Copy apps from iPhone to iTunes (MAC)

Hei,


I downgraded my iTunes to 12.6.3.6 to be able to manage my apps from my computer. I have some apps that were removed from Apple Store in my iPhone and I want to paste them in my iPad. Using iCloud for that seems to not be an option for it.


My question is how do I copy/transfer my apps from my iPhone to iTunes?

I tried to backup the iPhone's whole content as well as sync with Mac, but the apps don't show up in my library list.


I don't get why is Apple making somethings more complicated lately... 😟


Thanks for any support! 🙂 Have a great day.


Regards.

Sergio

Posted on Feb 18, 2018 4:39 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Feb 18, 2018 5:01 AM

File > Devices > Transfer Purchases from <Device> will copy over anything that can be copied and isn't in the local library.


iOS 9 introduced a feature called App Thinning, which allows each device to hold only the code and resources that apply to its hardware, screen size etc. A thinned app will only work on the device it is on, so iTunes 12.6.3.6 and earlier stopped transferring thinned apps from device into library. For many users this change won't have been readily apparent, because even if they hadn't downloaded the universal version of the app come restore time iTunes and iOS changed so that any app that wasn't available in the local library at the time of restore would be installed directly from the store without causing an error as would have occurred in earlier builds. If the app in question is no longer in the store, and no longer in the Mobile Applications folder of your media folder, or some backup thereof, then there is nothing you can do. There might be a third party app that can backup the copy of the app you have on the phone so it could be reinstalled later, but I wouldn't expect that to work on the iPad, nor do I recommend such tools.


tt2

3 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Feb 18, 2018 5:01 AM in response to snifferbrazil

File > Devices > Transfer Purchases from <Device> will copy over anything that can be copied and isn't in the local library.


iOS 9 introduced a feature called App Thinning, which allows each device to hold only the code and resources that apply to its hardware, screen size etc. A thinned app will only work on the device it is on, so iTunes 12.6.3.6 and earlier stopped transferring thinned apps from device into library. For many users this change won't have been readily apparent, because even if they hadn't downloaded the universal version of the app come restore time iTunes and iOS changed so that any app that wasn't available in the local library at the time of restore would be installed directly from the store without causing an error as would have occurred in earlier builds. If the app in question is no longer in the store, and no longer in the Mobile Applications folder of your media folder, or some backup thereof, then there is nothing you can do. There might be a third party app that can backup the copy of the app you have on the phone so it could be reinstalled later, but I wouldn't expect that to work on the iPad, nor do I recommend such tools.


tt2

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Copy apps from iPhone to iTunes (MAC)

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