This post will show you how to sync iPhone to iTunes on Windows 11. Apple iTunes is software for managing, playing, and adding audio as well as video files on a Mac or Windows computer. Additionally, it lets users access the iTunes Store and sync digital media collections to iOS devices.
One amazing thing about iTunes is that, with software like this, users can manually sync data such as music, photos, calendar, device backups, videos, contacts, and other content from computers to iOS devices, and vice versa. iTunes sync essentially matches the content of the iOS device with the iTunes Library content on the user’s computer. Also, it’s worth mentioning that if you remove automatically synced content from iTunes, the content is deleted from your iOS device the moment you sync the device to iTunes library.
The following steps will guide you to manually sync with iTunes on your Windows computer using USB and WiFi. Before moving on, make sure that you have installed the latest version of iTunes for Windows. If you don’t have the application on your system, then download and install iTunes here.
Sync iOS devices with iTunes on Windows PC using USB
Launch the Windows version of iTunes on your system.
Connect your iOS device to a Windows PC using a USB dock cable. The cable can be a Lightning, a 30-pin cable or the one that came with your iOS device.
Open iTunes on your computer.
Check the top left corner of iTunes page. An icon is displayed denoting the type of iOS device you have connected.
Click on the icon. This will display the detailed specification of an iOS device and also show the list of available content on the PC that can be synced.
The list will display content such as Music, TV Shows, Photos and so on in the left sidebar. Click one of the categories you want, and it will display all syncable content under that domain.
Tick the Sync checkbox at the top of the page for the category you desire to sync. Select the contents of the category you wish to sync automatically when you plug your device into the system. You can repeat this for any content type you wish to sync by simply clicking another desired content type and setting its syncing options.
Click on Apply and sync.
Once you have synced all the content you wanted, wait for the sync to complete.
Once finished, eject your iOS device and unplug the device from the PC.
iTunes sync all the contents of a computer to your iOS device by default. If you want iTunes to display the prompt before syncing devices, follow one of the steps below.
To set up a prompt before sending this [device]:
Click Summary and untick the option labeled “Open iTunes when this [device] is connected”.
To set up a prompt for all the devices before syncing:
Go to Edit and Click on Preferences.
Click on Devices on the Preferences page and select the option that says “Prevent iPods, iPhones, and iPads from syncing automatically”.
Click on OK to apply the changes.
Sync iPhone, iPad with iTunes on Windows using Wi-Fi
If you are tired of figuring out the right cable to connect your iOS device to your PC, there are ways to streamline the syncing process with wireless options. But before syncing over WiFi, you need to first set up the syncing process by connecting your PC to iOS devices via a USB cable. After the initial setup, you can have future wireless syncs over WiFi. Also, it’s worth noting that the speed of syncing large files is proportional to your WiFi connection speed.
The following steps will guide you in establishing the initial setup for iTunes sync via WiFi.
Connect your iOS device to a Windows PC using a USB dock cable. The cable can be a Lightning cable, a 30-pin cable or the one that came with your iOS device.
Open iTunes on your computer.
Check the top left corner of iTunes page. An icon is displayed denoting the type of iOS device you have connected.
Click on Summary tab at the lefthand bar.
Under the Options select the box next to ‘Sync with this iPhone over WiFi“.
Click on Apply and unplug the USB cable from your computer.
Once the initial sync setup is completed, your future syncs will be carried over WiFi. You need not connect the iPhone to the PC with a USB cable, but make sure you are using the same WiFi network.
Once you are connected to a WiFi network, Open iTunes.
Click on the icon. This will display the detailed specification of an iOS device and the list of available content on a PC that can be synced.
The list will display content such as Music, TV Shows, Photos and so on in the left sidebar. Click one of the categories you want, and it will display all the ‘syncable’ content for that domain.
Tick the Sync checkbox at the top of the page for the category you desire to sync.
Once done, click on Apply and Sync.
Why can’t I sync my iPhone to iTunes?
There could be several reasons you can’t sync your iPhone with iTunes on Windows. Whether you use Windows 11 or Windows 10, you may encounter the same problem across both versions of Windows. In such situations, you can disconnect and reconnect the device, check your USB cable and port, etc. Finally, you can reset the sync history in the iTunes app as well.
Can I link my iPhone with Windows 11?
You can connect your iPhone to Windows 11 and Windows 10 computers via iTunes. However, you cannot use the Phone Link app, as Android users can, to connect and use your iOS device with Windows 10 or Windows 11. That said, you can transfer files after connecting your device to your PC.
That’s all!
