Why is my iPhone asking for my iTunes password randomly and repeatedly?

Thanks TooDarkPark,

I actually remember a couple weeks ago some odd behavior after I updated Intellicast HD in iTunes on my MacBook Pro. It is an "iPad only" app, so I thought it odd when our iPhones subsequently started saying something like "Error-Could not install Intellicast HD and 2 other apps" when they I did wifi updates on them. The iPhones should not have even tried to downloaded this iPad only app.

I deleted and put Intellicast HD in the trash for now. Completely removed it from existence on our devices (although it is still waiting in the Cloud, teasing me to download it again!). I will see how things go for a couple days. I am optimistic. If all goes well, I will be sure to credit you with a correct answer. 🙂

Well, I have some additional data to digest. Now that I have been galvanized to look at the download scenario I noticed that the pop up screen asking to input my iTunes password seems to be connected to when any person in our family of 3 buys an app and iTunes is trying to sync that purchase to all our other iDevices. I have "Automatically sync new app purchases" checked ON within iTunes on all of our computers so I don't understand why all of a sudden it wants me to input our iTunes password.

Interestingly, if I say "cancel" to the request for the iTunes password the app will install anyway. I reinstalled iTunes 10.5.3 in all three of our MacBook Pros just in case one of the machines had a bad copy. Beyond that, I am at a loss as to why I now am being asked to enter my iTunes password when in the past I was not.

Arrrrgggghhhh!

TooDarkPark, Thanks for your input. It may still lead to a solution. Looks like I may have to trek over to the Genius Bar. Enjoy all that neat winter weather in Denver! Mr. Luigi

For those who might be experiencing this same problem, I'll pass on the things I try and whether it meets with any success or not.

Here is my latest idea:

As I mentioned earlier, our family of 3 shares 1 itunes account for apps, music...This way, one song, one app, whatever purchased by one of us can be used on the other's iDevices. Up until recently we had 8 devices sharing this one account:

3 MacBook Pros

3 iPhone 4S's

1 iPad Original + 3g

1 iPad 2 +3g

Then we were given 3 iPod Touch 4th generation devices. I set them up and things seemed ok. Seemed...

Then I noticed in the iCloud "Account Info" for this 1 account the 1 iPad Original + 3g was not listed as included with this Apple account. Hm...

In iTunes, I had 'Automatically Sync New Apps" turned ON for the iPad Original + 3g. However, I noticed in the actual iPad Original + 3g that when I went to Settings --> Store, Automatic Downloads for Music, Apps, and Books was set to OFF. So, I naturally turned those to ON to coordinate with the "Automatically Sync New Apps" setting for this device in iTunes. Next time I turned on that iPad a warning pop-up appeared that said only TEN devices could be associated with 1 iTunes account for automatic downloads. Hm...

I thought that perhaps having all our iDevices (8 of them) set to "Automatically Sync New Apps" was confusing iTunes because that meant I was asking it to Sync New App to 11 total devices (including my 3 computers).

So, I am going to watch and see if anything happens by taking our original iPad out of the "loop." Maybe this sorta random having to enter my password is because iTunes can't "handle" having 11 devices asking for app syncing when Apple has told it to only allow 10 devices. (BTW, I think that Apple needs to change this rule now that it has Computers, iPhones, iPod Touches, AND iPads competing for those precious 10 spots. It's easy to use them up even for a small family of 3 like ours.)

If this has confused you, welcome to the club. There is another discussion focused on families and their use of the new iCloud service. It's a gargantuan discussion, so I'm not the only one perplexed as to the best way to manage a house of Apple Products sharing an iTunes account.

All I can hope is that I am now confused at a higher level, and about more appropriate things so that eventually I may figure this out. Bye.