How To Stop iTunes Automatically Syncing Your iPhone, iPod or iPad

iTunes Auto Sync Slowing You Down?

If you’re wondering how you can stop iTunes from automatically kicking off the sync + backup + update process when you plug your iOS device in then look no further.

By holding down the Shift + Control keys (Windows) or Command + Option keys (Mac) and then plugging your iPad, iPhone or iPod into your USB port you will tell iTunes not to sync!

If you happen to miss it and sync kicks off anyway, either slide the unlock slider on your device or hit the eject symbol in iTunes and your device will gracefully stop syncing and disconnect.

This was tested using both an iPad 2 and an iPhone 3GS on iTunes 10.2 (Mac).