iTunes could not back up the iPhone because the iPhone refused the request – iOS 4

Problem

When running iPhone OS 4 beta 1, syncing with iTunes doesn’t backup the iPhone causing the error:

iTunes could not back up the iPhone because the iPhone refused the request

Fix

Install the iPhone SDK 4 beta with Xcode 3.2.3 (or later), which will update some files in iTunes and enable the backup to complete successfully.

An iTunes update is likely to be released soon to address this and other issues some users are experiencing with syncing.

Update 25/04/10: Apparently iPhone OS 4 beta 2 backs up in iTunes 9.1 without any issues.

Disabling ‘hold to copy’ on Mobile Safari

If you want to disable the ‘Cut / Copy / Paste’ invoked by holding down on an element in Safari on the iPhone or iPad use the css:

-webkit-user-select: none;

However, as stressed by Apple, this should only be disabled on a per element basis, and never applied to the whole document.

Apple’s Technical Note TN2262: Preparing Your Web Content for iPad covers this along with using web standards instead of plugins (something that really interests me at the moment).

Debugging on iPhone Requires App Deletion

Problem

When running & debugging an application on an iPhone / iPod using Xcode you get the error:

“A signed resource has been added, modified, or deleted.”

With the application not being able to be redeployed until it is deleted from the device.

Fix

Simply turn off Passcode Lock on the device.

Update: This might just be an issue in the pre-release iPhone 3.2 SDK.

Update 2: If this doesn’t work try:

  1. Xcode > Build > ‘Clean’ and then ‘Clean All Targets’
  2. Xcode > Build > ‘Build and Go’