i cannot transfer purchases from my ipad to my pc

I've already passed the auth/deauth conundrum saga. If authorization could have solved the problem, there would be no such long threads around the forum; there are many mores besides this one.

Personally, I gave up 'transfer purchasing' (still not working) and am using 'iCloud backup', 'automatic download' in Store section of iDevice settings, and 'purchase history' in iTunes. A bit cumbersome, but can live without transfering apps.

Conspiracy theory has that Apple intentionally not answering this thread in order to boost iCloud usage. 🙂

I found two workarounds to get my purchased apps on my PC and sync my device.I had the problem on my iPod, knew it came from a bad app but could not pin point which one. Problem went away when I upgraded to iOS 5. Later, my iPad, still on iOS 4.3.5, developed the same problem.

The quick way: In iTunes, click on “iTunes Store” on the left. On the right, click on the new option called “Purchased”. Select “Apps”, “Not on this computer” and “iPhone”. If you have an iPad, you will want to do both “iPhone” and “iPad” apps. The listed apps are the ones you purchased from your device that are not on your PC. Just download them from there. Once finished, there are no apps to transfer from your device anymore and you will be able to sync your device.

The long way: Open iTunes but don’t sync your device yet. Right click on your device on the left and click “Transfer Purchases”. In my case, it transfers the first one, then displays “Updating files on iPad” and stops (the capacity bar at the bottom also displays wrong). At that point, close iTunes. Although it closed normally, the process will hang and prevent iTunes from running correctly the next time Do Ctrl-Alt-Delete and get the task manager. Look for the process called “SyncServer.exe” and click “End Process” (this is also the thing to check when iTunes acts bad: make sure the process is not already running BEFORE you start iTunes). Then open up iTunes again and redo the process. I had 7 apps not transferred so I did it 8 times to ensure the last run was clean. If you transfer the last app and try to sync without first closing iTunes, ending the process and restarting iTunes, the sync will fail.

Why would you do it the long way? The purchased date of your apps will be the original date you bought it on your device. In the quick way, the purchased date will be today’s date. Not an issue but just so you know.

This doesn’t solve root cause but it allows me to get my new apps on my PC and, most important, sync my device until I update it to the new iOS. Hope it works for you too.

Been scouring this website for hours...bizsharp, your 1st solution is the only one that worked for me
thanks a lot

I believe I may have found the root cause. I had an iPhone 4S synced with a retired Win PC and now moving to a new iMac. For the life of me I couldn't get "transfer purchases" to work because it would terminate after 5+ seconds.

I tried to terminate SyncServer, which worked when I was on Windows. Didn't work this time.

I was getting frustrated, and I was worried about losing the photos in my Camera Roll. I launched ImageCapture.app and was happy - at least I can see all my photos in the application.

This is an important observation - it meant my phone wasn't the culprit.

Proceeded to import all my photos but the importing kept stopping after 3-6 photos. Similarly behaviour with iTunes when syncing. Either iTunes or Image Capture had trouble keeping the connections alive, or they both have isssues, which was unlikely.

It was then I thought it was my USB connection that was unstable. Such connnection issues were common on Win laptops 7-8 years ago when portable hdd had huge power consumption. So I ejected all my devices, hdd from my iMac, and changed the sync cable to a different port. And it worked.

iTunes has been and still is currently transferring my 903 apps 🙂

It has somewhat different aspects. The point is, iTunes pretend it has done the job but in effect there are just a few apps that have been REALLY transfered. Tried different cable and ports, in vain. This is a mysterious, curious, and rare problem. Might need to change PC again. 😠

Just about ALL of your problems have to do with the incorrect Apple ID. For example, say you have two iPhones, one for you, one for your wife - you have to make sure that you CORRECTLY authroize your computer first... go to Store, then Authorize This Computer... then type in your RELATIVE Apple ID (for the device that is CURRENTLY connected)...for example, if Clark Kent wanted to transfer purchases for his wife's iPhone, Lois Lane, he would type in HER Apple ID (lois@lane.com and HER password), if however he wanted to transfer HIS purchases from HIS phone, he would type in HIS Apple ID (Clark@Kent.com and HIS password). The key is that you need to use the correct Apple ID and password...the Apple ID and password of the device that is CURRENTLY connected. Once you are sure you have PROPERLY authorized the computer, then right-click the device name in the left nav menu (Devices)...i.e. Clark Kent's or Lois Lane's iPhone, then select Tranfer Purchases. Voila you are finished...let the transferring begin! Problem SOLVED.

Hope this helps all those frustrated users!

I think that this problem probably solved itself last year when icloud was released. Just download it from the purchased section in the iTunes store.

That's might be just one of the reasons for transfer errors. Anyway, the problem has gone with just the iTunes update while we've been wasting time on discussing the cause and on trying to solve the problem by ourselves. Apple quietely removed the problem without any notions that they made a mistake, I guess.

That is, eventually for me it was not an iCloud nor an ID problem.

Thanks for the simple solution re transferring purchases

For those of you that have updated your iTunes around Christmas time in 2012 and have an iPad 2 or later the easiest way to sync your iPad to your PC to go to File/Devices/Transfer Purchases From...

If you're like me, you don't want to waste more of your internet GB with your provider (mine is Rogers HotSpot) to RE-download something you've already downloaded to your iPad. So...

1. Watch that the downward pointing arrow in the top right corner (by the Search Playlist field) is NOT underlined in blue - if it is you are wasting more of your GB allowance with your provider.

2. To stop this from happening while your transferring, click that arrow and a window will pop up showing what is download via the Store (and thus your internet provider as well), click "Pause All" button in the bottom left and they will all stop downloading from the store.

3. Your transfers from your device should still be running - it should state this/appear "Transferring Purchases from (Name)'s iPad in the centre field of your iTunes window (to the left of the Search Playlist field).

That should be it.

Hope that helps - took me a while to realise the download arrow was going while I was transferring but I soon put a stop to double-dipping into my GB allowance!

Helene

Just go to File/Devices/Transfer Purchases From...

Guys,

Nothing works for me... But, there is one app iTools 2013. You can make a backup of all apps with it to your local iTunes apps library.

Finally...

I noticed today that I could not transfer from my device back to my Mac (using a cabled sync( as long as the device was set to sync over wifi. When I unchecked that box, I was able to go to File > Devices > Transfer Purchases

I also noticed apps purchased using the IPad Air 2 with IOS 8.3 IPad were not transferring using the sync function.

When I used the recommended ITunes Menu option: (File/Devices/Transfer Purchases From "IPad xxxxx" ) The apps transferred.

Thank you for posting your resolution to this problem.