There may be more than 200 new feature in OS X Mavericks, the latest version of the Mac OS. But while Apple giveth it also taketh away: The ability to sync contact and calendars stored locally on your Mac with an iOS device is gone.

Connect your iPhone to iTunes 11.1.2 in Mavericks, click the device in the sidebar (if you've enabled it), and you'll notice that the Info tab that used to live to the right of Summary is gone. That was the handy place where you could choose to sync contacts from the Contacts app, calendars from Calendar, email account settings, and Safari bookmarks. Several other users have noticed the change as well.

No Info for you!

To compare, I looked at iTunes 11.1.2 running in Mountain Lion on my wife's MacBook Pro, and saw that Info and all its sync-tastic possibilities were still alive and well.

Is this an insidious plot to get everyone to use iCloud for syncing? Well yes, sort of. A tech note on Apple's website explains:

If you use OS X Mavericks v.10.9 or later, your contacts, calendars, and other info are updated on your computers and iOS devices via iCloud.

So there you have it.

  • OS X Mavericks

    Mavericks adds new productivity features, under-the-hood changes to improve battery life, and new apps. It’s a free update that’s worth every penny you won’t pay for it.


Jonathan Seff Executive Editor, Macworld Follow me on Google+

Jonathan has been covering the tech industry since 1998. He loves watching TV shows on his iPhone while exercising, and has already indoctrinated his young twins in the ways of the Apple TV.
More by Jonathan Seff

Subscribe to the MacWeek Newsletter

Thank you for sharing this page.

Sorry! There was an error emailing this page