I get this prompt sometimes when I connect my phone to my computer. It doesn’t tell me what items it’s referring to, but I know I don’t want anything on my computer that isn’t there already. But it looks like if I don’t go ahead with it, the mystery items will be removed from my phone.
Anybody know what the thinking is behind this? Maybe it’s just a sync setting I’ve set myself, but it reads like some kind of crazy ransom note :)
I chose ‘Don’t Transfer’ in the end. I have no idea what the consequences are. I don’t notice any differences on my phone.
This is the sync workflow that iPhones used to start with, right? The one that you used to use iTunes for at first, then Finder later.
I mean, it’s sync. Having the same state on both sides after a transaction is pretty much the name of the game.
But these days purchases show up on both devices whether they’re downloaded or not. There’s a little cloud or arrow symbol beside them if I want to download them (eg Apple Music). So it’s confusing that there’s a separate policy that insist on both devices having the same content.
But I see in macOS Finder, when I navigate to my device there’s a checkbox enabled labelled “Sync music onto iPhone”. So maybe this is why (and I likely set that myself, I rarely ever connect my phone these days).