Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Resolved WiFi Sync just doesn't work for me

D

DocMarlor

macrumors member
Original poster
So, I have been looking all over for a solution to my problem, but I've found none. I'm hoping someone can help. My problem is that Wifi syncing just doesn't work for me. I plug in my iPhone 4 and check the box that says "Enable WiFi Syncing" and it's all activated on my phone, but it just doesn't connect to my computer. Both are on the same Wifi network as well. It also does the same thing with Home Sharing. Any ideas what I'm doing wrong? Thanks in advance.
 
Last edited:
I haven't, but I thought that was only for automatic syncs. When I try it, I go into settings>wifi sync> and I want to test it manually but it says it can't connect to my computer.
 
not sure. Does it work for Auto Sync? From what I've seen, my phone will only sync via wi-fi (I've only let it auto sync, never tried manually) when it's plugged into an ac outlet.
 
WIFI sync works perfect for me, and it does work regardless of whether plugged in or not.

auto wifi sync only works when plugged in, but you can do a manual sync at any point without the need to be plugged in.
 
Perhaps a re-install of iTunes and a restore of my iPhone will do the trick. I'll have to give it a try when I get home from school. I greatly appreciate the replies.
 
You have to check iTunes with your iPhone plugged in thru usb first-- Summary > Backup: click on backup to this computer.

And once that step is done then check the Options for Sync this iPhone over WiFi is checked..

Once those 2 little boxes are checked then once you charge your iPhone via A/C outlet = Wifi sync will occur.... Yes the computer n iPhone has to be on the same network ... unless some else finds a different way to sync...



I just checked these steps and it does work .... 😱
 
iPhil said:
You have to check iTunes with your iPhone plugged in thru usb first-- Summary > Backup: click on backup to this computer.

And once that step is done then check the Options for Sync this iPhone over WiFi is checked..

Once those 2 little boxes are checked then once you charge your iPhone via A/C outlet = Wifi sync will occur.... Yes the computer n iPhone has to be on the same network ... unless some else finds a different way to sync...



I just checked these steps and it does work .... 😱
Click to expand...

the backup option has nothing to do with wifi sync.
as i have already stated, you don't need to be connected to mains for it to work, you can do a manual wifi sync whilst not connected to mains.
 
I have my phone and iPad set to sync automatically over wifi but last night I checked the last time they synced and it was in the middle of November. No idea why they're just been deciding not to do it.
 
DocMarlor said:
So, I have been looking all over for a solution to my problem, but I've found none. I'm hoping someone can help. My problem is that Wifi syncing just doesn't work for me. I plug in my iPhone 4 and check the box that says "Enable WiFi Syncing" and it's all activated on my phone, but it just doesn't connect to my computer. Both are on the same Wifi network as well. It also does the same thing with Home Sharing. Any ideas what I'm doing wrong? Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

All I can think of off the top of my head - is your firewall turned on? Or have you tried turning the firewall off and then seeing if the iphone is able to find the computer. Once it's working you should see the iPhone automatically appear in your iTunes as if it was plugged in with a cable.
 
DocMarlor said:
So, I have been looking all over for a solution to my problem, but I've found none. I'm hoping someone can help. My problem is that Wifi syncing just doesn't work for me. I plug in my iPhone 4 and check the box that says "Enable WiFi Syncing" and it's all activated on my phone, but it just doesn't connect to my computer. Both are on the same Wifi network as well. It also does the same thing with Home Sharing. Any ideas what I'm doing wrong? Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

trdspectacoma said:
i know if I have the cloud back up turned on it does not sync with the computer. that might be the problem
Click to expand...

That's not the problem. Mine along with millions of others work with iCloud sync.

Check these options:
1) make sure your computer and iPhone really are on the same network. If there's a nearby wifi network that you've already gotten on, it may mistakenly pick that up instead of your home network.

2) with your iPhone plugged in, make sure sync over wifi is checked on the summary page AND sync automatically when connected to iTunes is checked. THEN hit apply and disconnect your iPhone.

3) make sure your computer and iDevices are logged into the same iTunes account

4) make sure your iPhone shows up in the sidebar in iTunes like its connected manually. If not, restart your computer. Just Restarting iTunes doesn't work when your iPhone fails to show up in the sidebar or if you get an error message.

5) if all of that fails, try restoring from a backup to see if that does anything. And if that fails, sounds like a trip to the Genius Bar is in your future.

I'm not a network guy but I've seen some instances in here where the router is the problem. There may be some settings you can check. Maybe someone more network savvy can chime in.
 
GraphicsGeek said:
...I'm not a network guy but I've seen some instances in here where the router is the problem. There may be some settings you can check. Maybe someone more network savvy can chime in.
Click to expand...
Router can be the issue *if* the computer is hard-wired (ethernet). Some routers have a hard time passing Apple protocols between LAN and WiFi networks, even though they are both on the same subnet.

If both devices are really WiFi, on the same WiFi SSID network, then there's a firewall issue on the computer or a service (like Bonjour, for example) isn't running.
 
GraphicsGeek said:
That's not the problem. Mine along with millions of others work with iCloud sync.

Check these options:
1) make sure your computer and iPhone really are on the same network. If there's a nearby wifi network that you've already gotten on, it may mistakenly pick that up instead of your home network.

2) with your iPhone plugged in, make sure sync over wifi is checked on the summary page AND sync automatically when connected to iTunes is checked. THEN hit apply and disconnect your iPhone.

3) make sure your computer and iDevices are logged into the same iTunes account

4) make sure your iPhone shows up in the sidebar in iTunes like its connected manually. If not, restart your computer. Just Restarting iTunes doesn't work when your iPhone fails to show up in the sidebar or if you get an error message.

5) if all of that fails, try restoring from a backup to see if that does anything. And if that fails, sounds like a trip to the Genius Bar is in your future.

I'm not a network guy but I've seen some instances in here where the router is the problem. There may be some settings you can check. Maybe someone more network savvy can chime in.
Click to expand...

this ^

need to hit apply or sync after you check wirelessly sync with iTunes. at least thats what i had to do to get mine to work.
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)

I had this problem and posted a thread on here. I can't actually find it right now because I'm on my iPhone but from what I remember it was solved by making sure my mac and iPhone were both linked to the same email address for iCloud. Something like that but I'll try and find the thread when I get home tonight because I too had tried all the obvious stuff.
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)

Nevermind, managed to get out of the mobile version of the forum and found the thread! Hope this helps:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1250381/

Good luck.
 
sn said:
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)

I had this problem and posted a thread on here. I can't actually find it right now because I'm on my iPhone but from what I remember it was solved by making sure my mac and iPhone were both linked to the same email address for iCloud. Something like that but I'll try and find the thread when I get home tonight because I too had tried all the obvious stuff.
Click to expand...

nope has nothing to do with iCloud accounts in any way.
I wifi sync 2 iphones to the 1 itunes library and neither of the iphones use the same icloud info that is on the mac with the itunes library (the mac has no icloud account linked to it).
 
chenks said:
nope has nothing to do with iCloud accounts in any way.
I wifi sync 2 iphones to the 1 itunes library and neither of the iphones use the same icloud info that is on the mac with the itunes library (the mac has no icloud account linked to it).
Click to expand...

Okay. Thread may still be worth reading for the op as there were a few other suggestions in there which seemed to help other people.
 
iCloud has nothing to do with syncing your iPhone. It's only relevant when choosing where you want your iPhone to be backed up to ie. to your computer or icloud. It has nothing to do with why the OP's iPhone isn't syncing with his computer. It's either something simple the OP is missing or a network issue. If its neither of those, then the iDevice may be screwed up.
 
Not sure if someone mentioned this anywhere. There is also an option in itunes on the computer itself to sync over wifi.
 
Have you tried initiating the sync from iTunes? I've found that sometimes an error won't be reported when I start it manually from the phone, but if I start it from iTunes it will.
 
Okay well for what it's worth, here is what definitely fixed the problem for me:

have you checked to make sure that both your computer and iPhone are logged into iTunes with the same AppleID? When I finished updating, my phone had been logged out of my old AppleID and automatically entered my MobileMe/iCloud @me.com address. If you haven't already, go to settings/store and make sure that the same AppleID your computer is signed in with is being used on your phone. This may or may not help, but it's all I've got.
And for the record, Wi-Fi sync doesn't require that your device be plugged into a power source. And you can still use your phone while it is syncing, which I am a big fan of.

Hope it works for you!
 
DocMarlor said:
So, I have been looking all over for a solution to my problem, but I've found none. I'm hoping someone can help. My problem is that Wifi syncing just doesn't work for me. I plug in my iPhone 4 and check the box that says "Enable WiFi Syncing" and it's all activated on my phone, but it just doesn't connect to my computer. Both are on the same Wifi network as well. It also does the same thing with Home Sharing. Any ideas what I'm doing wrong? Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

You may want to reboot your router. You didnt say if you were on Windows or Mac. Perhaps you can turn off firewalls or any internet security (Norton360 or Kaspersky) as those applications seem to create issues with a lot of things. If doing so makes it work then you can configure it such to allow connectivity.

ok now some basic network troubleshooting. See what your ip address is on your iphone. in network settings or log into your router. Open a command prompt and type ping x.x.x.x where x= your iphone IP address. See if you get replies back. That will help see if the PC and the iPhone can at least see each other on the network. Eliminating itunes and settings such as wifi sync etc. If they cannot see each other you need to troubleshoot your network to see why. Once that is resolved I suspect wifi sync will work fine.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back