iTunes 11, deleted apps will not sync. (using sync cord not iCloud)

Question

iTunes 11, deleted apps will not sync. (using sync cord not iCloud)

I am having a new problem, since iTunes 11 was released. I found an identical issue on this forum, except that it was posted in iTunes for Mac community. Here it is: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4558443?start=0&tstart=0

Here is the essence of the problem. In the past, if the app was deleted in iTunes, during the next sync of any iDevice that had this app on it, you would have been asked if you wanted to transfer purchases to iTunes. As long as you said "No", those apps that you have manually deleted in iTunes, will also be removed from iDevices you sync. Quite convenient. It is much easier to manage apps on PC, than deleting multiple apps on each iDevice I own.

Ever since iTunes 11 was installed on my computer, this process no longer takes place. Despite all the similar warings to transfer purchases on sync, saying no to the, etc. - apps deleted in Itunes remain on all of my devices. Even though they are no longer in my iTunes library, they are not deleted on sync. I have two iPhones, one iPod, and one iPad - all have very different apps installed, depending on user preference. However, many, many apps are the same - accross all devices. Trying to delete multiple apps in iTunes, and then find those same apps and delete them - one by one - on many different devices is an exhausting task! Especially when you consider that I do that frequently. The traditional warnings to transfer purchases are still there, you are still told that if you choose "No", deleted content will be removed from device. Except, it doesn't happen. This really looks like a bug. Unfortunately, I can't find a solution. Googled this for two days, on and off, to no avail. Really, really frustrating. A billion dollar company can't get its software straight, year after year...

Dell Precision 6900 Workstation, Windows 7, Dual Quad-Core Xeon 2.66 GHz, 20 Gb RAM

Posted on Dec 11, 2012 7:10 AM

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Answer 1

Ramzy

Level 1

4 points

Dec 14, 2012 9:09 PM in response to VirtualPanther

Same problem, have been researching this for the last few days and it seems like plenty of people are experiencing the issue... Very frustrating.

I'm tempted to just rollback to iTunes 10 instead.

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Answer 2

diesel vdub

Level 7

22,178 points

Dec 15, 2012 5:59 AM in response to VirtualPanther

Realistically, it seems like iTunes was being used improperly in previous versions by multiple users and doing what they wanted, but not what it was designed to do.

Deleting the app from iTunes to remove from iDevices is not the way it is designed to work.

The way it is designed to work, either the user deletes the app from the device or simply unticks it on the Apps tab with the device connected during sync.

Apple suggests that apps not be deleted from iTunes so that they can be reinstalled on a device at any time. Yes, you can typically redownload them, but not all the time.

So the question is, if the app is simply unticked from the Apps tab and the device synced (as designed) does the app get removed from the device?

If it does, then no issue exists.

If it does not, then an issue exists and feedback to Apple either via phone or the Contact Us link at the bottom would be necessary to get Apple to address it.

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Answer 3

Dec 15, 2012 8:04 AM in response to diesel vdub

diesel vdub, your reasoning seems logically sound. Of course, one would have to take into account that thousands - if not millions - of users who were using iTunes for bulk app deletion are wrong. However, that is a moot point now. Even if the intent of the development team was to force users into deleting unwanted apps on each iDevice, while keeping them forever in iTunes, there is a bug in that management as well.

If I do not like a particular app, which happens quite frequently, since iTunes is a big store and great many apps are, well... not up to my personal standard. So, if I do not like a particular app and wish to remove it permanently from each and every device I own - FOREVER - then in addition to manually deleting it from each iDevice I own, I should also delete it from iTunes, right? I mean, if I hate the app that much, why would Apple insist on my keeping it in iTunes?

Here is the "bug" part (even though, it seems, Apple always has a way of rationalizing bugs...): if I delete the app in iTunes, we know now that it will not be deleted on next sync from any of my iDevices on which the app was installed, yet not deleted manually. So now I have asituation, in which multiple apps are no longer listed in iTunes, because they were deleted, yet they are present on my iDevices and are not transferred back to iTunes on sync. As such, there is nothing to "untick" in iTunes, since the apps in question are no longer there. There is also no list in iTunes allowing me to see the apps present on my iDevice and missing from iTunes (i.e. comparison of existing vs deleted apps in iTunes vs iDevice). So even if the intent was to manage apps using checkboxes, how am I supposed to do that after app is deleted from iTunes? Manually compare each and every ap on each iDevice to those present in iTunes?! That would take hours - per each device! Perhaps, I should now "transfer purchases" from each of my iDevices on next sync back to iTunes, thereby returning all of those apps I hate right back to iTunes? Why would anyone want to do that? Or, perhaps, the right way to delete an app I want gone forever is to gather ALL iDevices I own, line then up on a table in front of my PC, then delete an undesired app - one at a time - from each device manually, then after they are gone from iDevices, delete they from iTunes? Of course, one would have to remember which apps exactly were deleted from all devices and they try to find them in iTunes, so they can be deleted there...

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Answer 4

Ramzy

Level 1

4 points

Dec 15, 2012 8:03 AM in response to diesel vdub

Diesel vdub Your point is moot for 2 simple reasons.

Reason #1 - Millions of users have been utilizing this "feature" since it was released some years back. I very much doubt that such a glaring bug would carry over for so many iterations of iTunes and iOS.

Reason #2 - When syncing, iTunes warns that there are apps on your iDevice which are not in your iTunes library. You're given the option to sync those apps to your library, or to skip them and have them deleted from your iDevice -- When you proceed with skipping, those apps still remain on your iDevice, and if you sync again, it will warn you AGAIN that your apps will be deleted. No matter how many times you sync, iTunes continues to warn you.

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Answer 5

Ramzy

Level 1

4 points

Nov 18, 2013 11:18 PM in response to VirtualPanther

Thank you very much, this resolved 2 issues I was experiencing:

1) iTunes would always give me a warning "There are apps on iDevice which are not in your itunes library"

2) My phone refused to automatically sync when plugged intom iTunes even though the option was checked.

Although I had to deauthorise my account TWICE in order to get this to work. I had 5/5 authorisations, when i deauthorised twice it brought it down to 3/5 authorisations, but once i re-authorised it fixed everything.

Thanks for replying to your topic and posting the solution!

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