How to transfer or sync content to your computer from iPhone

If you are already managing your content with iCloud on your computer and iOS device, you can manage the data from iCloud on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch. Learn more about iCloud. When syncing with your computer, you can sync with the USB cable that came with your device, or over Wi-Fi when the computer and iOS device are on the same Wi-Fi network.

iTunes and App Store content

iTunes Store and App Store content on your iOS device may not automatically transfer to your computer. You can use the Transfer Purchases option in iTunes to ensure that all iTunes Store and App Store content is transferred to your iTunes library. Learn about transferring purchased content.

Photos

You can import photos or video taken or saved on the iOS device. Information on importing photos and videos is available in the iPhone User Guide, iPad User Guide, or iPod touch User Guide. You can find additional information on importing your photos from your iOS device in this article.
Note: You cannot transfer photos that you synced to your iOS device from another computer. You can only transfer photos or videos that you took or saved on the iOS device.

Contacts, Calendars, Bookmarks, and Notes

You can sync contacts, calendars, bookmarks, and notes with other applications on your computer. This allows you keep all your information in sync across multiple computers and iOS devices. The settings for these items are all in the Info tab for your iOS device in iTunes. With your iOS device connected to the computer, select your iOS device. Then click the Info tab.
For details on syncing content on your iOS device with your computer, click the sections below.

Contacts

To sync contacts with your computer, choose "Sync Contacts with" within iTunes for Windows, or "Sync Address Book Contacts" on your Mac.
You can sync your contacts with:

• Microsoft Outlook 2003, Microsoft Outlook 2007, Microsoft Outlook 2010 (Windows XP, Windows Vista, or Windows 7)
• Windows Address Book (Windows XP)
• Windows Contacts (Windows Vista / Windows 7)
• Address Book (Mac OS X)
• Microsoft Entourage 2004, Microsoft Entourage 2008, or Microsoft Outlook 2011 for Mac
  Note: If using Microsoft Entourage, use Microsoft Entourage 2008 12.1.2 or later if syncing with Mac OS X v10.6 or later. If you would like to sync data on your Mac with Entourage, enable syncing between Entourage and Address Book.

Notes:

• When syncing contacts, you can choose to sync all of your contacts or only selected groups.
• You can select a group of contacts to which all new contacts created on your iOS device will be added.
• Additional options for syncing include syncing your contacts with Yahoo or Gmail/Google Mail. You will need to configure it with the user name and password for your Yahoo or Google account.

Calendars

To sync calendars with your computer, choose "Sync Calendars" or "Sync iCal Calendars."
You can sync calendars with:

• Microsoft Outlook 2003, Microsoft Outlook 2007, Microsoft Office 2010 (Windows XP, Windows Vista, or Windows 7)
• iCal (Mac OS X)
• Microsoft Entourage 2004, Microsoft Entourage 2008
  Note: If using Microsoft Entourage, use Microsoft Entourage 2008 12.1.2 or later if syncing with Mac OS X v10.6 or later. If you would like to sync data on your Mac with Entourage, enable syncing between Entourage and Address Book.
• Microsoft Outlook 2011 for Mac
  Note: If using Microsoft Outlook 2011 for Mac to sync calendars you must update to Microsoft Office 2011 for Mac Service Pack 1 or later.

Notes:

• When syncing calendars, you can sync all calendars or sync specific calendars.
• You can limit the data that is synced to only events that have occurred in the last 30 days. The option can be changed to any number of days.

Bookmarks

You can sync bookmarks between your computer and your iOS device. When syncing is enabled, all bookmarks will sync. You can sync bookmarks with the following applications:

• Safari (Mac OS X)
• Safari for Windows (Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7)
• Microsoft Internet Explorer
  Note: Microsoft Internet Explorer refers to bookmarks as "Favorites."

Notes

Sync notes in the Notes application on iOS device with notes in Mail on a Mac or with Microsoft Outlook 2003, 2007, or 2010 on a PC. (On a Mac, you must have Mac OS X version 10.5.7 or later installed to sync notes.)

Mail Accounts

Mail account settings (email address, display name, server name, and user name) are synced from the computer to the iOS device; iTunes does not sync settings from the iOS device back to the computer and does not sync any email messages.

Advanced

If you are experiencing difficulty with syncing, or have made a large number of changes on your computer, you can use the Advanced option to replace the information on the iOS device during the next sync. These options will become deselected after the next sync. When you replace the data on the device, it will overwrite the data on the device. This action cannot be undone.

Additional Information

Find more information on syncing your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch with iTunes.

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