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Q: Apps list empty with connected iPhone

I'm on a metered wifi connection and wanted to clean out a bunch of apps that were consuming space with documents & data (Instagram, facebook, twitter, etc.)

 

I've verified my computer is authorized, signed in to itunes, etc, but the apps list is empty.

I wanted to locally delete/re-add... where'd they go and how do I get them back?

Screen Shot 2016-03-16 at 10.27.03 PM.png

MacBook Pro, OS X El Capitan (10.11.3), 2011

Posted on Mar 16, 2016 7:37 PM

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Q: Apps list empty with connected iPhone

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  • by chattphotos,

    chattphotos chattphotos Mar 31, 2016 7:05 AM in response to chattphotos
    Level 4 (2,412 points)
    Desktops
    Mar 31, 2016 7:05 AM in response to chattphotos

    Bump,

    Updated to 10.11.4, i9.3 there is no change. I really need a solution for this problem.

     

    I really want to delete some 20 apps and re-install them all at once.

    Why? Documents and data is starting to eat up all of my storage (5GB+) and my internet bandwidth is extremely limited.

     

    Why is this broken and how do I fix it?

    I can manually delete and reload every single app on my phone, but there goes 2 hours of my life due to a slow 5mbps connection in high-density housing.

    Doing it in bulk is how it's always been done (for many years now) to reload all the apps eating up storage with documents and data.

     

    Please, I really need help, and I've already sent feedback on the issue too.

  • by King_Penguin,

    King_Penguin King_Penguin Mar 31, 2016 7:12 AM in response to chattphotos
    Level 10 (132,829 points)
    iTunes
    Mar 31, 2016 7:12 AM in response to chattphotos

    The listbox should be populated from what's in the My Apps section of that Mac's iTunes library (the options that then show next to them in the listbox, Install / Remove / Update, and based on if they are on the phone) - do you have the apps downloaded into its library ? If not, then as the phone is on iOS 9+ go to the Purchased link under Quick Links on the right-hand side of the (music) iTunes store homepage to redownload them on it

  • by Rysz,

    Rysz Rysz Mar 31, 2016 10:06 AM in response to chattphotos
    Level 7 (20,267 points)
    iTunes
    Mar 31, 2016 10:06 AM in response to chattphotos

    Your data speed and limit are really a big factor here, but just so you are aware of the differences...

     

    In iOS 9, Apple introduced App Thinning. This means that when you download an app directly to your iPhone, only the pieces and graphics that are used on that phone will be downloaded (no huge iPad-sized images, etc). That's a good thing. When you first download an app to iTunes, the download will be "universal" for all iDevices. Copying the app from iTunes to your iPhone will, therefore, consume substantially more storage on your device.

     

    To trim storage quantity on iCloud, do it on the phone and without deleting/reinstalling the apps. Go to Settings > General > Storage &iCloud Usage > Manage Storage under the iCloud heading > tap on any given app and you'll see a breakdown of the app's documents and their size. You can delete them there by sliding from right to left. This works for document-centric apps. Other apps, such as Photos, etc., you have to delete from within the app.

     

    You can also access iCloud documents directly via a browser, or via the iCloud Drive app.

  • by chattphotos,

    chattphotos chattphotos Mar 31, 2016 2:47 PM in response to King_Penguin
    Level 4 (2,412 points)
    Desktops
    Mar 31, 2016 2:47 PM in response to King_Penguin

    The goal is to not need the internet to complete this project.

    Why doesn't a sync/transfer purchases copy all purchased apps from the phone to iTunes like it has done since the very beginning of the iPhone?

     

    I tried the manual download of some of the purchased apps in iTunes, it's going to take forever.

     

    So, how do we move forward?

    I need to extract the apps off of the phone so that I can delete them and re-install them in bulk.

  • by Rysz,

    Rysz Rysz Mar 31, 2016 8:50 PM in response to chattphotos
    Level 7 (20,267 points)
    iTunes
    Mar 31, 2016 8:50 PM in response to chattphotos

    .Why doesn't a sync/transfer purchases copy all purchased apps from the phone to iTunes like it has done since the very beginning of the iPhone?

    Because of the reasons I explained above. The copy of the app on your iPhone is not universal, therefore, it no longer makes sense to keep it in iTunes.

     

    I understand that in your specific case that is an issue, but I also made suggestions to you on how to deal with the storage space issue. That's the answer to "how do we move forward."

  • by chattphotos,

    chattphotos chattphotos Apr 1, 2016 7:45 AM in response to Rysz
    Level 4 (2,412 points)
    Desktops
    Apr 1, 2016 7:45 AM in response to Rysz

    So, Apple changed it and I still have to download all the apps again... I wish they hadn't done that as it's really inconvenient due to limited resources.

     

    Just last year, I used Yosemite and was able to delete/reload my apps in bulk so smoothly it only took 10 minutes!
    Now here we are in El Capitan and I'm days away from completing the project.

     

    The amount of spaced used by the apps isn't that much (30% total storage) it's managing documents and data and preventing it from getting out of hand is the core focus of my post.

     

    Also, the other reason I'm wanting to reload without a re-download is that I use some legacy iPhone apps as the older design is much better than the new one, so I really want to extract the .ipa and manually reload it.

     

    Lets try something new, extracting .ipa files from the phone, how do we do that?

  • by King_Penguin,

    King_Penguin King_Penguin Apr 1, 2016 7:52 AM in response to chattphotos
    Level 10 (132,829 points)
    iTunes
    Apr 1, 2016 7:52 AM in response to chattphotos

    With iOS 9 and 'app thinning' you can't copy apps .ipa files back from a device

  • by Rysz,

    Rysz Rysz Apr 1, 2016 10:56 AM in response to chattphotos
    Level 7 (20,267 points)
    iTunes
    Apr 1, 2016 10:56 AM in response to chattphotos

    If your issue is with documents and data taking up too much space, then manage documents and data, as I explained above and forget about deleting and reinstalling apps.

  • by chattphotos,

    chattphotos chattphotos Apr 1, 2016 12:02 PM in response to Rysz
    Level 4 (2,412 points)
    Desktops
    Apr 1, 2016 12:02 PM in response to Rysz

    Rysz, the number of times I have tried manage documents and data are too many to count.
    Apple is still rather lax about how much space an app can consume, especially for social media, weather apps, etc.
    Right now, Facebook is using >300mb for a 100mb app. Most of the other apps are about 50-50 for app size and data.

     

    Tapping on those apps offers no cleanup, just the option to delete the app.

     

    The only known way to manage documents and data is to delete each app and reload it or erase the iPhone and reload the apps.

    I just want to reload the apps locally, but since that has changed without any alternative solutions, I'm annoyed and very disappointed.

     

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