24 Responses

1. Greymatters

   February 13th, 2008 at 7:25 pm

   1

   I’m glad that you have found this feature useful. I, however, am wondering if I am the only person syncing to multiple machines and NOT finding this useful.

   Here is why…

   I do not want to “Merge Info”. This creates multiple entries which take nearly the same amount of time to sort/delete as inputting in the first place.

   I do not want to “Replace Info” as I might have changed/added information on my iPhone. I do not want to revise these again.

   What I do want….is to “Sync Info”. Basically, to use whichever revision/deletion/addition is newest.

   Not a new idea. Just strikes me as odd that Apple calls the function “Sync” when that isn’t even one of the features.

   I would so like this fixed. Or renamed.

2. Jim from Kansas

   March 17th, 2008 at 11:35 am

   2

   I would like to sync at both my office computer and home computer. Both use Outlook and the same profile (but my home computer is “tunneled” via VPN to the office Exchange Server). Will this process create duplicate entries (because the Apple product sees two different computers) or, since the Outlook account is the same on both computers, will it sync nicely on either computer? [I realize I can test this but thought I would ask in case someone else uses this same type of setup]

3. Jeff

   April 22nd, 2008 at 5:36 am

   3

   Yea, what greymatters said…

4. Scott

   May 12th, 2008 at 7:47 pm

   4

   Yes, I agree as well… what a HORRIBLE design, merge is NOT how ANY PDA type phone should work. It’s a great OPTION but should not be the only “sync” option.

5. Cyril

   May 26th, 2008 at 8:15 am

   5

   Hello

   I have my video on one Mac and the Music, calender, contact on another
   When I want to sync my video I do not have the mssage to merge !!
   How do you get that ?
   I have also try AFP this Iphone from my second computer, no way ! connection failed

   Your help will be welcome

   Best

   Cyril

6. Greymatters

   May 27th, 2008 at 4:47 pm

   6

   Cyril,
   Sorry, I can only respond semi-intelligently to your first question.
   It is impossible to “Sync” any one category, whether it be music, contacts, photos, or even podcasts from multiple machines.
   The software, as it is now written, only syncs one machine’s worth of goodies with your iphone. Period.

   Example: I have my home contacts on my home computer and my work contacts on, you guessed it, my work computer. How do I (without using an external service like .mac) get all of these contacts onto my iPhone?

   As you have stated, you don’t run into this issue as you are copying unique categories from different machines. Try syncing your photos from your home computer AND work computer. No go.

   As far as your second query is concerned: I have heard that iFuntastic is a fairly good way to peruse the files on your iPhone. Sorry, I cannot verify this.

7. dl

   June 15th, 2008 at 10:42 am

   7

   Is there anyway to get the music off my phone onto a new computer? My old laptop that I synced my iphone with had all my music, crashed and I had to buy a new computer and I would really like it if I didn’t have to download a couple thousand songs all over again.

8. oliver

   July 10th, 2008 at 3:20 pm

   8

   hello, i ve been travelling quite a lot, there for i ve been downloading music from other computers, how can i update my ipod in different itunes without erasing the song i already have?

9. Aziz

   July 18th, 2008 at 3:07 pm

   9

   My question is the same question as Oliver above, my iphone was synch with my other computer, i formated the computer and now i wanna add some music from my laptop, and it gives me that the iphone can be synch with one computer only, any ideas?

10. Gee Man

    August 7th, 2008 at 5:52 am

    10

    it all about copying the itunes libray file to the other machine. The itx file hold all the info on the iphone. This will allow for multiple sync to many different machines

    G

11. Matt

    September 4th, 2008 at 11:55 am

    11

    I agree with Greymatters and others who find the behavior annoying.

    A couple of things strike me as ironic.

    1) Apple seems to think nobody should own more than one computer. That’s a strange belief for a computer company.

    2) Prior to the iPhone, I had a Motorola Razr, and I used iSync to sync the contacts and calendars with my two Macs. And it worked as it should. Change it on one computer, sync it with the phone, the change got pushed to the phone. Sync with the other computer, change got pushed to the other computer.

    Maybe Apple made it worse with the iPhone so people will give up and pay whatever Apple wants for their mobile me service.

12. atelesco

    September 10th, 2008 at 3:13 am

    12

    I have the same question as oliver. I do not understand why I can not just add my music and podcasts from my work computer to my iphone. I hate the fact that I can not delete a podcast without syncing the phone. I should be able to go to the postcast menu and just say edit delete. After I hear last nights news the last thing I want to do is hear it again. We should be able to sync the podcast and add to the list on the phone and not wipe it clear because it is a different system.

    I do not recommend the iphone to friends just because of that.

13. mimjoe

    October 6th, 2008 at 7:18 am

    13

    My main home computer which I sync my iphone has taken a dump and is no longer working. I tried to sync on my wifes laptop which she syncs her iphone on and I cannont. I signed into itunes on her laptop, but it still shows her information.

    Any ideas?

14. mossy

    February 5th, 2009 at 11:41 am

    14

    Yeah the sync is crap on iphone. Apple tried to micro control the whole phone. Use iPhonebrowser (google it) to pull the files from the phone into your pc then just push it back properly via itunes. The files and directories on the phone will usually be named all sorts of weird like: NGiLXM would be an album directory containing music with similiar coded names for the songs. Names are relational in the phones database but itunes will see the real name. When you pull the info to the pc, use itunes to Organize the music and it will rename it to proper names. To retrieve folders in iphonebrowser right click a folder and save it locally (Save Folder In) to your pc. Thats for music…not sure about other stuff but should not be too dissimilar.

15. Ric

    March 4th, 2009 at 7:42 pm

    15

    This article is great and explains how to do all of the above.

    http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/articles/comments/copying-music-from-ipod-to-computer/P0/

16. Scott

    March 27th, 2009 at 9:12 pm

    16

    JIM FROM KANSAS –

    Did you ever get a response to this or try it yourself? I’d like to try the same method actually.

    “I would like to sync at both my office computer and home computer. Both use Outlook and the same profile (but my home computer is “tunneled” via VPN to the office Exchange Server). Will this process create duplicate entries (because the Apple product sees two different computers) or, since the Outlook account is the same on both computers, will it sync nicely on either computer? [I realize I can test this but thought I would ask in case someone else uses this same type of setup]”

    Thanks!

    Scott

17. dshaw

    August 13th, 2009 at 12:40 pm

    17

    The only way for Apple to fix this is to put iTunes in the cloud as a web based program. If they did this, you could synch anywhere. If you were to synch on a computer that did not have your music, etc. Then it would only synch what was available.

18. max

    September 5th, 2009 at 10:01 am

    18

    Multi-computer syncing has been successfully accomplished long before cloud/web based programs were around.

    I don’t want my notes, contacts, and calendar info in some “cloud” somewhere on the wild wild web. I want them on my hand-held device and my computers, where I have control.

    The Palm platform is an excellent example – I’ve always been able to sync my Palms to multiple PCs, and everything is truly syncronized. If there are conflicts in a record, both are copied, and the log documents the issue, which you fix, then re-sync (or not – your choice). iTunes only allows you to choose one or the other, and the changes in the other record are lost. You can’t even cancel to fix it and re-sync.

    To make the iPhone useful for serious business use, as well as personal use, Apple should work with long-time Palm users. Their system may be antiquated now, but it’s always been very effective.

19. Syncing smart phone with multiple computers | Faisal Qureshi

    September 8th, 2009 at 6:53 am

    19

    [...] Other people have moaning about it for over a year now. [...]

20. Ralph

    January 4th, 2010 at 5:30 am

    20

    Well, this is one thing that Apple really FAILED on when designing the iPhone. First the inability of the device to sync with multiple computers and email accounts. I.e. I have 3 PCs, two of which use outlook, two separate gmail accounts and several other email accounts. I only want to sync the contacts, fusslessly. NOT possible, ever. You have to manually extract, copy, convert and hack your way into every piece of software on all those machines including the phone in order to achieve what seems to be a basic functionality. With the device itself being great, iTunes is where it fails the most. I want my life under my control, I’m a PC

21. FlorisMK

    January 22nd, 2010 at 5:33 am

    21

    Even worse: Microsoft has killed the possibility to sync with multiple computers through a bug in the latest version of ActiveSync / Mobile Device Center. This bug, which has been the topic of discussion for months, if not years, causes a sync with a second computer to fail, requiring the user to re-partner his PDA-type device with the first computer and clean up all the double items that are created that way. I used to double-sync trouble-free with my work and home PCs, but no more after the upgrade of ActiveSync. And downgrading is not an option, since the Vista Mobile Device Center is compatible with the latest version only. In fact, it was my need for an alternative for ActiveSync that got me looking for the iPhone option, which I now learn is at least as bad.

22. i.nconspicuo.us

    January 23rd, 2010 at 9:52 am

    22

    Hi FlorisMK -

    I’m able to sync my iPhone to multiple computers – 2 windows PCs and one MacBook Pro. I’m just using iTunes (not Microsoft ActiveSync). Maybe I’m misunderstanding your comment, but hopefully this will help you out.

23. FlorisMK

    January 23rd, 2010 at 9:59 am

    23

    Hi i.conspicou.us,

    As I understand this thread, there are issues with syncing to multiple computers if you expect to edit contacts and appointments on all devices. But the point is moot, because my problem is with a HTC Touch Diamond. I was looking into the iPhone as acceptable and multi-syncing alternative, but have been discouraged by the comments in this thread.

24. BG

    February 24th, 2010 at 1:26 pm

    24

    Just in case anyone from Apple should read this and take a hint…

    Sync is short for synchronize which means to make two things that are not the same be the same. A sync function should apply moves, edits, adds, and deletes made in each device to the other device in the order in which they were made. MicroSoft ActiveSync does this pretty well so go ahead and copy.

    When I uncheck sync that should mean stop syncing. It does not mean remove everything from one device. Remove is a different function all together and should also be available.

    Merge means make a super-set of the contents of both devices, but do not duplicate any items. Merge is a way to get two things in sync. In cases where each device has the same item (i.e. contact) MicroSoft asks if I want to combine the information from the two items into one item. Now that’s a merge.

    Replace all the contents means take all the old items off of one device and then add all the contents from the other device to the now empty device. You got this one Apple… 1 for 4… good job. However, look at ActiveSync again. When two items appear to be different versions of the same item, ActiveSync let’s me choose which one to sync and which to replace.