New phone won't connect to itunes - other options?

[Marilynfan]

So here is the situation. I bought a new iphone SE to replace my 4S. I have a 2012 macbook pro running Mountain Lion 10.8 with itunes 11.2.2 (3). My new phone will not connect iTunes I get the message "could not connect to the iPhone because an invalid response was received from the device." I can't update itunes without upgrading to Sierra first. I'm not interested in doing this because I have several old programs on my macbook that I can't risk messing up.

I initially did a restore from iCloud (my 4S backup) when setting the new phone up and I ran into issues with it constantly freezing so I just did a factory reset and set it up as new. Everything is working great except there are several apps (one that was $15) and lots of purchased itunes music that I am unable to re-download from the itunes store. What can't I download it? Well that is the other problem I lived in the US when I purchased all of it. When I moved to Canada I switched the country on my itunes account and now I can't see any of the items purchased when it was set to USA. I can't switch it back to US to redownload on my phone because I don't have a valid US credit card anymore.

I have the apps and music on my macbook pro and iphone 4S and I need to find a different way to transfer it over to my new phone without using itunes. Any suggestions?

 

[Applejuiced]

You cannot transfer music, apps or other things to your iPhone without iTunes or iCloud backup.

 

[eyoungren]

So here is the situation. I bought a new iphone SE to replace my 4S. I have a 2012 macbook pro running Mountain Lion 10.8 with itunes 11.2.2 (3). My new phone will not connect iTunes I get the message "could not connect to the iPhone because an invalid response was received from the device." I can't update itunes without upgrading to Sierra first. I'm not interested in doing this because I have several old programs on my macbook that I can't risk messing up.

I initially did a restore from iCloud (my 4S backup) when setting the new phone up and I ran into issues with it constantly freezing so I just did a factory reset and set it up as new. Everything is working great except there are several apps (one that was $15) and lots of purchased itunes music that I am unable to re-download from the itunes store. What can't I download it? Well that is the other problem I lived in the US when I purchased all of it. When I moved to Canada I switched the country on my itunes account and now I can't see any of the items purchased when it was set to USA. I can't switch it back to US to redownload on my phone because I don't have a valid US credit card anymore.

I have the apps and music on my macbook pro and iphone 4S and I need to find a different way to transfer it over to my new phone without using itunes. Any suggestions?

Have you tried redownloading by scanning through your purchased items list in the App store (on the phone), finding it and then downloading it?

As long as you've downloaded it, even if it is no longer on the App store, Apple will let you redownload it.

I am not sure if this applies after having changed countries though which is why I am asking.

 

[Marilynfan]

Have you tried redownloading by scanning through your purchased items list in the App store (on the phone), finding it and then downloading it?

As long as you've downloaded it, even if it is no longer on the App store, Apple will let you redownload it.

I am not sure if this applies after having changed countries though which is why I am asking.

Yeah that is the problem. They don't show on my purchased list either.

Looking at the specs for iphone SE sounds like I need at least:

• Mac: OS X v10.8.5 or later
• iTunes 12.3.3 or later

From what I have read maybe I will try the update from v10.8 to 10.8.5 since that will still be Mountain Lion and is less likely to cause issue on my macbook then jumping to Sierra. Still scared to do it but I don't see any other solution unless I buy a new macbook!

 

[eyoungren]

Yeah that is the problem. They don't show on my purchased list either.

Looking at the specs for iphone SE sounds like I need at least:

• Mac: OS X v10.8.5 or later
• iTunes 12.3.3 or later

From what I have read maybe I will try the update from v10.8 to 10.8.5 since that will still be Mountain Lion and is less likely to cause issue on my macbook then jumping to Sierra. Still scared to do it but I don't see any other solution unless I buy a new macbook!

What about using a vrtual machine or BootCamp to run Windows on your Mac? You could use the Windows version of iTunes to sync.

 

[Marilynfan]

What about using a vrtual machine or BootCamp to run Windows on your Mac? You could use the Windows version of iTunes to sync.

I'll look into that.