recommend you back up all the contents of your phone. Or if using iExplore, open the media section.

Deleted the following folders:
  • Purchases
  • Downloads
  • iTunes Control>Sync>Media,
  • iTunes Control>Music

Deleted the following files from iTunes Control>iTunes:
  • MediaLibrary.sqlitedb
  • MediaLibrary.sqlitedb-shm
  • MediaLibrary.sqlitedb-wal

You may get away with only deleting purchases, but just to be safe nuke them all.

Restart your phone by holding home and start buttons for five seconds.

Resync with iTunes (make sure you reset all the options for only syncing what you want, deleting these files makes iTunes think you want to sync everything).

This should (most likely) cure your ghost song troubles once and for all.

Credit to this obscure fix goes to an leeg330 on old thread I dug up on the Apple Discussion forums with people having issues with ghost songs on iOS5.

This SHOULD fix your syncing bugs once and for all. I got nailed again with the beta upgrades rendering me unable to sync music at all with the GM. And this saved me once again.

Why can’t I make this a Wiki? Doesn’t save my changes when I check the box.
Click to expand...

I have successfully used Phoneview to remove the files as advised. Magically the music tracks sync and all is good. However attempting to purchase music or Apps on my iPhone 6 or download previous purchases leads to nothing happening except a constant circle symbol beside the required track or App. Strangely enough trying the same fix on my iPhone 5 doesn't lead to the same problem. I wiped the iPhone 6 and was able to access the iTunes and App stores with no problems. Within a couple of syncs adding music the grey circles nonsense started. I carried out the fix. Both stores display the behaviour as described yet again. I think an incremental approach to removing the files using Phoneview is required. I have only started experiencing these issues since iTunes 11.4 was released and before iOS 8. I am using the Yosemite beta along with iTunes 12.
 
Last edited:
robtodd said:
I have successfully used Phoneview to remove the files as advised. Magically the music tracks sync and all is good. However attempting to purchase music or Apps on my iPhone 6 or download previous purchases leads to nothing happening except a constant circle symbol beside the required track or App. Strangely enough trying the same fix on my iPhone 5 doesn't lead to the same problem. I wiped the iPhone 6 and was able to access the iTunes and App stores with no problems. Within a couple of syncs adding music the grey circles nonsense started. I carried out the fix. Both stores display the behaviour as described yet again. I think an incremental approach to removing the files using Phoneview is required. I have only started experiencing these issues since iTunes 11.4 was released and before iOS 8. I am using the Yosemite beta along with iTunes 12.
Click to expand...

I have the exact same setup:

I had the issue with both my iPad retina and iPhone 6 and Yosemite beta with iTunes 12 beta. After years of different computers and iTunes libraries syncing was hit or miss, mostly miss. Followed the deleting folders and everything from the OP and syncing magically was fixed. A couple of days later I noticed I couldn't download any apps and that the update history of my apps was all gone. When 8.0.2 came out my apps were able to download and update but a day later the problems with not being able to update and download new apps came back (spinning circle with the download never starting). I did a restore on both devices and restored from backup through iTunes and now I can both download apps and sync. Hopefully forever but we will see!
 
ErikGrim said:
Really? You might get some idea by following the instructions in the first post of this very thread named FIXES for iTunes syncing issues. Sheesh.
Click to expand...

Sorry for not updating my post. My issue was actually not related to this, but another weird issue. Thank you for putting the time and effort into putting this together. Appreciate it.

Ob81
 
I had this issue with iPhone 6 and iOS8.. after much stuffing around my fix was actually relatively simple.. I had to disable WiFi sync option in iTunes for my iPhone, and uncheck Music syncing. Then I was able to successfully sync and backup properly, then re-enabled and re-synced Music again. It did do some funky things with music genres and album artwork, but after a few syncs it seemed to correct itself.
 
ErikGrim said:
Deleted the following folders:
  • Purchases
  • Downloads
  • iTunes Control>Sync>Media,
  • iTunes Control>Music

Deleted the following files from iTunes Control>iTunes:
  • MediaLibrary.sqlitedb
  • MediaLibrary.sqlitedb-shm
  • MediaLibrary.sqlitedb-wal
Click to expand...


THIS. So this. It fixed one of the most infuriating problems I've had with iTunes.

Now if I can figure out why, when I select certain playlists to sync, I am getting songs that aren't in any of them... But that's another subject.

THANK YOU.
 
rmdubya5 said:
I have the exact same setup:

I had the issue with both my iPad retina and iPhone 6 and Yosemite beta with iTunes 12 beta. After years of different computers and iTunes libraries syncing was hit or miss, mostly miss. Followed the deleting folders and everything from the OP and syncing magically was fixed. A couple of days later I noticed I couldn't download any apps and that the update history of my apps was all gone. When 8.0.2 came out my apps were able to download and update but a day later the problems with not being able to update and download new apps came back (spinning circle with the download never starting). I did a restore on both devices and restored from backup through iTunes and now I can both download apps and sync. Hopefully forever but we will see!
Click to expand...

What happens when you add new music from iTunes from your computer after the restore? I have found this is when the sync problems start again.
 
I had this issue with my new iphone 6...I went through every single step other people had gone through...setting, restore from backup, erase data and set up as a new device etc. hours of work

Everything that was working for other people was failing to work for me.

I had been on the phone with apple support and had it escalated to the point that I had my own case manager and a direct line to that manager to get resolution. Nothing was working...but I found that I could manually manage music and get certain tracks onto the phone by drag and drop.

Here is how I solved the issue in my case.

I had to check the 'manually manage music and videos' box and painstakingly drag and drop every artist on my library one by one until I found one that was not successfully being copied over on to the device

Some files from a particular artist (one of my favourites, that play in itunes perfectly fine and are always on playlists and devices) had presumably become damaged and were stopping the entire sync process. Something that had only been an issue in iOS 8 from what I can gather.

Once I deleted those files Iwent back and put my sync settings back the way they were. Everything copied on to the phone as it was intended.
 
robxxx said:
Some files from a particular artist (one of my favourites, that play in itunes perfectly fine and are always on playlists and devices) had presumably become damaged and were stopping the entire sync process. Something that had only been an issue in iOS 8 from what I can gather.

Once I deleted those files Iwent back and put my sync settings back the way they were. Everything copied on to the phone as it was intended.
Click to expand...

Anyone who experience repeat issues after following steps above, try running this on your library: http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/40263/mp3-scan-repair
 
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