Xcode, Apple's IDE (integrated development environment) for developers of iOS and Mac apps, is available freely in the App Store. While non-developers will likely have no use for Xcode, unless wanting to sideload apps they're permitted to or needing to run certain Linux-style commands in Terminal, it may be required to get the iPhone syncing with iTunes again. If you don't want to jump on the latest macOS beta but would like to stay on the iOS beta, then there's one more thing you can do - install the latest Xcode beta on your Mac.

Don't Miss: How to Downgrade iOS 12 Back to 11.4.1 on Your iPhone.

Either that, or you'll need to downgrade your iPhone back to the latest stable release of iOS. In this case, you'll need to be running the latest beta version of macOS, which, for the iOS 12 betas, would be for the macOS Mojave 10.14 beta. (For me, I recently had issues with both macOS High Sierra 10.13.5 and macOS High Sierra 10.13.6 with my iPhone running the iOS 12 developer beta 3.) While Apple is usually pretty good at making sure their iOS betas are compatible with the latest stable version of macOS, sometimes they slip the ball. If that's the case and you're currently on the latest macOS High Sierra version, this may be a problem. Let's say you're currently running iOS 12 developer beta 3 or iOS 12 public beta 2. Would you like to download and install this update now?' prompt, simply click on 'Install' to update the software needed to get your iOS device working with iTunes again on an older macOS version. When you see the 'A software update is required to connect to your iOS device. If you have no interest in updating your Mac to the newest macOS, the answer may be painfully obvious.

How to Sync Your iPhone with iTunes Again You will, however, still be able to charge your iPhone and use other tools such as Image Capture, Photos, etc. If your iPhone is running a newer version of iOS than the macOS version you're running currently supports, you will not be able to sync your iPhone with iTunes if you get the 'software update is required to connect to your iPhone' alert.

Generally, if your Mac is running the latest macOS version and your iPhone is running the latest iOS version available, you should never see this message appear on your laptop or desktop's screen. If you're currently running macOS 10.11 or higher on your Mac and connect your iPhone to sync with iTunes, you may get an alert saying that 'a software update is required to connect to your iPhone.' Here's everything you need to know about what that means, how to update your system, and what to do if updating doesn't work.

Install itunes on mac