Sync your IPhone to two computers.

Hello, I just got my Iphone and have synced it to my home computer and even downloaded some music to my phone. During the Week I work away from my home and use a laptop. When I synced my phone to the laptop it and go to music it says it will erase my phone. How can I transfer my music from my phone to my laptop? I have authorized both laptop and desktop not for sure what that does.
Another question is home sharing. Do we have to be on the same network at the time for this to work?

iPhones can be synced with only one computer at a time. Syncing with another computer will overwrite iTunes media, apps etc. To transfer media from your phone to the other authorized computer:
1. Disable automatic syncing on connecting to iTunes
2. Right-click your device in iTunes and click "Transfer Purchases."
Family sharing computers have to be on the same network.

Similar Messages

Can I sync one iPhone via two computers (MacBook and Windows XP) using iTunes?

My idea is the following:
Sync one iPhone using iTunes installed on two computers:
from Windows XP:
* Outlook 2010 contacts
* Outlook 2010 calendar
* music
from MacBook:
* contacts
OR
from Windows XP:
* Outlook 2010 contacts
* Outlook 2010 calendar
from MacBook:
* contacts
* music
Can I do this?
How would I have to do the set-up?
Additional question: Can I buy apps from iTunes App Store on either of the two computers and having them downloaded automatically on the iPhone?

You can't. You can only sync with one library at a time. I is possible, though not recommended, to sync contacts with one computer and media with another. There is no way to sync contacts with more than one computer.
The best idea would be to sync it with your MacBook and the cloud, and sync Outlook on the PC with the cloud.
Since iCloud requires Windows 7, you would probably be best to sync contacts and calendars with Google or Yahoo.

Can you sync one iPhone to two computers?

I usually sync my iPhone to an iMac where I download new apps, keep my music, etc. But when I'm not at home I have a MacBook and I want to use its iTunes (same account) to download apps instead of using iPhone battery to do that. Can I do it without messing up?
I also have an iCloud account, if that helps.
Another question, probably related:
What's the purpose of WiFi sync if you have to use the cable? Does a WiFi sync update the computer or the iCloud?
thanks

I sync each of my iOS devices to two different Macs. I haven't had any problems syncing apps and backups of each device to both Macs. Both copies of iTunes are logged in under the same iCloud account, so there's no conflict with the list of authorized apps. I would not attempt this if each iTunes was logged into a different account.
If you want to sync anything else, you could get into trouble real fast. You need to be very aware of the different sync categories across the top in iTunes. For example, you can sync photos to one computer and podcasts to another, as long as you never turn on the same category on both Macs because that will cause each computer to overwrite the other's data. But since you said you don't want to sync music or photos, that shouldn't be a problem for you.
WiFi sync exists so that you don't have to grab a cable just to do a sync. It's convenient, but it's a lot slower than cable sync.
Ralph9430 wrote:
iOS devices are designed to sync with only one computer.
It's probably more accurate to say that iOS devices are designed to sync with only one account.

Choice in how I manage iTunes on iPhone and two computers?

OK - so first off, because as I read the history this appears to be sensitive, I HAVE read a considerable amount of previous threads on this. It's hard to believe that at this point (Apr 2010) there is still no third-party software for this? Apple must have made it virtually impossible!
At any rate, here's my situation:
(1) I have two computers - one iMac which holds my primary iTunes (computer 1), one new MacBook (computer 2), and one iPhone 3Gs.
(2) I also have MobileMe which syncs everything just fine in terms of contacts, calendar, etc.
(3) My iTunes and Music folder for my iMac IS located on an external drive off of my iMac (computer 1) and not on the actual hard drive.
Again, to stipulate, I understand:
(1) iPhone is set up to sync to only ONE computer
(2) I can authorize up to 5 computers. (My issue with this is that I have considerable amounts of my own music imported that will not appear as the "authorized" music. And, I do this regularly so I don't want to have to keep duplicating the MP3 import - I'll quickly become out of sync or lose track of them.)
(3) Trying to sync from iPhone to new iTunes library will wipe out iPhone or vice versa
And, I have read this thread on the code changes that can be made:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=10972003
Plus I read this thread on iTunes library being an external drive:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=11148807
SO, now that I've made my case for being informed, I'm asking for your help in how to make my choice to structure my situation.
My basic desire is to have the same library on all three places - I don't need different things in different places. Same thing. And, I pretty much have access to all three devices all the time (one is not physically located somewhere else). I would, however, like to be able to purchase on any of the three and then have it added to the library for all three - and I think that's where I run into my problem.
Option 1? My iTunes library and entire music library IS located on an External Drive off of Computer 1. So, technically, could I just set my MacBook (computer 2) iTunes to pull from that library? Then, any new purchases would go into that same library, accessible by both? The risk here, I think, is that I cannot try to sync to the MacBook when I am NOT on my home network with access to that external drive? In fact, on my MacBook, should I set it up this way iTunes will be "missing" it's library completely? Second risk - how stable is this plan? Am I likely to corrupt/kill/worse my iTunes library from this set up? (Caveat: It is backed up nightly on a second external)
Option 2? Do the code changes posted in the articles linked in this thread:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=10972003
But my iPhone is not jailbroken, nor do I intend it to be - does that matter? And, how stable is this? Honestly, I don't like the idea of monkeying with iTunes code.
Option 3? Copy my iTunes library from Computer 1 and then set up as iTunes library on Computer 2. Designate one computer / iTunes as the one I both buy music on and sync with my iPhone - then can I manually transfer music added to my iPhone into the Computer 2 iTunes (hit cancel when it says it will delete the library if it's synced. go into iPhone and choose songs to manually transfer?) Not sure this is possible...
Option 4? ? ? Is there something else here I've missed?
I hope this all makes sense - I've spent a lot of time reading about the options and think I understand each, I'm just wondering your advice in terms of which is the best solution.
Thanks!
Message was edited by: akcorcoran

My basic desire is to have the same library on all three places - I don't need different things in different places. Same thing. And, I pretty much have access to all three devices all the time (one is not physically located somewhere else). I would, however, like to be able to purchase on any of the three and then have it added to the library for all three - and I think that's where I run into my problem.
Short answer:
I'd suggest a variation of your option 3, but use "home sharing" to greatly simplify the process of keeping them in sync. If you really need to sync the iPod with different machines, then maybe your option 2 is best, but I share some of your apprehension about that solution.
Long answer:
I have a similar issue: three desktop machines, one PC in my office, one Mac in my wife's office, and one Mac connected to the audio system in our living room. I have an iPhone, and so does my wife. I also roam the house with my Macbook. We keep all three desktop machines synchronized in terms of the basic collection of music, and my wife and I synchronize our individual iPod devices to our respective desktop machines.
My solution was to (despite the many complaints about this feature) employ "home sharing". Basically, not only do we share our libraries, but we've also enable home sharing on all three machines, all registered using the same Apple ID. We further more have set the "home sharing" options so purchases are automatically purchased.
It's wonderful. If I buy something at the iTunes Store on my PC, we've configured "home sharing" so it magically shows up on the other machines, with no intervention on my part, just as do purchases that my wife makes on her Mac. And on those occasions where I rip a new CD, while "home sharing" won't magically transfer it for me, it does have feature that you can (a) look at another computer's library, showing only those tracks that don't exist on the current machine; and (b) you can drag and drop music, right in iTunes, from one machine to another. Thus, in comparison to the nightmare of my pre v9.0 manually synchronizing of libraries, "home sharing" has made this much easier.
And in this set-up, my wife and I can each maintain our separate playlists for determining what's sync'ed to our respective iPods. Yes, playlists and ratings are not synced between the three PCs, but it makes it possible for us to take advantage of this to make our own playlists. (This feature is probably less of an issue for you than for us, but it's very useful for us.)
The only problem I see is that it sounds like you want to sync your iPhone with multiple computers, whereas I've explicitly decided I want to sync with a single computer.
I'll answer some of your questions below, but this is a configuration that we use, doesn't involve working around any iTunes features (like the manual manipulation of the iTunes library ID) or problems with file contention. We also have a built in backup of our iTunes library, so if one machine dies, at least all of the media files themselves are safe. (Having said that, I do backups, as well, so I've got a double redundancy.)
Option 1? My iTunes library and entire music library IS located on an External Drive off of Computer 1. So, technically, could I just set my MacBook (computer 2) iTunes to pull from that library? Then, any new purchases would go into that same library, accessible by both?
That might work, but you'd have to think about, in addition to your media files (the mp3 and other audio and video files), whether you'll put the library database file itself (the separate file that keeps track of what media files are available to iTunes, where they are located, the playlists, rankings, play counts, etc.) on that shared drive, too. If just the media files are there, then I suspect that might work, but anytime you add or remove content, you'd have to update the other library, at I think it would be more cumbersome than the "home sharing" approach.
If you decide you want to keep the iTunes library on this shared drive, too, that might eliminate the need for the syncing process, but you might run into trouble if you're not careful about ensuring that the references to that external drive are identical on the two machines. Also, if you try running iTunes at the same time on the two machines, I can imagine that you might have file contention issues on the library database itself.
Bottom line, might work, but seems that you would have the choice between a cumbersome solution and a fragile solution.
Option 2? Do the code changes posted in the articles linked in this thread ... But my iPhone is not jailbroken, nor do I intend it to be - does that matter? And, how stable is this? Honestly, I don't like the idea of monkeying with iTunes code.
You don't need to jailbreak your phone to do this. And I suspect that it's reasonable robust solution as I've seen CNET training videos that advocated for precisely this solution.
This seems like an acceptable work-around if you're trying to sync phones in disparate locations (home and office). But it seems unnecessary if the machines are on the same network, and like anything where you're trying to tweak software behind-the-scenes, I'd worry about it being susceptible to it breaking on new updates to iTunes. Apple isn't going to ensure that some hack like this won't be broken in future releases. I'd be shocked if they tested this scenario in future releases.
Option 3? Copy my iTunes library from Computer 1 and then set up as iTunes library on Computer 2. Designate one computer / iTunes as the one I both buy music on and sync with my iPhone - then can I manually transfer music added to my iPhone into the Computer 2 iTunes (hit cancel when it says it will delete the library if it's synced. go into iPhone and choose songs to manually transfer?) Not sure this is possible...
As I described, I'd suggest a permutation of this option, where you use "home sharing" to keep the machines in sync. I'm not sure if I follow your thought process on "hit cancel when it says delete library...", though. Were you thinking of using the iPhone to sync the machines? If you have a home network, that's not necessary. Or are you saying that it's important to sync the iPhone with multiple computers for some reason that I'm not understanding.
By the way, if the issue is that you want to be able to manage your iPhone from either machine, what I do is I've designated one of my computers as my "iphone sync" computer. When I want to manage this (e.g. download apps for my iPhone, etc.) when I'm not at that machine, I "remote" into that machine from wherever I happen to be sitting. (I use Mac "screen sharing" to access my wife's Mac from my Macbook, I use Microsoft "Remote Desktop" for Mac when I want to access my PC from my Macbook, and I use a free VNC client when I want to manage my Macbook or my wife's Mac from my desktop PC.) Yes, when I sync I have to plug in the iPhone into the cradle in my office, but because I can access that desktop PC from wherever I happen to be, I find that to be a manageable solution (e.g., I'll update apps and podcasts on my desktop my Macbook in the basement, and then walk up to my office and just drop my iPhone into the cradle when I want to sync). I'd love remote syncing, but Apple ain't there yet.
Message was edited by: Rob Ryan

IPhone on two computers

Is there ANY possible way to sync my iPhone with two computers. All I want to do is exchange songs between the two computers and sync my contacts and calendars. Seems simple to me, but I get a message every time asking me if I want to erase my iPhone or transfer the purchases. I do not have this problem with my iPod Classic 5th generation... strange.

This article: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1296 provides more information about what can be synced and even merged between multiple computers.
You can transfer purchased music between computers as described here: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1848
Syncing music that was not purchased from the iTunes store is intended to be a one-way-street as described here: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1209
-Jason

Sync iphone to two computers without delete data

Hi everybody!
I want to sync an iphone4 to two computers, both of them running mac os X 10.5.8 and iTunes 10.
The first one, called home computer, holds apps, music, videos, podcasts, photos. I don't want to sync contacts and calendars on it.
The second one, called office computer, contains just that: contacts and calendars, and nothing else. Actually, it contains a few other items, but I don't care to sync them.
First, I disabled automatic syncing in both computers.
Then I synced the iphone to the home computer, checking all the requested panes: apps, music, videos, podcasts, photos. I unchecked just the info pane. Everything worked fine.
Troubles are coming syncing to the second computer, office computer.
I check the info pane (everything ok, so far). But when I uncheck the app pane, it appears a box asking (sorry not to be precise, I have to translate from italian) "Do you really want to unsync all apps? All apps contained in iphone will be deleted". If I choose not to sync, the multicolor bar below starts worringly to decrease, and the green part (apps) disappears.
I wanted not to sync the app in the iphone, not to delete them!
The same happens if I uncheck all other interested panes, i.e. music, videos, podcasts, photos.
The final result is a sad, short bar showing just a very small yellow strip, "other" meaning contacts and calendar.
What I have to do?

With the iPhone, you can sync all iTunes content with only one computer. Trying to sync iTunes content with a second computer will result in iTunes erasing the content from the first computer. However, non-itunes content such as contacts, calendars, mail settings, notes, etc. (anything in the Info pane) can be synced from another computer.
Do not allow your iPhone to sync until you have set up your selections. Prevent automatic syncing one time, without changing settings: Open iTunes. Then, as you connect iPhone to your computer, press and hold Command-Option (on a Mac) or Shift-Control (on a PC) until you see iPhone appear in the sidebar.
At home, make your selections from the Music, Videos, Applications, etc. panes, but leave the selections in the Info pane that you want synced from your work computer unchecked. When you are finished, click the "Apply" button at the bottom right of the iTunes window.
At work, Prevent automatic syncing one time, without changing settings: Open iTunes. Then, as you connect iPhone to your computer, press and hold Command-Option (on a Mac) or Shift-Control (on a PC) until you see iPhone appear in the sidebar. Make sure all options in all the panes you used at home are deselected (not checked), particularly the "Sync Music" at the top of the music pane.
Go to the Info pane and select your sync choices that you left unchecked at home (such as contacts, calendars), then click the "Apply" button at the bottom right of the iTunes window.

My iPhone has two computers in (iTunes wifi sync), how can I remove one of them without using it ?

Hello everyone.
My iPhone has two computers in (iTunes wifi sync) how can I remove one of them without using that computer?
because that PC stopped working so I had to recover it. Now everything is gone on that PC.
Also I bought a new computer (MacBook Pro) and I use iTunes on it in the mean time. Now I want to remove the old computer!
here is a photo of my (iTunes WiFi sync)
is there any way that I can use to do that?
Thanks

Hello,
Did you ever find a solution for this ?
I have the same issue and i dont know how to fix it.

Is it possible to sync your iphone to 2 pc's (work/home)and keep outlook calendar?

I had a iphone but returned it, but now I need confirmation that it is possible to have an iphone sync between to PCs (work / home). I want to know if its possible to have it sync the phone with two computers. Home has itunes for music and such, work doesn't have itunes on it - but I need to make sure that my calendar syncs between the two computers.
I am concerned that if I sync at home it will upload fine but then if I try to sync at work it will want to delete all my contact on my computer and replace with what's on the iphone?
So basically - is it possible to have your iphone sync with two seperate pc's? I use outlook calendar and live my life with it - I must be able to use it on the iphone - can you?
Can you change the way names are stored in the contacts, I have businesses and personal contacts - I want to be able to look up a business not have to remember the name of the person who runs it?

Can you change the way names are stored in the contacts, I have businesses and personal contacts - I want to be able to look up a business not have to remember the name of the person who runs it?
You didn't say what contacts application you are syncing your iPhone with, but almost all give you a choice to list contacts by name or by business. That setting on the computer should transfer to the synced iPhone. Works with my Mac.

How do I sync my Iphone to two seperate machines with same itunes account.

I have two laptops one for home and one for personal. But I download music on both. Both are logged on under my own itunes account. But when I try and put the music on from the second computer. itunes will let me know that it will sync, but its going to erase everything from phone first. And I dont want to do that. How do I leave my phones data intact and just add music from my other computer?

Sync iPod/iPad/iPhone with two computers
It isn't possible to sync an Apple device with two different libraries, however it is possible to sync with the same logical library from multiple computers. Each library has an internal ID and when iTunes connects to your iPod/iPad/iPhone it compares the local ID with the one the device normally syncs with. If they are the same you can go ahead and sync, otherwise iTunes will want to erase the content and reload. Manual management isn't an option with an iPhone since it still wants you to use a single library, and that won't sync plays.
I have my library cloned to a small 1Tb USB drive which I can take between home & work. At either location I use SyncToy 2.1 to update the local copy with the external drive. Mac users should be able to find similar tools. I can open either of the local libraries or the one on the external drive and update the media content of my iPhone. The slight exception is Photos which normally connects to a specific folder on a specific machine, although that can easily be remapped to the current library if you create a "Photos" folder inside the iTunes Media folder so that syncing the iTunes folders keeps this up to date as well. I periodically sweep my library for new files & orphans with iTunes Folder Watch just in case I make changes at one location but then overwrite the library with a newer copy from the other. Again Mac users should be able to find similar tools.
As long as your media is organised within an iTunes Music or Tunes Media folder, in turn held inside the main iTunes folder that has your library files (whether or not you let iTunes keep the media folder organised) each library can access items at the same relative path from the library folder so the library can be at different drives/paths on different machines. This solution ensures I always have adequate backups of my library and I can update my devices whenever I can connect to the same build of iTunes.
When working with an iPhone earlier builds of iTunes would remove any file not physically present in the local library, even if there was an entry for it, making manual management practically redundant on the iPhone. This behaviour has been changed slightly but it will still only permit manual management with a library that has the correct internal ID. If you don't want to sync your library between machines on a regular basis just copy the iTunes Library.itl file from the current "home" machine to any other you want to use, then clean out the library entries and import the local content you have on that box. However you lose the other benefits of syncing.
tt2

When setting up sync how does sync manage information from two computers? Does it merge the information?

When setting up sync how does sync manage information from two computers? Does it merge the information?

Hi!
Yes, the way Sync works is that it puts all the Bookmarks together and pushes them to all your devices. Same with History.
You will not loose any information in any of your computers.

I have one Iphone and two computers. How do i get my ringtones off of one computer and onto the other?, I have one Iphone and two computers. How do i get my ringtones off of one computer and onto the other?

I have one Iphone, and two computers. They both have different purchases on them. One is older than the other. and one was my moms. How do i get the ringtones off of my computer and onto my moms computer to use all of them on my Iphone?

Copy them to a cd/dvd/flash drive/external drive/etc, then to the other computer.
E-mail them.

When you sync your iPhone 4S with a windows computer , where are the contacts backed up to

When you sync your iPhone 4S with a windows computer , where are the contacts backed up to

Take a look at this Apple doc -> iTunes: About iOS backups
It shows the locations of backups and how to use them with iTunes.

Using iPhone with two computers

Home PC - MacBook Pro
Work PC - Windows
both running iTunes 7.7
My music is on my home Mac and I manually create playlists, add music etc.
With my 3G Nano, I can connect and listen to songs on my iPod from my work PC. I can't seem to do this with my iPhone - my PC sees the iPhone but all of the music is greyed out and cannot be selected.
Is it a limitation of the iPhone that I cannot use it with two computers in this way, or is it a configuration issue?
I would prefer not to have to buy a set of external speakers just to use my iPhone to play music at work.
thanks
Shane

Actually, there are several articles on the web about the fact that you CAN
synch the itunes with two computers. Music, Video, and Ringtones can be done from one computer, and Mail, Contacts, etc. can be done from a second computer.
Just do a Yahoo search on "synching iPhone with two computers."
If you are trying to do music from two computers, you are right, that will not work. There is a program, which I think the Yahoo search above will also uncover that allows you to do a "swap," where you can have the songs from one computer show up on the iPhone, and when you swap, the songs from the other computer show up. I am not sure if this utility survived the upgrage to version 2.0 of the softweare.
cheers,
Ray

Sync'd iPhone 5 two days ago, all fine. Plugged in y-day to charge and phone attempted to auto sync...iTunes now says unable to sync bc I need an extra 27GB of storage to copy iTunes Library. I have not made any changes to my settings. Any ideas?

I sync'd iPhone 5 two days ago w/o any issued or problems. Connected phone to iMac for a charge yesterday and iTunes stated an auto sync. iTunes popup box appeared stating phone could not be sync'd b/c I needed an additional 27GB of storage, apparently to load iTunes Library. I did not change or modify any settings. Has anyone experienced this or know how to solve this syncing issue.
Side note: iTunes does recognize that my phone is plugged in, charging. Thank you.

One additional finding this morning ... iTunes can't handle my iPad being connected. Immediately upon recognizing the iPad, iTunes comes up with the same message as happens with the iPod indicating "iTunes has stopped working," forcing an immediate shut down of the program. Opposite the case with my iPod, iTunes at least recognizes my iPad.
No idea. This is madening.

Can you sync your iphone to a specific date?, can you sync your iphone to a specific date?

can you sync your iphone to a specific date?

The only control you have is that, if you're syncing Calendars in iTunes, you can specify how many days back you want to go (e.g. "Last 30 days")
Other than that, not really - you can do thing slike limit how meany messages Mail downloads, but that's not much help

Sync your IPhone to two computers.

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