Transfer Purchases no longer working

In the same boat. Just moved to Japan on launch day, and my brand new 6S Plus can't backup to iCloud, nor iTunes, and purchases won't transfer. Apple starting to become the new Android, and that saddens me.

I worked as a Genius in the Apple store from '08 to '14, and I've never seen a lapse in quality like I have since iOS 8. The fact that the firmware was released with such blatant bugs are worrying to me. Out of all of my troubleshooting, nothing has worked. Glad I jumped ship to GoPro when I did.

grampus1 wrote:

IT appears that also we have to download our IOS as well to Itunes. It won't backup the OS any more?

I Just plugged the IPad in and it want to download the whole new IOS to ITunes 1.6GB

YIkes.

does this seem right?

It has always worked like that.

The "iTunes Guy" Kirk McElearn has written about this:

http://www.macworld.com/article/2987657/streaming-media/ask-the-itunes-guy-ios-9 -issues-song-ratings-syncing-videos.html

I guess this is as intended. Surely, there is a way to backup via iTunes or some other method. It doesn't bother me too much except for when my new 6s Plus comes in and I have to download GBs of apps that would have just copied over from iTunes... I am thinking about starting fresh when my 6s Plus comes in anyway. Music is in the cloud, photos are in the cloud, movies are in the cloud (except the ones I keep on the phone). It might be nice to start fresh...

The main thing that is bugging me is: Does this mean that apps (e.g. games) that I purchased and got subsequently withdrawn from the App Store can no longer be installed if I restore my phone? I would really like the idea of my games and apps having some form of security and not risking losing them when my phone has encountered some bugs and needs to be restored.

Thats exactly what it means.

A far better solution would have been to go back to individual device packages. What was the point of universal apps if they were just going to split them up again anyway. And split them up in this disjointed manner!!! Full app in iTunes and split app on device! Makes no **** sense at all.

At the very least they should implement automatic app updates in iTunes, that way I could disable auto updates on my device and just use iTunes.

Alex Macdonald wrote:

Thats exactly what it means.

A far better solution would have been to go back to individual device packages. What was the point of universal apps if they were just going to split them up again anyway. And split them up in this disjointed manner!!! Full app in iTunes and split app on device! Makes no **** sense at all.

.....

Your absolutely right. It seems that it is far beyond the capabilities of the

designers to do things that make sense.

Also, if you haven't already, voice your concerns via

http://www.apple.com/feedback/itunesapp.html

I have and if more people do, then maybe, just maybe the iTunes developers may get the

message!!!

Love this!

I want to sync my iDevices with new installation and there's no way to transfer purchases to iTunes and therefore sync with it.

I just wanted to add my voice to the chorus of disquiet over this feature problem.

Like everyone else, after upgrading to iOS9 I can no longer transfer apps from my iPad to iTunes (12.3) on my PC.

This is a massive inconvenience, because my home internet connection is slow, expensive and limited.

In the past i have updated/downloaded apps on my iPad 3 when connected to free wifi at my place of work. I then take my iPad 3 home, transfer all the apps to iTunes, and update the other devices in my house using iTunes.

This worked well for me, saving me both time and money. But, now I find myself, yet again, fighting Apple's arrogant assumption that everyone has cheap, plentiful broadband at home (don't even get me started on forced iOS update downloads!).

This is not a bug as this issue was reported to Apple by debs at beta versions. Because of Apple's newly announced feature about apps (App Thinning), apps are no longer transferred from iOS 9 devices. It's main idea is; basically, a different version of each app is downloaded on each device. Its aim is not to download or install unnecessary files for all types of iPhones or iPads. For example; if you have an iPhone 5s, and you change your phone to iPhone 5, same app will not download app's files about Touch ID, so it will be a lighter app for iPhone 5.

For this reason after you restore from a backup from iTunes, your device has the information about installed apps on the device and after restore, apps will be downloaded (Like iCloud Restore) with the version for your current device.

So there will be no fix for your issue. But you can download apps from iTunes manually.

I haven't actually tried this in a while because I was always updating on my phone and iPad... does it work from iTunes to the iOS device? Has it become a one-way street? I like updating on my device because I can see a visual history of updates, but that means some apps that are universal I end up downloading 3 times if you include iTunes... that causes bandwidth issues.

I might have to go back to downloading in iTunes and syncing, if that still works. I hate it because when they update in iTunes, I don't always see what the changes were...

I think that with iCloud photos, iTunes Match/Apple Music (if you use them), iCloud calendar/contacts, etc. and now the apps in iTunes cloud that Apple is trying to distance itself from iTunes syncing all together. In all honesty, with the issues iTunes has with syncing, this might actually be beneficial.... depending on your application, of course.

I am encountering this is on my iPhone 5 running 9.0.2 (13A452). Wanted to do a full wipe and restore to see if it will help resolve some 'buggy' behaviors and it starts to handshake but never starts transferring the apps. The funny thing about it is that I also have an iPad 2 running 9.1 (13B5110e) and it DOES seem to work there.

Ok, scratch that. It starts to transfer files, but they're just a few PDF's from iBooks. It never actually transferred any applications.

So how is one supposed to restore an iOS device while offline now? Plus, won't relying on the iCloud download cause you to lose settings for apps that the device has to redownload after the restore?

FWIW, I agree with you that this is a major step backwards. Then again,

the internet and iTunes Store never, ever, ever go down or are unavailable!!

The "new improved way" to make sure your iTunes library has the same app

versions as your device:

1. Open iTunes.

2. Select the Apps pane.

3. Select Updates.

4. Download the updates to iTunes.

5. Connect your device to your computer.

6. Wait for backup and download of Apps to the iPhone to complete.

The alternative "improved method" is to download app update/purchases to the iDevice

and also open iTunes and do the update within it as well (Download app twice!!).

Isn't this sooooo much easier than simply download to the iDevice and then

have the apps backup to iTunes when syncing!!!!!

There is a whole lot of doublespeak about "app trimming" requiring the change, which

in reality is just an excuse for not writing an application for how people really use it.

After all, Apple knows which devices you have, can't iTunes be written to be smart enough

to deal with it!!!!

I'm so glad I found this thread. I was going mad trying to figure out why I couldn't get apps to transfer. I've read all the info, but I still can't see a good reason for Apple to do this. What a horrible decision. I know I'm not really helping here, but I wanted to join the chorus of people who hate this new design.

cackleberry wrote:

I'm so glad I found this thread. I was going mad trying to figure out why I couldn't get apps to transfer. I've read all the info, but I still can't see a good reason for Apple to do this. What a horrible decision. I know I'm not really helping here, but I wanted to join the chorus of people who hate this new design.

Voice your displeasure with the decision here:

http://www.apple.com/feedback/itunesapp.html

This is a user forum is not closely monitored directly by Apple. The above link

is a direct pipeline to Apple. If enough people voice their displeasure by

voicing it in the above link, perhaps, just perhaps something will be done.

However, I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for a solution.