What about my apps?

[r0k]

I just went through an iPod Touch repair/replacement and found that I had to manually dig up and restore all my apps. Who knows why. Perhaps it's because I let MoMe push my mail to my 'touch and hadn't connected it via usb since 09/09 but all my apps were missing after the restore. I'm sure part of it has to do with always using the app store on my 'touch to buy things and never buying them in iTunes on my Mac.

So my question is this. How do I get all my apps over to the iPad? Should I do a "backup" of my new touch and restore it to the iPad or do I have to go through the lengthy redownload of everything on the iPad? I decided to prioritize only those apps I paid for and only had to download about 30 but there were another 170+ apps I decided could wait a while. Many of them were worthless demos I won't miss but still it would be nice to be able to push a button and have them all show up on the iPad even if I had to go in and delete some of them rather than redownloading them one by one. Oh, and by the way, the redownload proces involves "buying" them again and only finding out afterwards whether you will see a popup saying the app is free because you already bought it. Isn't this backwards? Shouldn't I see a confirmation before I spend money rather than a confirmation asking me if I'm sure I want something for free?

Any ideas on a good approach for mass-migrating apps over to iPad from iPod touch when they weren't purchased through iTunes on the desktop?

 

[Totty]

Your iTunes Library should have a copy of all of your apps. If not, a sync of your iPod Touch will offer the option to copy purchases from the device to your library.
With all your apps in your library, all you will have to do is plug in your iPad and, assuming the setup looks the same as iPhone/Touch, select to sync all or some apps from your iTunes Library.

 

[rorschach]

Your apps that you buy on your Touch should be copied to iTunes when you sync. Is it not doing that?

 

[applesupergeek]

cmd click select transfer purchases if it isn't doing that.

 

[frunkis54]

So my question is this. How do I get all my apps over to the iPad? Should I do a "backup" of my new touch and restore it to the iPad or do I have to go through the lengthy redownload of everything on the iPad? I decided to prioritize only those apps I paid for and only had to download about 30 but there were another 170+ apps I decided could wait a while. Many of them were worthless demos I won't miss but still it would be nice to be able to push a button and have them all show up on the iPad even if I had to go in and delete some of them rather than redownloading them one by one. Oh, and by the way, the redownload proces involves "buying" them again and only finding out afterwards whether you will see a popup saying the app is free because you already bought it. Isn't this backwards? Shouldn't I see a confirmation before I spend money rather than a confirmation asking me if I'm sure I want something for free?

Any ideas on a good approach for mass-migrating apps over to iPad from iPod touch when they weren't purchased through iTunes on the desktop?

the ipod touch is a different device than the ipad so you won't be able to do a restore off your ipod. what you need to do is make sure all the apps you purchased off your ipod are transfered over to itunes on your computer. then when you sync your ipad it will let you sync whichever apps you want on the ipad.

 

[r0k]

Your iTunes Library should have a copy of all of your apps. If not, a sync of your iPod Touch will offer the option to copy purchases from the device to your library.
With all your apps in your library, all you will have to do is plug in your iPad and, assuming the setup looks the same as iPhone/Touch, select to sync all or some apps from your iTunes Library.

I must have decided not to select this setting.

Your apps that you buy on your Touch should be copied to iTunes when you sync. Is it not doing that?

No it didn't.

cmd click select transfer purchases if it isn't doing that.

Thanks for these suggestions. I will give this a try when I get home. I looked in Apple's knowledge base and it said apps get copied to a mobile folder under ~/Music/iTunes/Mobile Apps but there wasn't even any such folder on my Mac so I bet I never bothered to "copy apps to iTunes". For future reference, now I know why I should.

To tell you the truth, when I'm paying for Mobile Me and all my contacts, calendar etc are being sync'd wirelessly, why shouldn't my apps be backed up wirelessly? But since Apple hasn't realized we need this yet, I guess I can dig out my usb cable and use it more often than once every 6 months...

 

[applesupergeek]

Yes, their cloud storage and over the air syncing hasn't been as refined as a lot of us would like to. I hope they are working hard at it.

 

[IronLogik]

Imagine trying to sync the 1.4gig navigation apps over the air.

I mean seriously... there's a huge difference between syncing a calendar or contacts and syncing multi-megabyte or even 100meg+ up to 1.5gig applications over the air.

Just sync your iPod Touch, it'll be much faster.

 

[applesupergeek]

Imagine trying to sync the 1.4gig navigation apps over the air.

I mean seriously... there's a huge difference between syncing a calendar or contacts and syncing multi-megabyte or even 100meg+ up to 1.5gig applications over the air.

Just sync your iPod Touch, it'll be much faster.

Ok sure, there are exceptions that you would have to plug in, but a couple of hundred mbs for all the other apps which is what we are talking about is not that big a deal.

 

[matticus008]

I just went through an iPod Touch repair/replacement and found that I had to manually dig up and restore all my apps. Who knows why. Perhaps it's because I let MoMe push my mail to my 'touch and hadn't connected it via usb since 09/09 but all my apps were missing after the restore.

Sounds like you know exactly why.

I'm sure part of it has to do with always using the app store on my 'touch to buy things and never buying them in iTunes on my Mac.

Well, to reproduce your problem, that's step one. Step two is not ever syncing your iPod with iTunes.

So my question is this. How do I get all my apps over to the iPad? Should I do a "backup" of my new touch and restore it to the iPad or do I have to go through the lengthy redownload of everything on the iPad?

Just choose the ones you want on your iPad from your iTunes app library.

Any ideas on a good approach for mass-migrating apps over to iPad from iPod touch when they weren't purchased through iTunes on the desktop?

Plug your iPod in to transfer apps and do a full backup at least once a week. Problem solved.

No it didn't.

Because you never synced...

To tell you the truth, when I'm paying for Mobile Me and all my contacts, calendar etc are being sync'd wirelessly,

MobileMe handles email, contacts, and calendar data. It doesn't sync any documents (except your iDisk), call data, SMS history, applications, or anything else. It's not an iPod/iPhone backup/sync service--it's a cloud-based communications service.

I guess I can dig out my usb cable and use it more often than once every 6 months...

Yeah, unless you only want 6-month old backups of your files and data.

 

[r0k]

Yes, their cloud storage and over the air syncing hasn't been as refined as a lot of us would like to. I hope they are working hard at it.

I hope so to. Perhaps that big server farm?

Imagine trying to sync the 1.4gig navigation apps over the air.

I mean seriously... there's a huge difference between syncing a calendar or contacts and syncing multi-megabyte or even 100meg+ up to 1.5gig applications over the air.

Just sync your iPod Touch, it'll be much faster.

Wow. I don't have any app bigger than about 100 meg and that's reasonable to back up via Wifi.

Sounds like you know exactly why.

Well, to reproduce your problem, that's step one. Step two is not ever syncing your iPod with iTunes.

Just choose the ones you want on your iPad from your iTunes app library.

Plug your iPod in to transfer apps and do a full backup at least once a week. Problem solved.

Because you never synced...

MobileMe handles email, contacts, and calendar data. It doesn't sync any documents (except your iDisk), call data, SMS history, applications, or anything else. It's not an iPod/iPhone backup/sync service--it's a cloud-based communications service.

Yeah, unless you only want 6-month old backups of your files and data.

I'm doing a "transfer apps" as I write this. I only wish I'd done it before wifitrak winked out of existence. And yes, it's perfectly reasonable for MoMe to handle backup OTA or at least via Wifi. Blackberry does this for their enterprise customers and the Palm Pre does this. C'mon, Apple. Bring it!

 

[matticus008]

And yes, it's perfectly reasonable for MoMe to handle backup OTA or at least via Wifi.

Given that MobileMe isn't a backup service, I don't see how.

 

[r0k]

Given that MobileMe isn't a backup service, I don't see how.

When I purchased MoMe, one of the downloads I got was backup software so I could have my stuff backed up to iDisk if I wanted. I don't know if this is included any more but it was at one time.

MobileMe contains the following features:
Mail
Push Mail to iThings OTA or wifi
Wireless sync of contacts/calendar/etc to iThings OTA or wifi
Sync of contacts/calendar/etc between Macs you use
Web storage for iWeb pages but no shtml or php support
Photo galleries with flash based mouseover previews
iDisk - file backup
iDisk - file sharing between Macs you use
iDisk - public file sharing for files you want others to see
BackToMyMac

I know Apple has been floundering trying to figure out what MobileMe is and how to sell it. The most compelling thing they offer is push email but gmail is offering that for free. Web hosting can also be had for free and there are a number of calendar sync services out there like schedule world. For this reason, I'm hoping Apple wakes up and offers some compelling content (including iPhone/iPod Touch/Ipad backup) going forward or MoMe could turn out to be Apple's AOL.

 

[Doju]

Wow. I don't have any app bigger than about 100 meg and that's reasonable to back up via Wifi.

Your point? Or did you just want Apple to create a Mobile Me feature for you?

If they provide it for one person they provide it to everyone. That means it's open to syncing 1.5GB apps which is ridiculous when the lazy could just plug in their iPod instead.

 

[goobot]

cause its hard to plug in your ipod when your not using it?

 

[matticus008]

When I purchased MoMe, one of the downloads I got was backup software so I could have my stuff backed up to iDisk if I wanted. I don't know if this is included any more but it was at one time.

File sync software for individual files on your Mac, not for your iPod or iPhone system files or applications, or even a full-system backup utility for your Mac.

iDisk is cloud data storage. You can put whatever you want there, but you have to put the files there or nothing happens.

There are online backup services that run a full system backup, but MobileMe isn't one of them. It has file storage where you can keep whatever you want, but that doesn't make it a backup service any more than copying some files to a USB drive is a backup service. It's just a second copy of some files, which is useful, but not a system backup.