Why don't my iPhone and iPad apps appear in my iTunes library?

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Level 1

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Why don't my iPhone and iPad apps appear in my iTunes library?

When I back up and sync my iPhone and iPad, the apps don't seem to transfer to my computer. This is not necessarily a problem, but I'm used to managing my apps from iTunes. I can see my current apps in a summary of each device, but they don't appear in my iTunes catalog. Basically, I can't manage my apps from iTunes. What gives?

My devices. 2015 Macbook pro 15" iPhone 6 and iPad mini 3. I have the most recent version of iTunes, whatever that is.

MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2015), OS X El Capitan (10.11), null

Posted on Oct 10, 2015 11:53 AM

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Answer 1

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morrispe

Level 4

1,224 points

Oct 10, 2015 1:39 PM in response to buxtonbrown

I used to do this as well but I stopped sync'ing my iOS devices to iTunes a few years back when over the air sync was enabled and then iCloud. I backup and sync my devices to iCloud and use iTunes Match plus Apple Music to manage whats on my devices so I don't sync to iTunes at all now and haven't for a long time.

I'm not certain if iTunes 12.3 still support iOS app syncing or not but its really not needed any more. I think originally you used to have to backup your purchased applications and pester Apple for a re-download if you lost one but now with iTunes in the Cloud Apple maintains a history of every app you've ever purchased and you can just download again directly on your iOS devices.

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