iPhone 12 syncing with Monterey & Catalina

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iPhone 12 syncing with Monterey & Catalina

So now that iOS 26 is released are statements saying you can't sync MP3s and photos from the Finder with older OSes than Tahoe true?

Is it not possible to make iOS backups of iOS 26 on older MacOSes than Tahoe with the Finder?

Is it possible to downgrade to an older iOS if one buys a refurbished iPhone 12 that already has iOS 26 on it?

If iOS 26 won't communicate with Monterey or Catalina, what's the newest iOS that will?

I'm considering upgrading to an iPhone 12, because of frequent disconnects of my iPhone 8 with the internet, but want to make sure my older Mac OS equipment can still communicate with the iPhone 12. I pick the iPhone 12 because of 5G compatibility, which hopefully will end the automatic internet disconnects I get at random leaving WiFi environments with cell data turned on, and entering WiFi environments where the WiFi credentials are remembered.

Posted on Sep 15, 2025 5:53 PM

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Answer 1

Oct 19, 2025 10:12 AM in response to a brody

a brody wrote:

Can anyone verify if they have successfully hooked up an iOS 26 phone to Catalina or Monterey and were able to sync music from the computer, and download photos taken by the phone to the computer?

Theoretically, High Sierra should be sufficient even to manage and do manual synchronization to an iPhone that's running iOS 26. However, ever since iOS 17 came out, there have been threads in these forums that report mixed results in using High Sierra and iTunes to manage iPhones running iOS 17 (or presumably, anything higher). Some people got around the problem by downloading Xcode, extracting part of it, and using that to "fix" Tunes, but that isn't something that should have been necessary to do if the system was working properly.

I have not seen reports of any such problems with Catalina and higher. That doesn't guarantee that nobody has ever had any problems, but I take it as a good sign.

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Answer 2

Peggy

Level 8

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Sep 15, 2025 7:12 PM in response to a brody

I have been able to backup & sync my iPads (Air 5 & mini 6) that have been updated to iOS/iPadOS 26 and my iPhone 16 Pro Max to my Mac Studio, still running Sequoia (Tahoe for it tomorrow).

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Answer 3

a brody Author

Level 10

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Sep 16, 2025 3:23 PM in response to Peggy

Thank you. Any other feedback?

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Answer 4

a brody Author

Level 10

85,308 points

Oct 19, 2025 9:55 AM in response to a brody

Can anyone verify if they have successfully hooked up an iOS 26 phone to Catalina or Monterey and were able to sync music from the computer, and download photos taken by the phone to the computer?

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iPhone 12 syncing with Monterey & Catalina

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