Chapter 3

Synchronicity: Getting Stuff to and from Your iPhone

In This Chapter

Starting your first sync

Understanding iCloud

Syncing iPhone with iTunes

Synchronizing contacts and calendars

Synchronizing ringtones, music, podcasts, video, photos, and apps

After you pass basic training (in Chapter 2), the next thing you’re likely to want to do is get some or all of the following into your iPhone: contacts, appointments, events, bookmarks, ringtones, music, movies, TV shows, podcasts, books, courseware, photos, documents, and applications.

We have good news and … more good news. The good news is that you can easily copy any or all of those items from your computer to your iPhone. And the more good news is that after you do that, you can synchronize your contacts, appointments, reminders, and events so they’re kept up-to-date automatically everywhere you might need them — on your computer, iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. So when you add or change a contact, an appointment, a reminder, or an event on your iPhone, that information automatically appears on your computer and other iDevices.

This communication between your iPhone and computer is called syncing (short for synchronizing). Don’t worry: Syncing is easy and you find out how it works in this very chapter.

Here’s even more good news: You can set up and use an iPhone PC-free, which means you never have to connect it to a computer or sync with iTunes if you prefer not to. You discover how to sync with and without connecting your iPhone to a computer in this chapter. But please bear in mind that certain tasks — such as rearranging the icons on your Home screens and managing your music, movies, and pictures — are much easier on a computer than on the iPhone’s smaller screen. And some tasks, such as rearranging the order of Home screens, are possible only by using iTunes on a computer.

The information in this chapter is based on iTunes version 12 and iOS version 8, the latest and greatest when these words were written. If your screens don’t look exactly like ours, you probably need to upgrade to iTunes 12 or higher (choose iTunes⇒Check for Updates) or to iOS 8 or higher (on your iPhone, tap Settings⇒General⇒Software Update), or both. The iTunes and iOS upgrades are free and offer useful features not found in their predecessors.

You start this chapter with an introduction to iCloud, Apple’s free wireless storage and synchronization solution (which, by the way, is even better in iOS 8), and find out how it makes using your iPhone more convenient. Then you get to the heart of this chapter: syncing.

One last thing: If your iPhone is brand-spanking new and fresh out of the box, go to www.dummies.com/extras/iphone for a walk-through on the phone’s initial setup.

A Brief iCloud Primer

Apple’s iCloud service is more than just a wireless hard drive in the sky. iCloud is a complete data synchronization and wireless storage solution. In a nutshell, iCloud stores and manages your digital stuff — your music, photos, contacts, events, and more — and makes it available to all your computers and iDevices automatically.

iCloud pushes information such as email, calendars, contacts, reminders, and bookmarks to and from your computer and to and from your iPhone and other iDevices, and then keeps those items updated on all devices wirelessly and without any effort on your part. iCloud also includes nonsynchronizing options, such as Photo Stream (see Chapter 9) and email (see Chapter 12).

Your free iCloud account includes 5GB of storage, which is all many users will need. If you have several devices (including Macs and PCs) or like saving data in the cloud, you’ll probably find yourself needing more storage; 20- and 200-gigabyte upgrades are available for $1 and $4 a month, respectively.

A nice touch is that music, apps, periodicals, movies, and TV shows purchased from the iTunes Store, as well as your photo stream and iTunes Match content (see Chapter 8), don’t count against your 5GB of free storage. iBooks don’t count against your 5GB either, but audiobooks do. You’ll find that the things that do count — such as mail, documents, photos taken with your iPhone camera, account information, settings, and other app data — don’t use much space, so 5GB may last a long time.

Sync iPhone photos with a computer every so often and then delete the photos from the iPhone. Otherwise, those photos will, over time, start taking up a lot of space.

If you plan to go PC-free but still want to have your email, calendars, contacts, and bookmarks synchronized automatically and wirelessly (and believe us, you do) between computers and other iDevices, here’s how to enable iCloud syncing on your iPhone:

1. On your Home screen, tap Settings.
2. In the list of settings on the left, tap iCloud.
3. Tap Account, and then provide your Apple ID and password (if you haven’t provided it previously).
4. Tap Done.

A list of apps appears. Tap any individual on/off switch to enable or disable iCloud sync for Mail, Contacts, Calendars, Reminders, Safari (Bookmarks), Notes, and PassBook.

In the same list are five items that don’t have switches:

• Photos: Enable or disable three iCloud services with the by now familiar on/off switches (see Chapter 9 for details):
  • iCloud Photo Library: Automatically upload and store your entire photo library in iCloud. (This option in new in iOS 8.) The benefit is that you can access all your photos and videos on all your Macs and iDevices. One possible downside: This option could put you over iCloud’s free 5GB limit.
  • My Photo Stream: Automatically upload photos you shoot with your iPhone camera and send them to all your devices when connected to Wi-Fi.
  • iCloud Photo Sharing: Create and share albums with other iCloud users, or subscribe to other iCloud users’ shared albums.
• iCloud Drive: This new iOS 8 feature lets iCloud-savvy apps open and save documents and data in iCloud:
  • iCloud Drive: Allow apps to use iCloud Drive.
  • Look Me Up By Email: Tap to see a list of apps that allow other people to look you up by your Apple ID. When enabled, users of the app will be able to look for you by your first and last names.
  • Use Cellular Data: Use cellular data for sending and receiving data from your iCloud Drive. We suggest that you enable this option only if you are fortunate enough to have an unlimited data plan.
• Backup: Enable or disable iCloud backup, which backs up your photo library, accounts, documents, and settings whenever your iPhone is plugged in, locked, and connected to Wi-Fi. Tap the Back Up Now button to initiate a backup, well, now.
• Keychain: Keep passwords and credit card information you save up to date on all devices you approve. The info is encrypted and can’t be read by Apple (or, we hope, by anyone else).
• Find My iPhone: Tap this option to reveal two choices. The first is Find My iPhone, so you can locate, lock, or erase your iPhone and prevent anyone else from erasing or reactivating it without your password. The second option, Send Last Location, tells the iPhone to send its location when the battery gets critically low.

Tap Storage, near the top of the screen, to manage your iCloud storage or upgrade your storage plan.

You find out much more about iCloud in the rest of this chapter and several other chapters, so let’s move on to syncing your iPhone.

The Kitchen Sync

You can sync calendars, reminders, bookmarks, and other data and documents among other iDevices and computers via iCloud. But if you never intend to introduce your iPhone to any computer, read the next section, “First things first: About iPhone backups,” and then skip the rest of this chapter. Why? Well, if you don’t have a computer, you don’t have any data or media on it to sync with your iPhone and this chapter has nothing more for you.

First things first: About iPhone backups

Whether you know it or not, your iPhone backs up your settings, app data, and other information on your iPhone whenever you connect to a computer and use iTunes to

• Sync with your iPhone
• Update your iPhone
• Restore your iPhone

Every time you sync your iPhone and computer, most (but not all) of your iPhone content — photos you’ve taken with your iPhone, text messages, notes, contact favorites, sound settings, and more — is backed up to either your computer’s hard drive or iCloud before the sync begins. Most of your media, including songs, TV shows, and movies, isn’t backed up in this process. This shouldn’t be a problem because these files are usually restored when you sync with iTunes.

Backups are saved automatically and stored on your computer by default. You can instead choose to back up to iCloud by clicking the appropriate button in the iTunes Summary pane, as you see in the next section.

Backups are handy if anything goes wonky with your iPhone or you get a new one. A backup lets you restore most (if not all) of your settings and many files that aren’t synced with iCloud or iTunes on your computer. If you’ve ever backed up an iPad, iPod touch, or iPhone, you can restore the new iPhone with the older device’s backup; the new device will inherit the settings and media from the old one.

Here’s how to enable backing up to iCloud from your iPhone, which we strongly suggest computer-free iPhone users do without further delay:

1. Tap Settings⇒iCloud⇒Storage & Backup.
2. Tap iCloud Backup to switch it on.

For those who are about to sync with iTunes on a computer, listen closely: Choosing this option means your iPhone no longer backs up automatically when you connect it to your computer.

If you’re a computer-free iPhone user, you don’t care because you never connect your iPhone to a computer. But if you sync your iPhone with your computer, as many folks do, give some thought to which option suits your needs. Consider that restoring from a computer backup requires physical or Wi-Fi access to the computer but doesn’t require Internet access. Restoring from iCloud can take much longer and requires Internet access, but it can happen anywhere on Earth that has Internet access.

Backups are good; choose one or the other and move on.

Sync prep 101

For those who want to sync using iTunes on the computer, either with the included dock or Lightning connector–to–USB cable or wirelessly over Wi-Fi, follow the instructions in the rest of this chapter.

In other words, unless you don’t have a computer, follow these steps and you’ll be ready to sync by cable or wirelessly in just a few minutes:

1. Start by connecting your iPhone to your computer with the Lightning or dock connector–to–USB cable included with your iPhone.

   When you connect your iPhone to your computer, iTunes should launch automatically. If it doesn’t, chances are you plugged the cable into a USB port on your keyboard, monitor, or hub. Try plugging it into one of the USB ports on your computer instead. Why? Because USB ports on your computer supply more power to a connected device than other USB ports or most hubs. If iTunes still doesn’t launch automatically, try launching it manually.

2. (Optional) If your photo management software launches, either import the photos you’ve taken with the iPhone or don’t.

   If you’ve taken any photos with your iPhone since the last time you synced it, your default photo management software (iPhoto, Image Capture, or Aperture on the Mac; Microsoft AutoPlay Wizard or Adobe Photoshop Elements on the PC) opens and asks whether you want to import the photos from your phone. (You find out all about this in the “Photos” section, later in this chapter.)

3. Click the iPhone icon (shown in the margin and in Figure 3-1), near the top of the window on the left.

   If more than one iDevice is connected to this computer, click the iPhone icon to display a drop-down list and select your iPhone from the list.

   If you still don’t see this icon and you’re absolutely positive your iPhone is connected to a USB port on your computer (not on a keyboard, monitor, or hub), try restarting your computer.

   The Welcome to Your New iPhone pane appears.

4. Do one of the following:
   • Choose Restore from This Backup, select the most recent backup from the pop-up menu, and then click Continue.

     Your new iPhone will be restored with the settings and data from your previous one. In a few minutes (or more if your old iPhone contained a lot of data), your new iPhone will contain all the apps, media files, and settings from your old iPhone. You’re finished and can skip ahead to the next section, “Syncing Your Data.”

   • Choose Set Up as New iPhone, click Continue, and then click Get Started.
5. In the list on the left side of the window, click Summary, as shown in Figure 3-1.

   If you don’t see a Summary tab, make sure your iPhone is still connected. If you don’t see its name near the top-left corner of the iTunes window, as shown in Figure 3-1, go back to Step 3 and try again.

   

6. (Optional) If you want to rename your iPhone, click its name in the iPhone section and type a new one as shown.

   We changed this iPhone’s name from Robert’s iPhone to Bob L’s iPhone 6 in Figure 3-1.

7. In the Backups section of the Summary pane, click either iCloud or This Computer.

   Your iPhone creates a backup of its contents automatically every time you sync, regardless of whether you sync using a USB cable or wirelessly.

   If you chose This Computer, you can encrypt and password-protect your backups by selecting the Encrypt iPhone Backup check box section.

   That’s all there is to the Backups section. The remaining steps deal with the check boxes in the Options section (partially shown in Figure 3-1).

8. If you want iTunes to launch automatically and sync your iPhone whenever you connect it to your computer, click to put a check mark in the Automatically Sync When This iPhone Is Connected check box (in the Options section).

   If you’ve selected the Prevent iPods, iPhones, and iPads from Syncing Automatically option in the Devices pane of iTunes Preferences (iTunes⇒ Preferences on a Mac; Edit⇒Preferences on a PC), the Open iTunes When This iPhone Is Connected option in the Summary tab appears dimmed and is not selectable.

   Your choice in this step is not set in stone. If you select the Automatically Sync When This iPhone Is Connected check box, you can still prevent your iPhone from syncing automatically in two ways:

   • Way #1: After you connect the iPhone to your computer, click the Summary tab in iTunes and deselect the Automatically Sync When This iPhone Is Connected check box. Removing the check mark prevents iTunes from opening automatically when you connect this iPhone. If you use this method, you can still start a sync manually by clicking the Sync or Apply button.
   • Way #2: Launch iTunes before you connect your iPhone to your computer. Then press and hold down ⌘+Option (Mac) or Shift+Ctrl (PC) and connect your iPhone. Keep pressing the keys until your iPhone’s icon appears in the row of icons below the rewind/play/fast forward controls. This method prevents your iPhone from syncing automatically without changing any settings.
9. If you want to sync automatically over your Wi-Fi connection, select the Sync with This iPhone over Wi-Fi check box.
10. If you want to sync only items that have check marks to the left of their names in your iTunes library, select the Sync Only Checked Songs and Videos check box.
11. If you want high-definition videos you sync to be automatically converted to smaller standard-definition video files when you transfer them to your iPhone, select the Prefer Standard Definition Videos check box.

    Standard-definition video files are significantly smaller than high-definition video files. You’ll hardly notice the difference when you watch the video on your iPhone, but you can have more video files on your iPhone because they’ll take up less space.

    That said, if you choose to watch video from your iPhone on an HDTV either with an A/V adapter cable or wirelessly via AirPlay (as discussed in Chapter 8), you’d notice a big difference.

    Finally, if you have a wireless network at home, you don’t need to sync video that you intend to watch at home with your iPhone. Instead, you can stream it from your computer to your iPhone or your iPhone to your HDTV (with an Apple TV), as described in Chapter 8.

    The conversion from HD to standard definition is time-consuming, so be prepared for very long sync times when you sync new HD video and have this option enabled.

12. If you want iTunes to automatically create smaller audio files (so you can fit more music on your iPhone), select the Convert Higher Bit Rate Songs to AAC check box and choose a bit rate from the pop-up menu.

    A higher bit rate means that the song will have better sound quality but use more storage space. Songs that you buy at the iTunes Store or on Amazon, for example, have bit rates of around 256 Kbps. A 4-minute song with a 256 Kbps bit rate is around 8MB; convert the song to 128 Kbps AAC and it becomes roughly half that size (that is, around 4MB) while sounding almost as good.

    Most people don’t notice much (if any) difference in audio quality when listening to music on typical consumer audio gear. So unless you expect to hook your iPhone up to a great amplifier and superb speakers or headphones, you probably won’t hear much difference with this option enabled, but your iPhone will hold roughly twice as many tunes. We’re picky about our audio, but we both enable this option so that we can carry more music on our iPhones. And neither of us has noticed a diminished sound quality with the headphones or speakers we use with our iPhones.

13. If you want to turn off automatic syncing in just the Music and Video panes, select the Manually Manage Music and Videos check box.

And, of course, if you decide not to select the Open iTunes When This iPhone Is Connected check box, you can synchronize manually by clicking the Sync button in the bottom-right corner of the window. Note, however, that if you’ve changed any sync settings since the last time you synchronized, the Sync button changes to Apply.

Syncing Your Data

Now that your data is backed up and you’ve completed the prep work, you’re ready to sync. The next order of business is to tell iTunes what data you want to synchronize between your iPhone and your computer. You start this process by clicking Info in the list on the left side of the window.

If you’re using iTunes 11, do yourself a favor and upgrade to iTunes 12 or higher. (To see what version of iTunes you have, choose iTunes⇒About iTunes.) You won’t find an Info page in version 11 of iTunes because it enables you to sync contacts and calendars only via iCloud. And you’ll probably have a hard time with the steps that follow if you’re using iTunes 11 because iTunes 12 looks and works much differently than iTunes 11.

Moving right along, the Info pane has three sections: Sync Contacts, Sync Calendars, and Advanced. The following sections look at them one by one.

If you’ve already enabled iCloud to sync contacts or calendars but want to sync these items using iTunes, you must turn off iCloud syncing on your iPhone (choose Settings⇒iCloud).

If you want to sync reminders, mail settings, notes, Safari bookmarks, or passbook items, you must do so with iCloud, not with iTunes. Tap Settings⇒iCloud and enable the on/off switch for each item.

Syncing contacts

The Sync Contacts section of the Info pane determines how synchronization is handled for your contacts. One method is to synchronize all your contacts, as shown in Figure 3-2. Or you can synchronize any or all groups of contacts you’ve created in your computer’s address book program.

The iPhone syncs with the following address book programs:

• Mac: Address Book and other address books that sync with Address Book, such as Microsoft Outlook 2011 or the discontinued Microsoft Entourage
• PC: Windows Contacts (Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8), Windows Addressbook (XP), Microsoft Outlook, and Microsoft Outlook Express
• Mac and PC: Yahoo! Address Book and Google Contacts

Now, here’s what each option in the Sync Contacts section does:

• All Contacts: One method is to synchronize all your contacts in your Mac or PC address book with your iPhone’s Contacts app.
• Selected Groups: Enable this option to synchronize any or all groups of contacts you’ve created in your computer’s address book program. Just select the appropriate check boxes in the Selected Groups list.
• Add Contacts Created Outside Groups on This iPhone To: Enable this option and you can choose a group from the pop-up menu. New contacts created on this iPhone will belong to the group you select.

If you sync with your employer’s Microsoft Exchange calendar and contacts, any personal contacts or calendars already on your iPhone will be wiped out.

Syncing calendars

The Sync Calendars section of the Info pane determines how synchronization is handled for your appointments and events. You can synchronize all your calendars, as shown in Figure 3-3. Or you can synchronize any or all individual calendars you’ve created in your computer’s calendar program; just select the Selected Calendars option and then select the appropriate check boxes.

The iPhone syncs with the following calendar programs:

• Mac: iCal and Calendar
• PC: Microsoft Exchange and Outlook 2003, 2007, and 2010
• Mac and PC: Google and Yahoo! Calendars

Advanced syncing

Every so often, the contacts or calendars on your iPhone get so screwed up that the easiest way to fix things is to erase that information on your iPhone and replace it with information from your computer.

If that’s the case, just click to select the appropriate check boxes in the Advanced section of the Info pane, as shown in Figure 3-4. Then the next time you sync, that information on your iPhone will be replaced with information from your computer.

Because the Advanced section is at the bottom of the Info pane and you have to scroll down to see it, it’s easy to forget that it’s there. Although you probably won’t need to use this feature very often (if ever), you’ll be happy you remembered that it’s there if you do need it.

One last thing: If you’re using iCloud and you want to replace the contacts or calendars on your iPhone, you must first enable the item in iTunes. First, disable iCloud syncing on your iPhone, and then enable the check box for Sync Contacts or Sync Calendars in iTunes as we’ve just described.

Synchronizing Your Media

If you chose to let iTunes manage synchronizing your data automatically, welcome back. This section looks at how you get your media — your ringtones, music, movies, TV shows, podcasts, video, iTunes U courses, books, and photos — from your computer to your iPhone.

Sharp-eyed readers may notice that we aren’t covering syncing iPhone apps in this chapter. Apps are so darn cool that we’ve given them an entire chapter, namely Chapter 15. In that chapter, you discover how to find, sync, rearrange, review, and delete apps, and much, much more.

Podcasts and videos from your computer are synced only one way: from your computer to your iPhone. If you delete a podcast or a video that got onto your iPhone via syncing, the podcast or video will not be deleted from your computer when you sync. That said, if you buy or download any of the following items on your iPhone, the item will be copied back to your computer automatically when you sync:

• Songs
• Podcasts
• Videos
• iBooks, e-books, and audiobooks
• Apps
• Playlists that you create on your iPhone

And if you save pictures from email messages, from the iPhone camera, from web pages (by pressing and holding down on an image and then tapping the Save Image button), or from screen shots (by pressing the Home and sleep/wake buttons simultaneously), these too can be synced.

Taking a screen shot creates a photo of what’s on your screen. It’s a handy tool, and it’s what we used to generate almost every figure in this book.

The following sections focus only on syncing. Need help acquiring apps, music, movies, podcasts, or anything else for your iPhone? This book contains chapters dedicated to each of these topics. Just flip to the most applicable chapter for help.

Ringtones, music, movies, and TV shows

You use the Tones, Music, Movies, TV Shows, Podcasts, and iTunes U panes to specify the media that you want to copy from your computer to your iPhone. If you don’t see these panes, make sure that your iPhone is still selected in the iPhone section of the Summary pane (refer to Figure 3-1).

Ringtones

If you have custom ringtones in your iTunes library, select the Tones pane in the list on the left and then select the Sync Tones check box. You can choose all ringtones or individual ringtones by selecting their check boxes. Ringtones can be used also as text tones and alarms.

Music, music videos, and voice memos

To transfer music to your iPhone, select the Music pane and then select the Sync Music check box. You can then select the option for Entire Music Library or Selected Playlists, Artists, Albums, and Genres, as shown in Figure 3-5. If you choose the latter, click the check boxes next to the particular playlists, artists, albums, and genres you want to transfer. You also can choose to include music videos or voice memos or both by selecting the appropriate check boxes at the top of the pane.

If none of the options just mentioned sounds just right (pun intended), you may prefer using the On My Device tab, which is covered in some detail later in this chapter.

If you choose Entire Music Library and have more songs in your iTunes library than storage space on your iPhone, the sync will fail and the capacity bar at the bottom of the screen will display your overage, as shown in Figure 3-6.

Hover your cursor over any color to see a bubble with info on that category, as shown in Figure 3-7.

You can find similar information about space used and space remaining on your iPhone by tapping Settings⇒General⇒Usage. The iPhone’s display isn’t as pretty as the one pictured here, but it is useful when you need that info and you’re not near your computer.

To avoid such errors, select playlists, artists, albums, and genres that total less than the free space on your iPhone, which is displayed in the capacity bar before you sync.

Music, podcasts, and video are notorious for using massive amounts of storage space on your iPhone. If you try to sync too much media, you’ll see lots of error messages like the ones in Figure 3-6. Forewarned is forearmed.

Finally, if you select the Automatically Fill Free Space with Songs check box, iTunes fills any free space on your iPhone with music.

We recommend that you don’t enable this option. When enabled, your phone can easily run out of space for pictures and videos you shoot or documents you save (to name just a few of the possible consequences of filling your iPhone with songs).

Movies

To transfer movies to your iPhone, select the Movies pane. Next, select the Sync Movies check box and then choose an option for movies you want to include automatically from the pop-up menu, as shown in Figure 3-8. If you choose an option other than All, you can optionally select individual movies and playlists by selecting the boxes in appropriate sections.

TV shows

The procedure for syncing TV shows is almost the same as for syncing movies. First, select the TV Shows pane. Next, select the Sync TV Shows check box to enable TV show syncing. Then choose how many episodes to include from the first pop-up menu and whether you want all shows or only selected shows from the second pop-up menu. If you want to also include individual episodes or episodes on playlists, select the appropriate check boxes in the Shows, Episodes, and Include Episodes from Playlists sections of the TV Shows pane.

Podcasts, iTunes U, and books

You can also sync podcasts, educational content from iTunes U, two types of books — e-books for reading and audiobooks for listening — and photos.

If you like to read e-books or watch or listen to podcasts or iTunes U courses, visit the App Store (see Chapter 15) and grab copies of Apple’s free Podcasts, iBooks, and iTunes U apps. Audiobooks, on the other hand, don’t require a special app; you can listen to them with the Music app (see Chapter 8).

Content for the Podcasts, iBooks, and iTunes U apps is synced in a similar manner to movies and TV shows. The following sections detail the minor differences.

Podcasts

To transfer podcasts to your iPhone, select the Podcasts pane and then select the Sync Podcasts check box. Next, you can include however many podcasts you want by making selections from the Automatically Include and All or Selected Podcasts pop-up menus.

iTunes U

To sync educational content from iTunes U, first select the iTunes U pane and then select the Sync iTunes U check box to enable iTunes U syncing. Next, from the two pop-up menus, choose how many episodes to include and whether you want all collections or only selected collections. If you want to also include individual items from a collection, click the collection and then select the appropriate check boxes in the Items section.

Books

By now we’re sure you know the drill: You can sync all your e-books and audiobooks as well as just sync selected titles by choosing the appropriate buttons and check boxes in the Books pane.

To sync e-books, you need the free iBooks app from the App Store. For more information on apps and the App Store, read Chapter 15.

Photos

Syncing photos is a little different from syncing other media because your iPhone has a built-in camera — two cameras, actually — and you may want to copy pictures or videos you take with the iPhone to your computer, as well as copy pictures stored on your computer to your iPhone.

The iPhone syncs photos and videos, too, with the following programs:

• Mac: Aperture version 3.2 or later or iPhoto version 9.5 or later
• PC: Adobe Photoshop Elements or Adobe Photoshop Album

You can also sync photos with any folder on your computer that contains images.

Select the Photos pane, and then select the Sync Photos From check box. Next, choose an application or folder from the pop-up menu; we selected iPhoto in Figure 3-9.

If you choose an application that supports photo albums (such as Photoshop Elements, Aperture, or iPhoto), projects (Aperture), events (iPhoto), facial recognition and places (Aperture or iPhoto), or any combination thereof, you can automatically include recent projects (Aperture), events (iPhoto), or faces (Aperture and iPhoto) by making a selection from the same pop-up menu.

You can also type a word or phrase in the search field (an oval with a magnifying glass) to search for a specific event or events.

If you choose a folder full of images, you can create subfolders inside it that will appear as albums on your iPhone. But if you choose an application that doesn’t support albums or events, or a single folder full of images with no subfolders, you have to transfer all or nothing.

Because we selected iPhoto in the Sync Photos From menu, and iPhoto 9.5 (the version installed on our Mac) supports projects and faces in addition to albums and photos, we have the option of syncing any combination of photos, projects, albums, and faces.

If you’ve taken any photos with your iPhone or saved images from a web page, an email, an MMS message, or an iMessage since the last time you synced, the appropriate program launches (or the appropriate folder is selected) when you connect your iPhone, and you have the option of uploading the pictures on your iPhone to your computer.

Manual Syncing

This chapter has focused on automatic syncing thus far. Automatic syncing is great; it selects items to sync based on criteria you’ve specified, such as genre, artist, playlist, and album. But it’s not efficient for transferring a few items — songs, movies, podcasts, or other files — to your iPhone.

The solution? Manual syncing. With automatic syncing, iTunes updates your iPhone automatically to match your criteria. Changes to your iTunes library since your last sync are synced automatically to your iPhone. With manual syncing, you merely drag individual items to your iPhone.

Automatic and manual sync aren’t mutually exclusive. If you’ve set up automatic syncing, you can still sync individual items manually.

You can manually sync music, movies, TV shows, podcasts, and iTunes U lessons but not photos and info such as contacts, calendars, and bookmarks.

To configure your iPhone for manual syncing:

1. Connect your iPhone to your computer via USB or Wi-Fi.

   If iTunes doesn’t open automatically, open it manually.

2. Click the iPhone icon above the picture of your iPhone.

   If you have more than one iDevice, the iPhone icon becomes a drop-down menu listing all your connected iDevices. Click the icon to display the menu with your devices, and then select the device you want.

3. (Optional) Click the Summary tab. In the Options section, select Manually Manage Music and Videos.

   This step disables automatic syncing for music and videos.

   If you’re happy with automatic syncing and just want to get some audio or video from your computer to your iPhone, feel free to skip this step.

To add items from iTunes to your iPhone without using the syncing controls or performing an actual sync, first click the icon for the type of media you want to copy to your iPhone — music, movies, or TV shows — or click the ellipsis (…) to select podcasts, iTunes U, audiobooks, or tones. Then start dragging the media to the left. As you do, a new pane appears on the left side of the iTunes window. Drag the media to this pane, as shown in Figure 3-10, and the media will be copied to your iPhone immediately.

In Figure 3-10, we dragged The Beatles album Revolver from the My Music tab, using the Albums view. You can just as easily drag media from the other items in the menu: Song List, Artists, Genres, or Composers. And you can add other types of content, such as movies, TV shows, podcasts, and books. Just click the appropriate icon or the ellipsis. (We selected the Music icon in the figure.)

You can add a media file to your iPhone without syncing at least one other way. As before, your iPhone has to be connected to your computer via Wi-Fi or USB, so you have to see the iPhone button above the picture of your iPhone or this (as well as the previous method) won’t work.

The other way to add media to your iPhone without syncing is to click the little angle bracket in a circle (shown in the margin) next to songs, albums, movies, TV shows, books, and other media. Choose Add To from the pop-up menu and a new list appears; choose your iPhone in the list and the file will be added to your iPhone.

And that’s pretty much all you need to know to sync files automatically or manually. And if you haven’t figured out how to watch movies or listen to audio on your iPhone yet, it’s only because you haven’t read Part III on multimedia, where watching and listening to your iPhone are made crystal clear.