Resolved - iTunes cannot sync apps to iPad "ipadName" because the apps installed on the iPad could not be determined.

OMG, Azeef's solution worked perfectly! Thanks..

whew! Thank you, this did it!

worked perfectly... who would've guessed something so simple...

None of the proffered solutions here at Apple discussions worked on my iPhone 4S (synced with a MacBook Pro running 10.6.8). Restrictions have never been enabled on this device. Re-installed iTunes, Reset Network Connections, etc. Still always got the dreaded message "iTunes cannot sync apps to the iPhone ... could not be determined".

Here's what did work:

Mount the device in iTunes.

Using context menu in the left column, control-click the device, then select "Transfer purchases..." from the contextual menu.

When done, eject, un-plug, then re-plug and re-mount the device.

Repeat this sequence until you get no further transfers. Don't know why iTunes permits only one transfer per plug-in/mount. ?

Sync. For the first time in weeks, mine finally did.

This worked for me. THANKS Masongill!!!

Thanks to all the contributers here but so far none of that works.

As a household we have iPhone 3GS, Iphone 4GS, IPad 1 and 2 - all of these devices will no longer synchronise apps.

I have completely wiped my iPad back to factory, re-installed iTunes, and all apple applets so effectively completely clean system with no apps installed at all and still getting issues with the apps could not be determined.

Also cleared out appdata directories and wiped the lockdown folders.

The iPhone 4GS is IOS 6 the iPad 1 is 5.1.1 so unlikely to be IOS - maybe its iTunes - I have tried this on Windows 7 and newly upgraded Windows 8 devices - and before everyone shouts 'its a PC/Windows thing', it also fails on my MAC Mini.

Reading all of the blogs many people now seem to be getting this issue and it appears to be inconcistent. Sometimes it works after powerdown of the device, sometimes not.

This is driving me nuts and have to say Surface, Kindle Fire and Windows Smart phones are looking more attractive by the day.

Ok an update - this issue may be related to either Firewalls or Anti-Virus - at least on my PC. Just turned off AVG Anti-Virus and the Windows Firewall and sync worked for the first time.

I took the step of deleting all apps from i-Tunes and was still getting the error so as a last ditch attempt I turned off all the security. Just synced some music sucessfully with the sync apps option turned on - next step add a single app back onto the system (Drop Box) and sync it -

That worked too - now disconnect iPad and reconnect - that works too.

Interestingly, the speed at which system now recognises the decice being connected via USB has radically improved.

If I fathom out exactly which security setting/port needs to be unlocked/disabled will post a further update but hope this helps someone... and if anyone knows the ports or anti-virus settings that need to be tweaked - please let me know.

If this still works after adding back all my apps promise to post again... as an alternative solution.

Brilliant; so many have struggled with this but only you figured it out.

Bang goes that theory 😢 - everything worked briliantly for 24 hours and now after adding a few choice apps back onto system problem is back again so that scrubs the Firewall/Anti-Virus theory (at least for the moment) - Nice while it lasted....

So have put limited selection of apps onto system and this morning everything has mysteriously ground to a halt again.

To be honest based on just how much I have trashed, wiped, erased eveyrthing on several devices and more than one piece of source hardware this has to be a Nasty in the OS, iTunes or perhaps a specific App.

Apple need to dig deeper to find a solution - if I find anything that concisitently breaks it - like a specific App (Cos thats the next stage - wipe again then start adding back apps over time until one breaks it) will update the post.

Apologies for the False hope everyone -

I have the same issue. I'm trying to get rid of some apps on my phone and don't want to do it manually.

Took Cut The Rope off - which has been updated for ios 6 and at the moment wont work with ios5 - some of the earlier posts refer to updating specific apps whether its just a coincidence not sure but system started syncing again.

Also noted AVG had reenabled itself so that too got switched back off so the security software link is not entirely dead. Will monitor for a week then come back to forum with results.

It would be interesting to see if anyone else resolves the issue by temporarily disabling firewall and AV. Stress: Temporarily - if this is the issue need to work out what specific exclusions need to be applied - not suggesting leaving systems vulnerable.😉

I tried every other solution in this thread and other threads, to no avail. This was the final thing I tried, and it worked. I deleted the most-recent 8 or 10 apps I'd installed directly on the iPad, and I was then able to successfully back up and sync with iTunes (via USB—didn't try Wi-Fi).

trevisparky's solution worked! 🙂

I want to record another solution here, because I had Restrictions completely off but I got the same message when trying to sync. I tried shutting down and restarting, turning Restrictions on, turning Restrictions off and each time still got the same message. I had never received it before (iPad2, so it's been OK for a long time).

Then I took a different cable and plugged it into a different USB port (actually USB 3.0 but I don't think that's significant) and the sync worked as normal.

Next I went back to the original cable and USB 2.0 port (one on my Dell monitor) and the iPad synced as normal again.

Pity I can't mark this as an additional answer.

This resolved my syncing problems as well. Realized I had not done a hard sync in two years *OUCH* or updated the apps on my computer! Just got too busy and I used the iPad independently of my laptop. Many thanks, trevisparky!