"Purchased items not transferred to Mac" error when trying to update iPhone using Macbook Air

chamilet wrote:

I'm trying to update my iPhone SE (3rd Generation) from iOS 18.4.1 to 26.2. I cannot free up enough space on the phone to do so (15.5G), so I'm using my Macbook Air (M1, 2020) running Sequoia 15.7.3. When I click on update I get the message: "There are purchased items on the iPhone "Name" that have not been transferred to your Mac. You should transfer these items to your Mac before updating this iPhone. Are you sure you want to continue?"

I've backed up the phone to the Mac, I've backed it up to the Cloud, I've clicked Continue, because I don't actually care what it thinks I'm going to lose, but nothing works. What else can I try?

As you have two good backups you can afford to erase the phone back to factory, set up empty and update it, then restore the backup.

You will need at least 20GB free space during the update process on your iPhone, to be sure that the upgrade is installed successfully.