how can i stop iTunes from backing up my iPhone every time i want to sync my iPhone to my iMac?

[Benz63amg]

it literally performs a backup every time i want to sync my iPhone to my iMac, how do i stop it from backing up every time i sync?

 

[Howard Ellacott]

it literally performs a backup every time i want to sync my iPhone to my iMac, how do i stop it from backing up every time i sync?

Tell it to automatically backup to iCloud, then it won't backup every sync. You can manually backup to iTunes whenever you want, with iCloud Backup enabled as well.

 

[Benz63amg]

Tell it to automatically backup to iCloud, then it won't backup every sync. You can manually backup to iTunes whenever you want, with iCloud Backup enabled as well.

I don’t want iCloud Backup either though. I only want to backup my device manually whenever I decide its time to backup.

The only reason I’m having this issue is because I have a new 2019 iMac,
On my older iMac I recall running some sort of a terminal script that stopped automatic backup from happening several years ago and I never experienced the issue again once I ran that command, does that terminal command still work with the current version of iTunes or is it not safe to use with the current version of ITunes on Mojave? ( I had El Capitan on my older iMac)

This is the terminal command:
defaults write com.apple.iTunes DeviceBackupsDisabled -bool true

 

[bransoj]

Isn’t there an option in iTunes to stop the phone syncing automatically when it’s connected? Then if you do a sync you used to be able to just skip the backup by clicking the little arrow in the status box bit where it says what it’s doing.

 

[CTHarrryH]

Just curious - why don't you want to back up to iTunes? Or iCloud.

 

[Minorite]

iTunes > Edit > Devices > uncheck 'Prevent from syncing automatically'.

 

[Benz63amg]

Just curious - why don't you want to back up to iTunes? Or iCloud.

It’s not that I don’t want to backup, I don’t want to backup every single time I perform a sync as it makes the sync process much more lengthy and takes quite a bit of time to finish.
[doublepost=1555372872][/doublepost]

iTunes > Edit > Devices > uncheck 'Prevent from syncing automatically'.

I already have that setting checked but that isn’t what I’m asking about.
[doublepost=1555372948][/doublepost]

Isn’t there an option in iTunes to stop the phone syncing automatically when it’s connected? Then if you do a sync you used to be able to just skip the backup by clicking the little arrow in the status box bit where it says what it’s doing.

So the only workaround is that I should click that arrow in the status bar during the initial stage of the sync process to skip the backup stage in order to continue with the actual sync process? I’m pretty sure I know which arrow button you’re referring to so I’ll just click that to skip the backup phase.

 

[bransoj]

It’s not that I don’t want to backup, I don’t want to backup every single time I perform a sync as it makes the sync process much more lengthy and takes quite a bit of time to finish.
[doublepost=1555372872][/doublepost]
I already have that setting checked but that isn’t what I’m asking about.
[doublepost=1555372948][/doublepost]
So the only workaround is that I should click that arrow in the status bar during the initial stage of the sync process to skip the backup stage in order to continue with the actual sync process? I’m pretty sure I know which arrow button you’re referring to so I’ll just click that to skip the backup phase.

Sure that used to be the case but i've not used iTunes for ages now so it could have changed.

 

[dstraigh]

I'm having the same issue - I did try

iTunes -> Preferences... -> Devices -> check "Prevent iPods, iPhones, and iPads from syncing automatically"

But, found that when manually syncing my iPhone to my MBP (right-click iPhone icon on left pane of iTunes and press sync from the menu) iTunes will backup anyway - then sync. Even though there's a menu indicating I have a choice between backing up or syncing iTunes proceeds to backup my iPhone after selecting sync. Was there some other button I didn't see/know about to stop the backup when all I want to do is sync?

All I'd like to do is completely skip any backup of the iPhone and only sync music.

 

[dstraigh]

Okay, this worked. I opened terminal and typed the following command line:

defaults write com.apple.iTunes DeviceBackupsDisabled -bool true

After that the forced backups were not included when syncing my iPhone.