If you have an Apple Mobile Device (iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch) it's actually possible to sync it with multiple computers. You just have to understand the rules. Apple groups things into four categories:
Data – the data or info category consists primarily of things like your contacts, calendar, bookmarks, notes, email accounts, etc. This information can either be sync'd via iTunes or wirelessly via MobileMe or Microsoft Exchange (although Notes currently can only be sync'd via iTunes).
Media – the media category consists of your music, movies, music videos, TV shows, podcasts, audiobooks, ringtones, iTunesU and now iBooks. This content can either be sync'd or managed manually.
Photos – well this category is pretty self explanatory. It's your photo library and all of your photo albums. Your photos can either be in iPhoto or simply in a folders and subfolders.
Apps – last but certainly not least is your Apps that you've downloaded from the App Store.
Now that you know what the four categories are the content from these four categories can live on one, two, three or four different computers. In my house I sync my iPhone, iPad and iPod touch between two computers. I have a MacBook Pro that is my main everyday computer and we have an iMac that is our "iTunes media server". Of the four categories above I sync my Data, Photos and Apps with my MacBook Pro and I sync my media with my iMac. This works great for me because it means that I don't have to keep every song, movie, TV show, etc. that I own on my MacBook Pro.
How do I sync between more than one computer?
This is where most people get scared off. First off the categories can't be split if you're syncing. So photos have to be on one computer or the other, not both. Same with Apps, etc. The only thing you could get away with splitting is if you set your media to "Manage Manually" then in theory you could drag content onto the device from more than one authorized computer. I prefer to use syncing, which brings me to the big scary message.
When I set up a new device I start with my MacBook Pro and in iTunes I UNCHECK "Open iTunes when this iPhone is connected" and then I UNCHECK Ringtones, Music, Movies, TV shows, Podcasts, iTunesU, and Books. Basically all of the media category. I perform my initial sync and all is good. Then I unplug the device and move to the iMac and plug it in. In iTunes I uncheck Info, Apps and Photos and I enable all of the media categories. Now when I hit the sync button I'm going to get a big dialog box warning me that this iPhone (or other device) is sync'd with a different iTunes library and if I continue it's going o erase the content. That's what stops people dead in their tracks. YES! This is OK, all it means is that it's going to erase the MEDIA content, not the other content from the other computer. It will put on the media you just enabled. Once this second sync is done your Apple device is now configured to sync between the two computers. You can go back and forth syncing between the two whenever you need to. So If I want to sync new notes , Apps or photos I sync with my MacBook Pro. If I want new movies, songs, or iBooks I sync with the iMac. I've been doing this ever since the first iPhone came out in 2007 and most recently with the iPad. It works great!
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Terry-nice post to help, however while in theory one is syncing via multiple computers, in reality they are all “partial” syncs. Yes yes, your explanation is good and yes it is nice to know. I still remain completely miffed that I can’t sync to my own multiple MACS. While I love the Apple world mostly, I dislike the restrictions on MY personal hardware and software. I guess there will always be something to gripe about no matter what.
In theory this is nice, in actuality it’s a major flaw on Apple’s part. Here is my situation. I had a windows laptop and pc. I bought an iPad and used it through my pc first and then my laptop. Most of my epub books are not from the bookstore, mainly downloaded free books from the net. My laptop hd crashed within 2 days of installing my iPad on it. I backup every 4 days and the laptop hd had not been backed up, so the ebooks on that were not on my backup dvd’s.. Now when I go to plug in my iPad to my pc I get the message you wrote about erasing the media… ie all my books will be deleted if I continue to sync the several books I now have on my pc. So to load the new ebooks and any future books onto my iPad I will have to lose approximately 90 books and have to redownload them again.
So really, you’re statement that ALL that means is it’s going to erase your media content is very significant in certain situations.
As much as I love many things about Apple, they don’t make some things easy. I understand that Apple doesn’t want Johnny with 1000 ebooks going to Joey’s house and installing those 1000 books onto Joey’s computer for Joey to read. I understand that if all my ebooks were purchased via the itunes bookstore they could just be redownloaded, as with Kindle. But there has to be a better way than this.
Thanks for that, can’t wait for my iPad to arrive now haha.
Terry,
This is exactly what I’m trying to do with my iPhone right now (sync contacts/calendar notes with work laptop, and music with home PC). But I’ve been having issues… Can you advise what settings/options you do/don’t use on the iPhone Summary page (“Open itunes when this iPhone is connected”, “sync only checked songs and videos”, “manually manage music and videos”)? Are the settings the same for all machines?
THanks
I do have each Mac set the same in iTunes
I have it set:
NOT to sync automatically
NOT to manage the music manually
NOT to open iTunes when I plug it in
Otherwise, the Info tab stuff is checked on the MBP (however for the most part this is all syncing with MobileMe or MS Exchange), so is Photos and Apps. On the iMac I have Music, Movies, TV, Podcasts, Books checked as I want.
Is there a way to sync music from one computer and audio books from another? All the music is on my husband’s imac. But I have been loading books from cd’s onto my MacBook Pro. I want them both on my iphone. Help!
Not unless you manually manage your music on the device. Music and Audiobooks fall under the “Media” category and can only be “sync’d” with one computer at a time.
I’m confused. Is it possible to manually manages my songs from multiple computers? So I download a song on computer A and manually copy it onto my iPhone, then I go to computer B, download another song and manually copy it to my iPhone? And end up with both downloaded songs on my iPhone?
My question is can I sync my IPad to my macbook pro and to my pc laptop?
I would be putting Apps on on the IPad from both.
I am a teacher and the Apps off the pc are ones that the school allows and the ones off my macbook are the ones I want.
Apps can only be sync’d from one computer at a time.
But I can sync from both computers at different times?
Dee, when you sync Apps from one computer and then later go to a different computer (with a different iTunes account), Apps will be grayed out on the different computer. If you enable App syncing on the different computer it will sync those Apps, REPLACING the Apps already on the device.
So yes, you can sync to a different computer later, but only one set of Apps will be on the device at a time.
I have a question, I synced my ipad (and for that matter Ipod and Itouch) to my PC. I now bought an iMac and after some struggle managed to copy music, fotos etc from PC to iMac. However itunes on my iMac does not recognise the iPad (nor Itouch) when I connect it. Whats happening?
can anyone help
thanks Mike
Have you installed/reinstalled the latest iTunes 9.2.x?
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Terry, I recently downloaded an episode of Mad Men on my ipad and I was wondering if I could watch it on my Apple TV. The thing is, the Apple TV is synched to my daughter’s iTunes. How, if possible, can I watch the episode I just downloaded on my Apple TV?
Thanks
is it possibble to sync books with one computer and music with the other?
It doesn’t appear that you can. Books are treated like media.
Terry, I have been syncing my iPod touch with iTunes on my windows PC. I just got an iPhone 4. Can I sync the iPhone 4 to the same PC? Will iTunes allow syncing of both of my devices?
yes, there is no limit on iOS devices and iPods.
Terry, thanks so much for the tutorial and your answers to the various questions here. It seems that the first two comments might address what I’m about to ask, but I’m wondering if there’s an answer-
I have two macbooks- one at home and one at work. For the most part, everything is the same on both computers (because I bought my old work macbook for personal use, and they transferred all the data over for me). Both computers are authorized for my iTunes also. I started adding new music to my macbook at home, then I synced my iPod Touch with it. I brought my iPod to work to sync it to my work laptop, and it synced everything I wanted (apps, calendar, etc.) EXCEPT the music. It erased the new music I had put on my iPod from my home laptop and only kept the music from my work laptop INSTEAD of putting the new music from the iPod onto my work laptop. Do you know why that might be?
Hi Lily, thanks!
But it goes back to what I said above. Media can only be “sync’d” from ONE computer at a time. Even though you’re authorized, and even though it’s the same account, if you SYNC, it can only be from ONE library at a time and therefore once you got to work, THAT library took over. The only solution to just get the music over to your work computer would be to turn OFF automatic syncing. Then sync from home with all the new music. Once you get to work, use the Transfer New Purchases command in iTunes to copy that new music (apps or whatever) from the iPod onto your work iTunes. However, keep in mind that this will only work for iTunes store purchases and not CDs you ripped yourself.
Lastly, if you want to be able to put music on from both computers onto the iPod, then your best bet is to use the “Manage Music Manually” option. However, then you’ll have to drag and drop music on each time you want to add it. I don’t like this option for that reason. I want it to be AUTOMATIC without having to think about it.
Can I sync photos from iPhoto on my Macbook and everything else (music, contacts, e-mail, calendar, etc.) from my laptop PC?
Yep.
Hi Terry, I have a MacPro to which my iPhone(3G) and my iPad are synced and backed up.
I will soon be going overseas with my iPhone, iPad; and not, of course my MacPro, but my 15″ Mac laptop to which I would like to sync the iPhone & iPad whilst away.
Is this possible?
Will I be able to download iPad/iPhone apps and updates to my laptop and transfer them to my iPhone/iPad?
When I return, will I be able to put the new apps & updates back on my MacPro?
Or what would you recommend?
Music & photos are not an issue and data is handled by mobileme.
Thankyou
David,
Apps can only be sync’d to one computer at a time. So if it’s important to you to be able to download the Apps to your computer first, then you should put them ALL on your MacBook FIRST and sync your iPhone/iPad to it before leaving. As long as you have the SAME apps on the MacBook BEFORE you sync, your data App data SHOULD remain intact.
Hi Terry-
I have an apple lap top and a home apple computer. Each time i try to sync the iphone with the lap top it erases the calendar. I then sync it with the home apple and recover the info. I would like to use the laptop primarily, but can’t seem to get the settings right….and when it asks if i want to merge or replace i seem to get the answer wrong each time.
pls help!!
thanks!
i am so computer challenged!!
Hi Terry
I have had to buy a new laptop as mine was stolen. I have the latest version of itunes but every time i plug my ipad into the new laptop it tells me that if i sync with it i will loose everything on the ipad as it is sync’d with another computer….what can i do?
Great article and it has solved almost all of my sync issues! However, I have found one hiccup!
iBooks is considered an app, whereas the books themselves are considered media. How can I sync apps to my INFO computer (including iBooks) and the books themselves from my MEDIA computer?
When I am connected the MEDIA computer, I cannot see books in the iTunes store because it is prompting me to first install iBooks!
Thanks
I have iBooks installed on both computers even though it’s only syncing the Apps from the MacBook Pro and it works fine syncing the books from the iMac.
Why not “merge” data/media… on the iPhone with an iTunes library on the computer where the device is hooked up and vice-versa. Problem is that once “replace” is selected it seems impossible to change your mind and settings into “merge”.
So the real question is: How to change sync setting from “replace” to “merge”. Then in either iTunes entity the specific sync settings for every categories will be followed.
Not sure what you mean when you say “I have iBooks installed on both computers”, isn’t it installed on the single iPhone?
I have now also downloaded iBooks in to iTunes on the MEDIA computer but still, whenever I do a search in the iTunes store on the MEDIA computer, under the books category it says “Books related ro our search can also be downloaded….” followed by a link to “Get iBooks >” which I have clicked, but to no avail.
What I mean is that in the Apps section of BOTH Macs, I have the iBooks App downloaded and in itunes. Even though I’m not syncing Apps from the iMac (Media Mac), iBooks is there in the Apps. I’ve been doing this since day one and have no problems syncing Apps (including iBooks) from my MBP and media from my iMac (including books/pdfs).
Nice tip Terry.
I bet you wish you never started though. You must have repeated the same clear concise info 20 times.
My iMac just recently crashed, and some of the music on my iPhone is irreplaceable. If I want to sync it to a NEW Mac, will I lose the songs already on my phone?
I couldn’t tell in your description whether or not this would happen.
Thanks!
You will need a specific App that will copy the content from your iPod back to your computer and you have to be careful because a standard sync WILL WIPE OUT WHAT’S THERE!.
http://ipod2mac.com/
Terry, thank you for the prompt response on my question! That makes more sense now. So right now, I have checked off the option to not sync automatically on my work macbook. That works.
A new issue I have now is that when I try to uncheck “Sync music” under the Music tab, it asks me: Are you sure you do not want to sync music? All existing songs and playlists on the iPod will be removed. Then it lets me Cancel or Don’t Sync Music. A similar message occurs with my applications. How do I keep the music and applications on my home laptop and synced with my iPod, and uncheck the syncing options on my work laptop without it erasing the music/apps on my iPod (when I plug it into my work laptop to sync my calendar and contacts)?
Thanks in advance for your help!!
Hi Terry,
My PC has crashed, XP has to be reinstalled, how do I keep iTunes from wiping my iPod touch clean. How do I get all my data into the new XP\iTunes install?
Sorry if you have had to go over this again. I’m a real iTunes newbie.
Gord
Hi,
I have an iphone on which I have all my contacts, emails, app photos etc. Originally, I sync’d with my home pc, that is now on its last legs. I have a new laptop, which I want to transfer everything to. I have the same itunes account authorised on both the pc and laptop. Is this doable???
Thanks! and your explainations are very clear and enlightening!
Dear Terry
thanks for clarifying the syncing but now that i understood it, i see the my media and data is in a real mess. my media is stored in an external drive and i have no idea where my synced data because i have an office laptop pc as well as a home imac and i plug into both of the computers. what and where is the data file in my computer? could i look for it?
if i want to start from clean slate, what steps should i do to ensure all my Data is intact? thanks very much
Sylvia
There is no specific “data file” to speak of. Data refers to Contacts, Notes, Calendar, etc. So your Data is sync’d via iTunes from whichever computer PC or Mac that you have those items CHECKED in iTunes when you connect your device.
Terry,
I am looking at getting iPads for some of my employees. Is there a way to prevent them from syncing with other computers?? (ie. non-work computers, their personal laptops).
Is there a way to manage what laptops they are allowed to sync to?
Thanks
Not that I’m aware of.
I have an iMac and an iTouch. I sync music between them.
Now I have an iPad from my friend. Can I sync her music from her iPad to my iMac ?
Sounds like a good reason to buy books from other sources than Apple. At least my wife should buy books from Kindle (or something), if iTunes is synchronized on my computer.
I would like to have apps on both computers though.
Hi Terry,
It took me a while but I finally found some answers, thanks a lot!!
Would you be so kind to confirm I understood properly how this works?:
My iPod Touch is synced to my home PC. I manually manage music, but podcasts and apps are synced so that everytime I connect my iPod it downloads the latest podcast, for example.
My work PC is authorised and is an audible account. I can purchase apps on it, however they don’t transfer to the iPod nor I can drag them to it. Is there a way to do this? I still want to be able to do the same thing from home.
I think what I need to do is transfer purchases from the iPod to the work PC, then sync the work PC so that the new ones are also copied to it. I will need to do the same thing again at home in order to restore the previous settings, right? Will all of my settings be saved (including saved games etc.)?
Thank you very much!
Uli.
I’ve read all the responses here but I still have a question, my WinXP box crashed and died, that’s where I sync’d everything to. I bought a new Win7 laptop and installed itunes. I have it set to sync manually but when I hooked up my ipod touch it told me the software for the ipod needed to be updated. I backed up my ipod thinking I’d be ok. I said update the software, it gave me the warning the ipod would be cleared, I backed up so I thought ok, go for it. I have the new software on my ipod but no music whatsoever, no playlist nothing. HELP anyway to get anything back, how do I restore from my “backup”?
Is it possible to get any music back?
Followed the steps. Have a Win7PC at home and a new iMac at work. Synced my calendar with the work PC, and it erased my music, so now I have to put it all back on, and im betting it will wipe the calendar when I do so.
I unchecked all the boxes, ect. Any suggestions so this doesn’t happen again? (aside from simply entering the data twice, once on the mac and once on the ipod?)
Have a third gen ipod touch 32 gig.
Sigh… Despite all things I’m loving about the company-issued iPhone I’ve been getting accustomed to over the past couple weeks, THIS whole article and thread of comments (and frustration after frustration after frustration) is EXACTLY what I’ve been worried about for all the years I avoided getting into the Mac/Apple world. Control, restrictions, hair-pulling, “where the heck is my data?”, etc… Experienced Apple aficionados, is it worth it? Is the confusion of trying to understand where your data actually is and how to keep it truly safe (and how to restore it when theft/loss/damage occurs) really worth the proclaimed benefits of living in the Mac/Apple world? I’m not challenging it or starting any debate about it, I’m just genuinely curious. I haven’t been able to decide.
Thanks,
Steve
to answer your question data = contacts, calendars, notes and anything else that you don’t have syncing through the cloud is not in any of the other categories.
As far as frustrations go I’ve been syncing my iPhone (all models) to two computers hassle free since 2007.
I just bought an iPad, stuffed it with apps, and synced it with my desktop pc. I just got a windows notebook with which I am traveling now. The Itunes installed there wont read my iPad, and suggests me to restore it before it can sync (iTunes could not read the contents of your iPad, open preferences on your ipad to restore ot to factory configuration). How can I be sure that this will not erase everything from my iPad? I tried everything on the user manual but nothing worked.
If the Apps are NOT assigned/bought on YOUR iTunes account, they will be deleted.
Thank you! Not often do you come across material of this informative quality. Exactly what I was looking for; had already synced my iPod touch with two different coumpters, without thinking twice about it (didn’t care if everything was erased), but was a little more reluctant to do it after using my iPhone for a while, alot more to lose.
This isn’t a real sync because I can’t sync music between my laptop and personal computer. What’s the point if you can’t do that?
Thanks! I’d blindly done something similar to this when I initially got my iphone a few years ago but somewhere along the way I actually lost some music and have simply sync’d with my personal computer since. I appreciate you laying out exactly how itunes and the sync function are working. Also helps that you threw in a narrative “step-by-step”. I’ll get this set up again, this time knowing exactly what’s happening so I can keep my work stuff (outlook, calendars, etc.) coming from the work laptop and the rest of the fun stuff sync’d with my home setup. Thanks again!
Ipad or Iphone or any other Idevice should have been built to synch with any device and not erase anything.
I am a PC tech and often re-build my home PC and now my new ITunes on a newly built PC wants to erase all media in order to synch.
This is bull……………..
Thanks, Terry very helpful. I also found a guide with pictures: http://www.therealmacgenius.com/2010/03/how-to-sync-iphone-ipod-touch-or-ipod-with-multiple-computers/
Terry, Thanks a lot for sharing this very useful solution.
For me works well except with apps.
1. I sync info with a PC
2. I sync everything else with a Mac with no problems – I get the iPhone exactly as I want it to be.
3. When I need to sync info again – it mentions that the apps are not authorized in that PC and deletes them.
For company rules this PC must be offline, and therefore I cannot authorize the apps.
Can I sync my contacts to my home computer while syncing my calendar to my office computer? Or does the Data group always have to sync as a whole?
Data is a group!
I’ve synced my iphone between my work and home computers and now have multiple versions of contacts and calendars. I’d like to merge the two so I have all my contacts from both locations on my phone, for example, but I don’t need “mom” on my phone 4 different times which is what is happening. Any helps? Thanks!
Hi My Ipad which was synced to my Laptop which froze.I downloaded a new I Tune into a new Laptopp.When I try to syc the I Pad with the new Laptop I tune it states If I sync ,It will erase all of my contents in my I Pad.How do I secure my Audio files and video files from I Pad and what would happen to the Filess in my Apps such as Goodreader and Quickoffice?
For everyone that is reading this because they have a crashed hard drive, new PC or other problem in that they have content on their iOS device and need to sync it back to your new computer/drive, Apple does NOT provide a way to do this for any content that you did not purchase from iTunes (which is a shame). You will need a 3rd party utility like this one to do it: http://cucusoft-iphone-itouch-ipod-to-computer-transfer.kooksoft.com/how-to-restore-itunes-from-my-ipod-after-a-hard-drive-crash.html
Hi! Thanks for the explanation! But I have a question about voice memos. I record voice memos on the iPhone and then need to download them in two different laptops. I don’t want to synch anything else other than voice memos. Will this work? Do I just follow these instruction?
Sorry for asking before trying, just want to make sure there is no problem with that.
Thank you so much!
This doesn’t seem to work with books. I’m trying to get books purchased with my account on an iPad onto my computer to store there, (you can’t buy books on the computer yet) but the computer apparently cannot get the books from the iPad, it wants to erase them. Since the iPad the only place they currently exist, I’d rather not delete them in an experiment. Any experience with this?
Books are in the “media” category. So they must first be sync’d to which ever computer you sync the rest of your media too.
I would like to add that if you use the same user email to access both the iTunes libraries, the Apps can remain checked and co-exist on both machines and your ipod/phone. Basically all the different apps downloaded on either device will all exist on all devices once synced. I tried this, it works..
An additional question. I presume your advice will be just as relevant for an iPad, so here goes. I started syncing my iPad with my McBook Pro at work, but would now prefer to sync the iPad with my laptop at home, a PC. This means that I do not really need to sync with multiple computers, but run into the problem that iTunes wants to erase the contents.
I have quite a lot on there that hasn’t been synced with any computer so if it’s lost it’s really gone. All apps are purchased through the iTunes store, so I should be able to re-download these, but quite a lot of these have different settings and contents added to them. Would these additions be lost if I move ahead and sync with my PC instead.
I’d really appreciate your help, many thanks in advance!
Thank you so much! This is exactly what I had with my previous ipod touch, but was hesitant to do with a new iphone 4.
The ‘erase’ dialogue made me stop but this method just works and no need to do any hexeditting of the itunes library id or anything.