Transfer of Apps to New iPhone

Question

Level 1

110 points

Transfer of Apps to New iPhone

[ Doing suppor on my wife's iphone: ]

Inherited a new(er) iPhone. Went to AT&T shop to have them fiddle with sim cards. They "deactivated" my old iPhone and activated my new(er) iPhone. All worked well when sync'd to my computer; mail, calendars, etc. But the many applications on my old phone did not pop up on my new phone when sync'd. How do I get my apps off the old iPhone onto the new iPhone?

I put the old iPhone in the dock to see if I could sync those apps to my computer. But it starts going through a "how do you want to set up your phone" routine.

-- Gerry

2.3G Intel iMac 6,1, Mac OS X (10.6.2), Logic Pro 9.1, Behringer Xenyx 1204, Roland GR-30

Posted on Aug 3, 2010 10:03 AM

Reply

Answer 1

roaminggnome

Level 10

106,365 points

Aug 3, 2010 10:36 AM in response to GerrySA

The Apps are not in itunes on your computer?

You should sync them to your computer on a regular basis for this reason.

You can re-download apps:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2519

Reply

Answer 2

crh24

Level 3

930 points

Aug 3, 2010 6:58 PM in response to GerrySA

GerrySA wrote:
[ Doing suppor on my wife's iphone: ]

Inherited a new(er) iPhone. Went to AT&T shop to have them fiddle with sim cards. They "deactivated" my old iPhone and activated my new(er) iPhone. All worked well when sync'd to my computer; mail, calendars, etc. But the many applications on my old phone did not pop up on my new phone when sync'd. How do I get my apps off the old iPhone onto the new iPhone?

I put the old iPhone in the dock to see if I could sync those apps to my computer. But it starts going through a "how do you want to set up your phone" routine.

If you have synced the old phone with all the apps then they should already be on your computer. Try connecting your new phone and select the Apps tab. Select the option to sync all apps and sync your phone. All the apps you had already synced with iTunes will be copied to your new phone. If not all apps you expect to see are transferred then you have apps on your old phone that were never synced to iTunes.

You should be able to get the apps onto your computer if they aren't already there.

If you can get your old phone connected to iTunes without syncing (before connecting your old iPhone to iTunes execute Preferences and check the Options tab and make sure the box concerning auto sync for iPhones, etc., is checked) you can right click on your phone under Devices in the left panel and select Transfer purchases. That will copy your apps to files on your computer. From there they can be synced to your new phone.

The question is just what did they do to 'decativate' your phone? If they reset it then you might have lost data. If you can still access all of your apps on your old phone then they didn't do that and all you need to do is get past the "how dow you want to setup your phone" stage. Is there a cancel button? What you don't want to do is a restore as a new phone.

If all else fails you can re-download as suggested. You can also log into your iTunes store account and from there see all apps you have downloaded so you don't have to guess which ones you may have purchased in the past.

Reply

Answer 3

GerrySA Author

Level 1

110 points

Aug 4, 2010 9:04 AM in response to GerrySA

Thanks for the input. The questions you provide are difficult for me to answer since I have neither the phone nor the itunes environment (a PC, by the way) for reference.

My wife attempted most of this. She didn't seem to find a way out on the panel's that wanted to "wed" her old phone anew. What "deactivate" means--I can't say. The AT&T clerk told us explicitly that the phone would continue to operate like an iTouch in that with wifi it could use Safari, play tunes, etc. That has proved not to be the case.

Instead we turn on the old phone and it only shows a screen indicating a need to connect to iTunes. I think we'll forego the shlep to the Apple Store's Genius Bar and simply reinstall her apps manually.

In trying to work through this I plugged my own phone into the dock, opened iTunes (on an iMac), and noted that my "Sync Apps" check-box was turned off, but that all my apps were indicated (greyed out) on the visual display of my apps. I tried to toggle it on, but it gave me a confused warning that I might lose the apps on my iphone. I said okay anyhow, and noted the "greyed" out displays revert to the initialized iPhone layout. I quickly exited the program with no affect to my apps.

I ran iTunes again and found the "Sync Apps" checkbox toggled off again and the display representing the apps on my phone correctly.

In sum, my assumption is that my wife's iPhone/PC environment did not have "Sync Apps" toggled on, just as mine currently doesn't. Clearly despite this toggle, my apps are all referenced in my iTunes environment.

I went through an almost identical process last week on yet another inherited iPhone. But in my case I first went through all the set up business in iTunes and only THEN went to AT&T for them to issue another sim card.

Damned confusing, this stuff.

-- Gerry6

Reply