How to Fix iTunes Error 1723 When Syncing iPhone or iPad

HTD-iTunes-1723-error_thumb

I stumbled across an error when I was syncing my Apple iPhone 5S running on Apple’s iOS 8 with iTunes on my Mac. It was an iTunes Error 1723. Apple errors are always a bit cryptic and sometimes require you to do some searching to find a solution. So, hopefully you found this article while searching for “how to fix iTunes Error 1723” or someone linked to this fix-it article. Anyway, the problem is quite easy to fix if you are encountering iTunes error 1723 on a Mac.

HTD-iTunes-1723-error

The error states “The iPhone [insert iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch name] cannot be synced. An unknown error occurred (1723).” Cryptic, right? However, I had encountered something like this before and the fix was identical. I’m not sure if something may have been introduced within iOS 8 that could be causing this issue. They made some changes to how iPhoto (on an iOS device) works – essentially, they killed the need to have iPhoto and put robust editing capabilities right into the Camera and Photos apps.

How to Fix iTunes Error 1723

Luckily, in just a few minutes, you can fix this iTunes Error 1723. Here’s what you do (and NOTE, this is for users who sync their iOS devices on a Mac, not sure about PC or if this error exists on a PC):

  1. Quit iTunes
  2. Go to your Home folder
  3. Open Pictures folder
  4. Select to iPhoto Library
    HTD-select-iPhoto-library
  5. Right click and choose “Show Package Contents”
    HTD-show-package-content
  6. Within Package Contents, right-click on file called “iPod Photo Cache” and choose “Move to Trash”
    HTD-ipod-photo-cache
  7. Empty the Trash
  8. Exit the iPhoto Library package content file
  9. Open iTunes
  10. Connect iOS device and re-sync
  11. iTunes Error 1723 gone (hopefully)!

After deleting the iPod Photo Cache file, it doesn’t seem to be recreated with subsequent syncs. So, I’m guessing it is some legacy functionality. It may appear if you have older iOS devices or are not running on iOS 8. Please let me know if this fix for iTunes Error 1723 worked for you by leaving a comment.

HTD says: Get your iOS device syncing again after encountering iTunes Error 1723!

87 Responses

  1. In Yosemite it looks like the PhotoLibrary is no longer a package. I was able to fix the error by quitting iTunes and launch iPhoto with the option and command keys held down. Select rebuild caches when given the option and all is well. Thanks!

  3. Had problems syncing having just upgraded to Yosemite. Clearing the cache fixed both my iPhone and my iPad. Thanks for the help!

  5. THANK YOU! I’ve been fighting with iTunes for two days trying to get my iPhone6 to sync, with no luck. I upgraded to Yosemite this morning, and finally remembered to make note of the error number and found this solution. I have now synched both my iPhone and my iPad with no errors popping up!

  6. Great to hear! Be sure to share this Fix-It article. Hope it was easy to find when searching!

  8. Thank you. I’m still on Mavericks. In my case the problem was solved by making sure that I had the ownership and read/write permissions for the iPhoto library file. (I share this across users.) But it was this post that made me realise that this was the problem. Much appreciated.

  11. I experienced this error after upgrading to OS X Yosemite and then syncing my iPad. This fix worked for me as well. Thanks!

  13. This worked for me! Thank you! iphone 4s and os x yosemite – problem after last update on both.

  15. Thank you so much for this, it works great for me. I’ve been annoyed bcoz this error keeps happening when I try to synch them, been having this problems for the past few weeks and finally got the solution, thanks again

  17. A valiant attempt – for which thanks – but I’m afraid it didn’t work for me. Firstly, I didn’t have an iPhoto Library (I use Aperture), but I did find two iPod Photo Cache folders (one empty). I deleted both of these, but on trying sync again, had the same problem. The search continues. . .

  19. It worked!! I just clean-installed my iMac, and i didn’t have problems backing up 3 devices but I had an issue with backing up the iPad 2 even though it is running iOS 8. The thing is I copied my iPhoto library from my cloned pre-Yosemite hard drive. so I guess that the Yosemite’s iTunes didn’t like the folder.

  22. worked! amazing… i was ready to backup and restore the whole iPhone… it’s amazing that in iOS 8.1 we have such mysterious bugs/crap to still fix…

  28. I don’t get the 1723 error, but I do get “Waiting for changes to be updated” and it sits there in iTunes for several hours and nothing changes.

  29. I had an iphone 5s and got this error message when I was restoring from itunes to my new iphone 6. Did what you said and it worked like a charm…good sluthing!

  31. Thank so much, it worked for my iPhone 5 iOS 8.1.1 and OS X Yosemite 10.10.1. I have been working on this for 3 days until I came across this solution. Thanks again.

  32. thanks so much with the error explanation, it fixed my sync…yeah! ipod using yosemite on my mac…
    1st time syncing since I upgraded to yosemite..

  35. Thanks Michael.
    fixed my issue. I also posted the link on the apple support page for a user who also had the same issue.

  37. works perfectly… I had a couple bumps in the road following the file/folder directions but using search I was able to find the right ones and it worked. Apparently different devices have different file and folder structures

  43. Thank you, this corrected my issue: iPhone 5 IOS 8.1.1, Yosemite. As a side note, I have an old iPod running IOS 5 something, I’ll have to see if that folder is created again or not.

  44. Brilliant. This fixed the error I was having on my iPhone and iPad. Thanks a million! :)

  56. Worked for me! The ipod cache folder has reappeared but this fixes it every time. I have iphone 5 running 8.1.2 and macbook running yosemite 10.10.1

  57. Worked for me . . .Yosemite, iOS 8.1.2. Needed a couple of syncs to work fully, but I think there’s another sync problem with music going on as well.

    Thanks!

  58. Yep, worked! But it still would not download a voice memo I had of a meeting which was 1:39min long. I trimmed the voice memo down a bit, and saved it as a new file. That file saved to iTunes. Just fyi.

  59. Thank you very much. It helped me syncing everything except photos.
    Now i can not sync my photos from Iphoto to my iphone through itunes

  61. The Home folder is Hard Drive > Users > [whatever your home folder is called, usually your user name]
    Within the Home folder you will find all of the other stuff like Pictures.

  63. Good God how did you figure this out??? AWESOME! It worked on both my iPad 2 and my iPhone 5s. If you were here I’d kiss you. THANK YOU!

  64. Aaagh!! I just followed your instructions very carefully. No problem there. But when I restarted iTunes and connected my iPad it said it didn’t recognise it and suggested I restore to Factory Settings – which means I will lose all my data!
    I haven’t done this reset – and hoped that there might be an alternative.
    I also plugged in my iPhone and again it wasn’t recognised and wanted me to restore my settings on that!!
    Any help greatly appreciated – please ……..

  66. Help! I’m running 10.10.1 with the iphone6. I cannot find the home folder/my user name. I have “all my files,” “iCloud drive,” “AirDrop,” “Applications,” “Desktop,” “Documents,” & “downloads” to choose from. If I go and right click on the iPhoto application, under libraries or any other items, I don’t see the iPod Cache. Where am I going wrong?

  70. Wow, this really worked! After doing these steps I was able to do full sync on on my phone first time in over a year. Super big thanks from Finland!

  71. Thanks for the fix! Works with an iPod Touch Gen 4 running iOS 6.1.6 and OS X Yosemite on an iMac.

  72. I am running Yosemite on my Air and had this error. The Photo Library appears as a very large single file called “iPhoto Library.photolibrary”. Your instructions worked for me perfectly, thank you!

  82. Thank you, that seems to have solved the problem. I am synching an iPhone 6 + to a Mac powerbook.

  87. dear god, thank you so much! Iphone 4S + macbook pro (2013), syncing perfectly now, thankyou!

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Michael Sheehan (“HighTechDad”) is an avid technologist, writer, journalist, content marketer, blogger, tech influencer, social media pundit, loving husband and father of 3 beautiful girls living in the San Francisco Bay Area. This site covers technology, consumer electronics, Parent Tech, SmartHomes, cloud computing, gadgets, software, hardware, parenting “hacks,” and other tips & tricks.

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Michael Sheehan (“HighTechDad™”) is an avid technologist, writer, journalist, content marketer, blogger, tech influencer, social media pundit, loving husband and father of 3 beautiful girls living in the San Francisco Bay Area. This site covers technology, consumer electronics, Parent Tech, SmartHomes, cloud computing, gadgets, software, hardware, parenting “hacks,” and other tips & tricks.

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