How to sync iPhone with iTunes for first time without setting up as a new iPhone

I have an iPhone 5 that I have never sync:ed with iTunes on my Mac, I have just set it up and purchased apps etc from the iPhone itself.
Now I would like to sync with iTunes for the first time with the iPhone but when I connect it, iTunes asks me if I want to setup the iPhone as a new iPhone (I assume form scratch) or from a backup from other iPhones that have been sync:ed with my Mac.
Now I dont want to setup this iPhone from scratch and erase everything thats on it, I just want to sync with my Mac, download apps, music etc. How do I do that and get beyoind the first screen that asks about setting up as a new iPhone ?
/Kjell

Hi I think I've found a workarround. I'm currently copying all files on my iPhone to the new PC using this program: http://www.getsharepod.com/download/
After all files are copied I think I can enable sync in the new iTunes and delete the iPhone, then add the copied files in new playlists.
I'll let you know.

Similar Messages

How to sync iPad with apps for 1st time to iTunes?

Hi -
Can't find the answer to this question directly, hence posting it here.
My nephew's iPad has many apps , and photos, and he has never synced it to iTunes. He want's me to help him. I'm reasonably familiar with both iPad and iTunes.
However - I'm worried that when he connects to iTunes for the 1st time he will have the iPad wiped clean by the empty iTunes session.
I have searched high and low but can't find a reassuring set of steps to follow.
Hence I would be very grateful to anyone who can point to complete, thorough online instructions, or offer them yourself, on what _precisely_ I must do to get his iPad synced to a new iTunes session for the very first time, without loosing the iPad content.
We need to upgrade the OS badly (its the OS released from the shop purchase).
thanks, for what is probably a question asked with a thoursand variations.
Kind regards,
Kevin Nolan,
Dublin, Ireland.
PS: Apple - if you readt this - iTunes and syncing is a very tricky to handle, with potential dire consequences if you do it wrong even once. At a minimum, please offer greater felxibility and more detailed tutorials across various troubleshooting scenarios such as mine

Thank you both for your time and responses
roaminggnome - my nephew was 10 when he got it and his family are not particularly computer savy. It didn't occur to them that syncing was such a priority. Thanks for the pointer to Apple feedback - I'll post my suggestion to them (I'm sure they've received it many times before!)
Demo - that other thread looks absolutley excellent and your detailed instructions there look spot on - thank you.
Thanks to you both again - genuinely appreciated.
Cheers,
Kevin.

How do i sync iphone with computer for first time?

Need help to sync my iphone4S with my Mac

You should just be able to plug it in to your Mac once you setup your iPhone, iOS 5 has allowed phones to be setup without the need of a computer. You just sign in with your Apple ID and presto. For your apps/music/etc it's easiest to get it on the iPhone over a USB connection since most people have at least 1GB of each (which is a lot of data to wirelessly transfer via iCloud or even Wi-fi Sync). When you plugin your phone, your iPhone will show up on the left hand bar, that's where you go and modify most of your sync settings, etc.

I have an Iphone and Itunes account already, can I set up my boyfriends new iphone on the same computer?

Please can you help - I have an i Tunes account and an iPhone, my boyfriend has just got an iPhone, but needs to set it up and create an account. Can we do this with one comuter between the two of us?

Does your boyfriend not have his own computer? Reason being, the iPhone syncs with ONE computer at a time. Thus, he he tries to sync with any other computer(after setting up on yours), ALL iTunes content will first be erased from his phone.
If he doesn't have his own computer, setup a separate computer login on your computer. Let him use that login & his own iTunes account. No chance your data will be intermingled, and if things don't work out, all you have to do is delete the account .

TS1389 I cannot sync my iPhone with iTunes for Windows. Even if the computer is authorized, it keeps on displaying an error message that tells that this computer is not authorized. I already tried to do the resolutions you have given in case this situatio

I cannot sync my iPhone with iTunes for Windows. Even if the computer is authorized, it keeps on displaying an error message that tells that this computer is not authorized. I already tried to do the resolutions you have given in case this situation happens.

It's an endless circle.
See if these instructions help: iTunes repeatedly prompts to authorize computer to play iTunes Store purchases

HT4053 I start my new iPhone 5s 64 for first time , no hello screen , only white screen with black apple logo

I start my new iPhone 5s 64 for first time , no hello screen , only white screen with black apple logo
How can I start my iPhone (I already did restart - it didn't help)

Did you activate the phone already?

HT5312 I'm trying to buy iTunes for first time, but can't verify security questions.

I'm trying to buy iTunes for first time and can't answer security questions.
<Personal Information Edited by Host>

The page that you posted from has instructions for how to reset them i.e. if you have a rescue email address (which is not the same thing as an alternate email address) set up on your account then steps 1 to 5 half-way down that page should give you a reset link.
If you don't have a rescue email address (you won't be able to add one until you can answer your questions) then you will need to contact iTunes Support / Apple in your country to get the questions reset (these are user-to-user forums).
Contacting Apple about account security : http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5699
When they've been reset (and if you don't already have a rescue email address) you can then use the steps half-way down the HT5312 page that you posted from to add a rescue email address for potential future use

HT1386 I have a brand new iphone 4s the service provider loaded my contacts onto the phone I am connected to my computer and have itunes up it wants to set up as a new iphone will I lose my contacts if I say yes?

I have a brand new iphone 4s the service provider loaded my contacts onto the phone I am connected to my computer and have itunes up it wants to set up as a new iphone will I lose my contacts if I say yes?

Yes you will.

Connecting a used iPhone with iTunes for the first time

When i bought my 5s end of last year i switched it on coming out of the box, without connecting it to iTunes. I started making back-ups to iCloud.
Now i want to connect it to iTunes to make a back-up, but iTunes thinks it's a new device and only proposes me either to restore an old back-up, or to start using the device "as new".
I'm afraid of losing everything chosing that last option, and the last back-up on my iMac must be one of my iPhone 4 so i wouldn't want that either.
Now how can i make a back-up with iTunes in that case?

not sure if you read what i wrote..
iTunes only proposes me to either restore an old back-up, or to start using the device "as new".
So it's not possible to click any backup button in this case

Can´t sync movies with iTunes 11.1.4 (on Mavericks 10.9.1) to iPhone 4S with iOS7. Is there a possibility to reset the sync on iTunes?

I produced some videos in iMovie 10.0.2 and transfered they to iTunes 11.1.4.
That worked so far....
After that I´ve compressed the movies for the use with iPhone and iPod
.....also worked.....
Then I tried to sync the movies to my iPhone4s with iOS7.0.4. The sync starts, runs and ends without an error. But after that I can´t find the movies on my phone. There is enough free memory on my phone and I also tried to shut the movie app and restart my phone. The movies are still not there.
When I check what´s on my phone with iTunes (iPhone connected), iTunes says the movies are on my phone!?!?!?
Maybe there are some troubles within a sync "library" or something like that? Is there a possibility to reset the sync services or whatever is responsible for the sync?
Or maybe somebody has another solution which solves the problem!?
The strange thing is that my music, books and all the other stuff will sync fine!
Hope that someone can help me with this issue.
thanks a lot

I´ve fixed this issue as follows:
1) did a backup of the iPhone in the cloud
2) reset the iPhone in manufacturing mode
3) restored the backup out of the cloud
After that the sync with iTunes worked well also with movies.

I lost my contacts, texts etc after syncing my phone to itunes for first time since 2012, now all I have is info. starting from 2012. Is there any way to recover the contacts, texts etc that I have lost for the last 2 years? So ticked off at apple!

I am hoping that someone can help me understand how it can be so easy to lose the last 2 years data on an iphone by synching to itunes for the first time since 2012? If this happens from itunes automatically overwriting your phones system why would'nt there be warnings and red sirens going off on your phone? Can somone please let me know if this lost data is recoverable and maybe even let me know how to recover it?
Thank you

Glad to help! The reply you got was very generic and didn't completely address your questions.
Basically, all it said was to restore your backup. What I addressed was your query about how and why this happened. iTunes did give you prompts and warnings. And if you'd used iTunes back in 2012, then you'd have lost much less data when you made the incorrect selection.
Do you have an iCloud backup? Were you backing up your device at all?
I just found it amusing that you were 'ticked off at Apple' when Apple didn't cause this problem. You did.
Have a great day!

Lost photos when setting up on itunes for first time

My daughter today took some photos on on her brand new ipod touch 7. When she went to set up the ipod touch for the first time on itunes, the connecting cable accidently was pulled from the pc resulting in her photos vanishing from her ipod touch but not being recorded on the pc. All this on her 12th birthday! Is there a a way to recover the photos from her ipod which appear to be deleted as this is no trace of them. I really would appreciate your help please as she has lost all her birthday photos. Many thanks in advance of a solution. Thanks.

- If you used PhotoStream then try getting them from your PhotoStream. See that topic of:
iOS: Importing personal photos and videos from iOS devices to your computer
- Maybe from the restored iPod via How to perform iPad recovery for photos, videos
Wondershare Dr.Fone for iOS: iPhone Data Recovery - Wondershare Official

Cannot connect to iTunes for first time. Help?

I'm an original iPhone user. I bought a 3G for my girlfriend and tried to hook it up to iTunes for the first time on her HP Pavilion dv2000 laptop (Windows Vista Home Premium, Service Pack 1). When I connect the phone, it says "This iPhone cannot be used because the required software is not installed." Then it asks me to uninstall and reinstall iTunes. Fine, no problem. I've done it a million times, I've uninstalled Quicktime, I've tried so many things. I've Googled for hours and have seen similar problems. The only difference between her problem and the rest is that the Apple Mobile Device does not show up in the task manager and does not seem to be installed. Every solution I've come across says to restart the AMD, or to uninstall the AMD (along with iTunes) and reinstall it. However, it doesn't even exist on her computer at all. For some reason, it won't install when I install iTunes. I'm exhausted from looking for an answer. Can anyone help? Thank you mucho!

Try task manager, Services tab (may need admin account to do this).
Scan down the list looking for Apple Mobile Device driver. See if it is there, and disabled, or set to start manually, and if so Right click it and select Start the service.
If its not in the list, then go to Control panel, Programs and see if it is in that list. If so un-install it (as well as bonjour, Mobile Me, iTunes) and reboot. <--dont forget.
Then do a FRESH download of iTunes to make sure you have the proper version. (64bit vs 32bit - your processor is 64bit, but that doesn't mean that your vista is. Download the one that matches your Vista platform).
Shut down your virus scanner.
Then install itunes again.
Then go back to Task manager, and see if Apple Mobile Device driver is installed and set to start automatically. Unless you have other devices in the house shut down bonjour (it serves no real purpose other than opening useless ports on your machine), (just right click bonjour an set to start manually or disable it).
Then make sure you are plugged directly into a usb port, not a hub.

HT4623 I having difficulty in updating my iphone 3GS software from version 4.1 to version 5.1. I cannot update through my iphone & through itunes. Each time I tried a message appeared saying iphone software server cannot be contacted. Please, help

I am having difficulty in updating my iphone 3GS software from version 4.1 to version 5.1. I tried using my phone but cannot find the update software button even when I have gone through the right process by tapping SETTING, then GENERAL, yet could not find Update Software button. I mean the update Software button is not seen there.
I tried using itunes, yet no way. Each time I connect my iphone to my laptop itunes software comes up automatically and alerts me that a newer version of software for my iphone is available, It usually gives me the option of Download & Install or Download Only. Whichever of the option I click a message will always appear telling me that the iphone update server could not be contacted, then asking me to make sure that my network settings are correct and active or try again latter. Sometimes, when click on the Update button on my itune software. It will display an error has occured.
I have even tried to Restore iphone from itunes, yet the problem keep repeating itself.
Can anyone help me?

Dear Tim,
I saw your message. Below are the problems:
Whenever I connect my iphone 3GS to my PC through a USB. My itunes software comes up automatically.
1. After that a message appears from the itunes that states that 'itunes could not connect to the itunes store, an unknown error cccured (306).
2. After the above, an alert message comes up which states that A new iphone software version 5.1 is availlable for my iphone. It then states would you like to download it and update your iphone now? With the options buttons as Cancel or Download and Update or Download Only. Whenever I clicked on Download and Update or Download Only, the next message that comes up is that The iphone Software Update Server Could not be Contacted and suggest make sure your network setting are correct and active or try again later.
The above is the challenges I am facing now.

How to sync Contacts from IPod Touch to IPad 2 set up as a new iPad, not iCloud sync?

My husband inherited my iPad 2 and set it up as a new iPad, so he could choose what he wanted on it. How does he sync his Contacts in his IPod Touch, without getting all the data he has stored in iCloud?

It is resolved!!!

How to sync iPhone with iTunes for first time without setting up as a new iPhone

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for