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5 Ways To Fix iTunes’ “iPhone Disconnected” Backup Issue in iOS 9

If you are trying to manually back up all your data via iTunes using your Windows or Mac computer, then you may be aware of this problem:

iTunes player pops up a window with the error: “iTunes could not back up the iPhone because the iPhone disconnected.”

This error message appears even when you:

• Have connected iPhone to your computer.
• Are using the original USB cable.
• Did not jailbreak your iPhone.

So how does one fix the problem? We went to the Apple forum to find out the answer and were surprised to see so many solutions.

We picked the best ones that “worked” and fixed the iPhone disconnection immediately. Follow this solutions and let us know which one fixed the problem for you via the comment section:

How To Fix iTunes’ “iPhone Disconnected” Problem Forever!

Basic solution: Restart your iPhone. Before doing this, make sure your iPhone is disconnected from your computer and doesn’t have any USB cable attached to it. Once restarted, reconnect iPhone to your computer, launch iTunes and try backing up again.

If that doesn’t solve the problem… follow these solutions:

Solution 1: Reset Your iPhone

Please backup your device’s data to iCloud. It is not required for this step – but it helps. After which, you can go to Settings App on the iPhone -> General -> at the bottom is Reset -> Reset Network Settings.

Note that Reset Network Settings will NOT delete any of your games or apps data. It will only erase the connection details – like the WiFi password, cellular data details, flushes DNS, etc.

Once you are done, reconnect your iPhone to iTunes and the error should disappear.

Solution 2: Change The USB Cable

If you are using a different cable, or a hub connector, to connect your device – then change from USB 2.0 to USB 3.0.

This solution is for those who are not using the original cable, or using a device in between your computer and iPhone. In cases where a hub or connector is used in between, remove it and try to directly connect your iPhone to the computer.

Solution 3: Delete Old iTunes Backup

It is possible that the backup you have is very old, and therefore is corrupted. What you can do is rename or save the old backup somewhere else on your computer, so that iTunes will start “accepting” your latest backup.

As mentioned in the forum:

On Mac, launch Finder. From the Go menu choose “Go to folder” and paste ~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup/ into the form. Include the full string including the tilde (~).

On Windows, C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup – where USERNAME is the name you use to log in.

When you are there, copy the files and move it into a separate folder on your Windows or Mac computer. Now restart iTunes and try to backup once again.

Alternately, if you have multiple backup files, it is possible to delete them from the iTunes software.

Solution 4: Disable iTunes WiFi Sync

If you are using WiFi syncing option in iTunes, disable it temporarily.

You can do this by opening iTunes (while your iPhone is connected), then going to Summary -> Uncheck the option “Sync with this device over Wi-Fi.”

Solution 5: Restore Your Backup

Start by restoring your current backup from the iTunes. Just plug your iPhone to your computer, launch iTunes and hit the “Restore” button.

This will restore your device from an old backup. Please note that the new apps / games that weren’t backed up will be deleted once you chose this option.