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ATB_Combat
User level: Level 1 (4 points)

Can older Macs read newer phones?

I tried factory resetting an iPhone 16 using a Mac from late 2013. It didn't show up in finder and I used a cable that can transfer data. so can the Mac cant read it since its old?


Posted on Sep 20, 2026 4:22 PM

5 replies

Servant of Cats
User level: Level 9 (55,707 points)

Sep 20, 2026 6:02 PM in response to KiltedTim

KiltedTim wrote:
If it's running iOS 27, you're probably not going to be able to use a machine running macOS 10.15 Catalina to restore or update the phone.


The Technical Specifications for the iPhone 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max say:

"Syncing to a Mac or PC requires:

    • macOS Catalina 10.15 or later using the Finder
    • macOS High Sierra 10.13 through macOS Mojave 10.14.6 using iTunes 12.8 or later
    • Windows 10 or later using iTunes 12.12.10 or later (free download from apple.com/itunes/download)"


Those phones ship with iOS 27, so their Technical Specifications are probably a pretty good indication of what is needed to manage other iPhones running iOS 27.


I will note that there there are threads in these forums, dating back to at least iOS 17 (???) days, from people who had trouble managing phones using High Sierra and iTunes. Some people wound up manually extracting parts of Xcode distributions and installing them to get things that should have "just worked" to work correctly. I have not seen similar threads for Catalina (where Apple replaced iTunes) or later.


So I suspect that using Macs running Catalina to manage iPhones running iOS 27 will work just fine.

KiltedTim
User level: Level 10 (238,530 points)

Sep 20, 2026 4:46 PM in response to ATB_Combat

If it's running iOS 27, you're probably not going to be able to use a machine running macOS 10.15 Catalina to restore or update the phone.


Is the phone in recovery mode?

Servant of Cats
User level: Level 9 (55,707 points)

Sep 20, 2026 6:04 PM in response to ATB_Combat

ATB_Combat wrote:
It didn't show up in finder and I used a cable that can transfer data


Did you check the Finder's Preferences (Sidebar tab) to make sure there is a checkmark besides "CDs, DVDs, and iOS devices?"

MartinR
User level: Level 7 (27,833 points)

Sep 20, 2026 5:13 PM in response to ATB_Combat

It will help if you specify the exact operating system versions you are using (iOS on the iPhone, macOS on your Mac). An iPhone 16 "should" be ok with a Mac running Catalina. The iPhone 16 originally came with iOS 18 and is compatible up to and including the current iOS 27.


Was the iPhone 16 already working with your Catalina iMac and just didn't when you tried to do the factory reset? Or did it never work with your Catalina iMac?


Originally posted at discussions.apple.com/thread/256361485