Moving from one iPhone to another

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Level 1

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Moving from one iPhone to another

Hi

Can you please kindly clear this up for me. I'm reading and clicking around and just getting more confused.

Recently I moved from an iPhone 3G -> 3GS. I did a back up and used this to restore on to the new phone. Brilliant. Everything was there except my apps and music.

I put this down to not syncing them on that laptop I used.

Now I'm expecting an iPhone 4 soon and want to make sure this doesn't happen again. I have gone in to iTunes (10.1 on a Mac Book Air running 10.6.5) but if I click sync on the apps it warns me it will wipe my phone and install what shows in the library - one app I don't even have on the phone. Eek!

What should I do to ensure my apps get put on to my new phone? 🙂

Thank you
Shell

MacBook Air, Mac OS X (10.6.5)

Posted on Dec 23, 2010 2:33 AM

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Answer 1

wjosten

Level 10

95,321 points

Dec 23, 2010 2:43 AM in response to shelluk

Your apps, and for that matter all iTunes content, should be in your iTunes library on your computer, along with all other important data on your phone. It is not wise to use the iPhone or any phone for that matter as a storage device. Doing so puts you at risk of losing everything.

You can transfer purchased content on your phone, not in your iTunes library: First disable auto-sync under Preferences>Devices in iTunes(under the edit menu if using Windows). Connect your phone, right-click the phone in the left device pane & select: "Transfer Purchases".

Once you've got all of your data on your computer, follow the directions here:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2109

Whenever you restore from backup, you MUST SYNC to restore your iTunes content. iTunes content is not part of the iPhone backup.

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Answer 2

shelluk Author

Level 1

0 points

Dec 23, 2010 2:55 AM in response to wjosten

Brilliant. The 'Sync Purchases' step was what I was missing, thank you 🙂

The apps/music were on a different computer I changed from about the same time so I never got around to doing the whole sync thing on there. I did restore from this old computer but it was until I was away from it I realised what had happened with the apps and music! I understood this is what I should have done though to get them back as I know they were all synced on there.

It all makes sense now so it won't happen again, cheers!

To be clear for those finding this thread looking for help, if you are planning to move from one iPhone to another:
1- Before: Do a back up (right click the phone on the left in iTunes and choose backup)
2- Sync apps etc (right click on the phone on the left in iTunes and choose sync purchases)
3- On the new phone when iTunes asks, use the backup
4- After, sync it to get your apps back!

Shell

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Answer 3

wjosten

Level 10

95,321 points

Dec 23, 2010 2:59 AM in response to shelluk

You're welcome.

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