5 Ways to Fix iTunes Cannot Read the Contents of the iPhone 2018

Updated Oct 26,2018 | by Cody

When I was going to sync some files to iPhone using iTunes, an error popped up saying ” iTunes cannot read the contents of the iPhone 8. Go to the Summary tab in iPhone preferences and click Restore to restore this iPhone to factory settings”.

Recently, I also came across this problem with iTunes 12.9 when I connected my iPod to Windows PC. Eventually, I have managed to solve this problem and did some research. Here in this article, I will show you 5 probably fixes to iTunes unable to read the contents.

The most likely cause to this error is because iTunes is not properly installed because many people get this error after updating iTunes.

Another reason behind iTunes cannot read the contents of iPhone, iPad or iPod is there are some corrupted files on the iOS device. If your iOS device is jailbroken, then that’s most likely because the process of rooting your device has modified the required files for this connection.

The last reason would be a hardware issue, which is in a rare case. If bought a secondhanded iPhone, then you need to be careful if your iPhone hardware has been changed.

There are 5 possible solutions. You may need to try one or more of them to get this problem solved. You don’t have to try them in order. You can just pick one that is more likely in your case.

Reinstall iTunes

The first thing you should try to fix this problem would be reinstalled iTunes. If your iTunes is not updated to the latest version, then you should now to see if the problem still exists.

If you already have the new version, then disconnect your iOS device and uninstall iTunes. After that, restart your PC and then install iTunes again. Also, double check if your iPhone and PC are well connected via lightning cable.

Delete Some Music in Library

As mentioned the iTunes error can happen because of a corrupted iTunes database file. If you are lucky, you can simply fix this problem by deleting one or more songs from a playlist. Try to delete one from your iPhone and delete another one from iTunes to see if it works.  

Rename iTunes Library Filename

If deleting a song from a playlist does not fix this problem, you can rename the iTunes Library file to force iTunes to generate a new database file. If you haven’t change the default location, you can find the database file from "C:UsersyournameMusiciTunesiTunes Library.itl".  

Use iTunes Alternative

Instead of going all the way and try to fix this problem, you can also use an iTunes alternative to transfer files to iPhone. For file transfer between iPhone and PC, you can use iPhone manager IOTransfer, which provides better user experience than iTunes.

IOTransfer gives you a more logical way of transfer files. You can simply drag and drop the files to the program and the file will automatically save on your iOS device. You can also use the AirTrans feature to transfer files between iPhone and PC wirelessly.

Besides transferring files, IOTransfer is also considered an ultimate video downloader and converter. You can use it to download videos from more than 100 websites including YouTube, Facebook, and Twitch. If you want the downloaded videos to be saved with a specific format, you can use this program to convert video to another format including audio format.

Backup and Restore to Factory Settings

The last and always work option would restore your device to factory settings with iTunes. Since all the data will be removed on your iOS device, you’d better have an iCloud backup. If you have no iCloud backup, you can create a backup now before factory resetting.

After the resetting your iOS device, you can restore from iCloud backup, so you will not lose any data, but time is wasted.

If you have iTunes backup saved on this computer, then restore from iTunes backup will also fix this problem. If failed to load your backup, you can click Restore while pressing the Shift key on Windows PC to select the backup file.

That’s all 5 methods to fix iTunes cannot read the contents of the iPhone. Hope you can fix this problem without much effort. Good luck to you!

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