Use the Finder to sync your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch with your Mac
The Finder is one of the ways that you can sync your device with your Mac.
If your Mac is using macOS Catalina or later, you can use the Finder on your Mac to sync content between your Mac and your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch. The experience is similar to using iTunes to sync in earlier versions of macOS.
Content that you can sync includes music, movies, TV shows, podcasts, audiobooks, books, photos, contacts, and calendars.
If you don't want to use the Finder, use iCloud Photos, Apple Music, and similar services to sync your devices. This keeps content from your Mac in the cloud and available on all your devices, even when they aren't near your Mac. To keep Messages, Mail, and Notes up to date, set up iCloud for Messages, iCloud Mail, and iCloud for Notes.
Sync or remove content using the Finder
Use a USB cable to connect your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch to your Mac.
On your Mac, click the Finder icon in the Dock to open a window in the Finder.
Select your device from the list in the sidebar of the window. Don't see your device?
Select the type of content to sync, such as General, Music, Movies, TV Shows, Photos, or Files.
Select the Sync checkbox for that content. In the example pictured, “Sync music onto iPhone” turns on music syncing. After you turn on syncing, more syncing options become available.
Click Apply. If syncing doesn't start automatically, click the Sync button. You might then need to authorize your computer.
Sync over Wi-Fi instead of USB
When you connect your device to your Mac using a USB cable, you can set up your Mac to sync over Wi-Fi instead.
Select your device in the sidebar of the Finder window, then click General on the right.
Scroll down and select “Show this [device] when on Wi-Fi.”
Click Apply.
You can now unplug your device from your Mac. When your Mac and device are on the same Wi-Fi network, your device appears in the Finder sidebar. Whenever you plug your device in to power, it syncs automatically over Wi-Fi.
If you need help
If you see a message that your device synced with another library, your device was previously connected to another computer. Your device can sync with only one Apple Music or Apple TV library at a time. If you click “Erase and Sync” in that message, this Mac will erase all content of the selected type on your device and replace it with content from this Mac.
If you see an error code when syncing, learn about iTunes or Finder error codes.