iPhone For Dummies. Bob LeVitus

      Now that your data is backed up and you’ve completed the prep work, you’re ready to sync. The next order of business is to tell Finder or iTunes what data you want to synchronize between your iPhone and your computer. You start this process by clicking Info in the sidebar on the left side of the iTunes window or near the top of the Music app window.

      

If you’re using iTunes 12.8 or earlier, do yourself a favor and upgrade to iTunes 12.9.5 or higher. (To see what version of iTunes you have, choose iTunes ⇒ About iTunes.)

      Moving right along, the Info pane has three sections: Sync Contacts, Sync Calendars, and Advanced, described next.

      

If you’ve enabled iCloud to sync contacts or calendars previously but want to sync these items using iTunes, you must turn off iCloud syncing for those services on your iPhone (choose Settings ⇒ your name ⇒ iCloud and disable the switches for Contacts and Calendars).

      

If you want to sync reminders, mail settings, notes, Safari bookmarks, or wallet items, you must do so with iCloud, not with iTunes. On your iPhone, tap Settings ⇒ your name ⇒ iCloud and enable the on/off switch for each item you want to sync.

      Syncing contacts

      The Sync Contacts section of the Info pane determines how synchronization is handled for your contacts. One method is to synchronize all your contacts. Or you can synchronize any or all groups of contacts you’ve created in your computer’s address book program.

      The iPhone syncs with the following address book programs:

       Mac: Contacts and other address books that sync with Contacts, such as Microsoft Outlook

       PC: Windows Contacts, Windows Address Book (XP), and Microsoft Outlook

       Mac and PC: Yahoo! Address Book and Google Contacts

      Now, here’s what each option in the Sync Contacts section does:

       All Groups (Catalina or later) or All Contacts (Mojave or earlier or Windows): One method is to synchronize all your contacts in your Mac or PC address book with your iPhone’s Contacts app.

       Selected Groups: Enable this option to synchronize any or all groups of contacts you’ve created in your computer’s address book program. Just select the appropriate check boxes in the Selected Groups list.

       Add New Contacts from This iPhone To (Catalina or later) or Add Contacts Created Outside Groups on This iPhone To (Mojave or earlier or Windows): Enable this option and you can choose a group from the pop-up menu. Then, new contacts created on this iPhone will belong to the group you chose.

      

If you sync with your employer’s Microsoft Exchange calendar and contacts, any personal contacts or calendars already on your iPhone will be wiped out.

      Syncing calendars

      The Sync Calendars section of the Info pane determines how synchronization is handled for your appointments and events. You can synchronize all your calendars, or you can synchronize any or all individual calendars you’ve created in your computer’s calendar program; just select the Selected Calendars option and then select the appropriate check boxes.

The iPhone syncs with the following calendar programs:

       Mac: iCal and Calendar

       PC: Microsoft Exchange and Outlook 2016 and up

       Mac and PC: Google and Yahoo! Calendars

      Advanced syncing

      Every so often, the contacts or calendars on your iPhone get so screwed up that the easiest way to fix things is to erase that information on your iPhone and replace it with information from your computer.

      If that’s the case, just click to select the appropriate check boxes at the bottom of the Advanced section of the Info pane (at the bottom of the Info tab). Then the next time you sync, that information on your iPhone will be replaced with information from your computer.

      

Because the Advanced section is at the bottom of the Info pane and you will have to scroll down to see it (unless you have a very big display), it’s easy to forget that it’s there. Although you probably won’t need to use this feature very often (if ever), you’ll be happy you remembered that it’s there if you do need it.

      One last thing: If you’re using iCloud and you want to replace the contacts or calendars on your iPhone, you must first enable the item in Finder or iTunes. To do that, you first have to disable iCloud syncing on your iPhone for Contacts and Calendars (as described in the section “A Brief iCloud Primer”), and then enable the check box for Sync Contacts or Sync Calendars in iTunes or Finder as we’ve just described.

Synchronizing Your Media

      If you chose to use your computer to manage synchronizing your data, welcome back. This section looks at how you get your media — your music, movies, TV shows, podcasts, video, and photos — from your computer to your iPhone.

Podcasts and videos from your computer are synced only one way: from your computer to your iPhone. If you delete a podcast or a video that got onto your iPhone via syncing, the podcast or video will not be deleted from your computer when you sync. That said, if you buy or download any of the following items on your iPhone, the item will be copied back to your computer automatically when you sync:

       Songs

       Podcasts

       Videos

       iBooks, e-books, and audiobooks

       Playlists you’ve created on your iPhone

      And if you save pictures from email messages, from the iPhone camera, from web pages (by pressing and holding down on an image and then tapping the Save Image button), or from screen shots (by pressing simultaneously the volume up and side button on Face ID models or the Home and side buttons simultaneously on Touch ID models), these too can be synced.

      

Taking a screen shot creates a photo of what’s on your screen. It’s a handy tool, and it’s what we used to generate almost every figure in this book (apart from those in this chapter, which were mostly shot on Macs or PCs).

      The following sections focus only on syncing. Need help acquiring apps, music, movies, podcasts, or anything else for your iPhone? This book contains chapters dedicated to each of these topics. Just flip to the most applicable chapter for help.

      Music, movies, TV shows, and podcasts

      You use the Music, Movies, TV Shows, and Podcasts panes to specify the media that you want to copy from your computer to your iPhone. If you don’t see these panes, make sure that your iPhone is still selected in the iPhone section of the General or Summary pane; refer to Figures 3-1 and 3-2, respectively.

      Music and music videos

To