Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Rava

macrumors member
Jul 9, 2015
79
57
So does the auto download solution mean I shouldn't update apps on my phone anymore? I'd rather not have to plug into itunes every time I want to download an update.

And if I understand correctly to get all my apps on a new device without redownloading them all I have to set up my phone as new instead of restoring from a backup? How does that work in terms of preserving all my other data (contacts songs etc)? Before I would just restore a backup on a new device and it was exactly the same as the old device. Is it still possible to do that? I also have apps that I need to keep older versions of.
 

Merkie

macrumors 68020
Oct 23, 2008
2,123
738
Apple should fix this. It should be quite easy, right? Just show a popup when transferring purchases asking the user to make the app universal and download the remaining assets for each app.
 

haruhiko

macrumors 604
Sep 29, 2009
6,691
6,244
I thought my iTunes didn't work when I tried to backup the apps on my old phone for transferring to my new iPhone 6s Plus. And then I found this thread. iTunes is an absolute nightmare now. Avoid at all cost. Embrace the super slow iCloud restore :(
 

Rava

macrumors member
Jul 9, 2015
79
57
Using iCloud only works if you have enough space for your backup though. I feel like this is Apple trying to force everyone to pay $1/month for the 50 gb option.

And it seems there's no way to partially restore a backup. So you can't load the apps on your phone manually through itunes and restore your photos from your old phone at the same time. What a mess.
 

nwlondonlad

macrumors 65816
Sep 20, 2007
1,015
729
UK London
I've got a bit of a problem. I had an app that is on my 6+ which has been removed from the app store. When I backup and transfer to my 6s+ everything now transfers except this app. Doesn't show up in purchase history on my pc or in iTunes.
Only place I have access to it is on my original phone. The fix in the past would have been to transfer purchases but this has now been taken out from iTunes in ios9.

Any solutions to get this app out of my phone?
 

saudor

macrumors 68000
Jul 18, 2011
1,512
2,115
Looks like you can't even reliably download the update in iTunes and sync back to the device. It does it sometimes but not for all. All my pending updates on the device remain un-updated despite having the update in iTunes app library
 

nebo1ss

macrumors 68030
Jun 2, 2010
2,909
1,709
Did Apple not make an announcement that they withdrew this feature because it did not work. Also there is a separate thread with people reporting new app downloads from the App Store for apps that were already updated. I assumed this was Apple giving users the non thinned version. Of course there is no need for App thinning if Apple would replace the 16 gig Phone with a 32 gig unit. False economy to add this feature for both Apple and Devs.
 

chrizzz09

macrumors 6502
May 18, 2013
276
315
Germany
Well apparently Apple did fix the bug in the new Xcode version for App Thinning.
But I don't know if they have to enable/change something on their side on iCloud or the App Store
 

getrealbro

macrumors 6502a
Sep 25, 2015
604
262
For those planning to use iTunes to download app updates once and then sync them with their iPhones/iPads…

Keep in mind that iTunes will download the latest update. iToys with older versions of iOS may not be compatible with the latest update. So ALL of the iToys you backup and sync to the same Mac need to be running the SAME version of iOS. You can get around this by backing up /syncing the iToys running an older version of iOS to a different Mac.

I know this because we usually backup and sync all of our iToys to the same iMac. This allows us to use iTunes to download updates once and then sync them with our iToys without re-downloading the same apps three times*. But our iPhone 5s and iPad Mini are currently running iOs 7.1.2 while I decide when I want to update them to iOS 9.0.1. Currently both of these iToys can’t sync 26 apps via iTunes, because the newest version is not compatible with iOS 7.1.2.

— GetRealBro

* We live less than 40 miles from our state’s capitol and the very best uncapped internet we can get has a theoretical 6 Mbs bandwidth. But most of the time what we actually get is more like 1 or 2 Mbps :( So iOS and app updates can be painfully slow and frequently timeout.
 

newellj

macrumors G3
Oct 15, 2014
8,154
3,047
East of Eden
For those planning to use iTunes to download app updates once and then sync them with their iPhones/iPads…

Keep in mind that iTunes will download the latest update. iToys with older versions of iOS may not be compatible with the latest update. So ALL of the iToys you backup and sync to the same Mac need to be running the SAME version of iOS. You can get around this by backing up /syncing the iToys running an older version of iOS to a different Mac.

I know this because we usually backup and sync all of our iToys to the same iMac. This allows us to use iTunes to download updates once and then sync them with our iToys without re-downloading the same apps three times*. But our iPhone 5s and iPad Mini are currently running iOs 7.1.2 while I decide when I want to update them to iOS 9.0.1. Currently both of these iToys can’t sync 26 apps via iTunes, because the newest version is not compatible with iOS 7.1.2.

— GetRealBro

* We live less than 40 miles from our state’s capitol and the very best uncapped internet we can get has a theoretical 6 Mbs bandwidth. But most of the time what we actually get is more like 1 or 2 Mbps :( So iOS and app updates can be painfully slow and frequently timeout.

This is true only in a limited sense. The locally archived version of an app may not be able to be installed/restored to an device running an older version of iOS, but syncing with different computers isn't going to solve that problem. Just because the device you're syncing with Computer #1 is still on iOS 7.1.2 does not prevent iTunes from downloading the latest, iOS 9-only, version of an app - unless you're saying that at some point you arbitrarily decide to stop downloading app updates from Apple using iTunes for older devices? But in that case, how do you know when the developer has made a change that's no longer compatible with the version of iOS that you've identified with that specific computer?

I have had devices running three or four different versions of iOS for many years and have never had a problem. (Until relatively recently, I had devices running iOS 5, 6, 7 and 8 all syncing on the same two computers.)
 

cmichaelb

macrumors 68020
Aug 6, 2008
2,286
742
Italy
For those planning to use iTunes to download app updates once and then sync them with their iPhones/iPads…

Keep in mind that iTunes will download the latest update. iToys with older versions of iOS may not be compatible with the latest update. So ALL of the iToys you backup and sync to the same Mac need to be running the SAME version of iOS. You can get around this by backing up /syncing the iToys running an older version of iOS to a different Mac.

I know this because we usually backup and sync all of our iToys to the same iMac. This allows us to use iTunes to download updates once and then sync them with our iToys without re-downloading the same apps three times*. But our iPhone 5s and iPad Mini are currently running iOs 7.1.2 while I decide when I want to update them to iOS 9.0.1. Currently both of these iToys can’t sync 26 apps via iTunes, because the newest version is not compatible with iOS 7.1.2.

— GetRealBro

* We live less than 40 miles from our state’s capitol and the very best uncapped internet we can get has a theoretical 6 Mbs bandwidth. But most of the time what we actually get is more like 1 or 2 Mbps :( So iOS and app updates can be painfully slow and frequently timeout.

6? Wow. I'm so glad I live where I do.
 

Traverse

macrumors 604
Mar 11, 2013
7,711
4,491
Here
How is it half a game?

The idea appears to be that your device only downloads the resources you need, so it would only download the first few levels of a game and dynamically download the rest as needed. That's just prone to be a headache.
 

cmichaelb

macrumors 68020
Aug 6, 2008
2,286
742
Italy
The idea appears to be that your device only downloads the resources you need, so it would only download the first few levels of a game and dynamically download the rest as needed. That's just prone to be a headache.

No that's not what it does. It only downloads the resources for your device. Say you download a game that's made for iPad air 2 through iPhone 4s.

App thinning means if you owned the 4s, only the assets needed to run the app on the 4s will be downloaded making a smaller app size.

The iPad air 2 art assests etc. will not be downloaded.

You get the complete game with only the parts optimized for your particular device.

I've been advocating for this for years ever since Retina iPads came out.
 
Last edited:

Traverse

macrumors 604
Mar 11, 2013
7,711
4,491
Here
No that's not what it does. It only downloads the resources for your device. Say you download a game that's made for iPad air 2 through iPhone 4s.

App thinning means if you owned the 4s, only the assets needed to run the app on the 4s will be downloaded making a smaller app size.

The iPad air 2 art assests etc. will not be downloaded.

You get the complete game with only the parts optimized for your particular device.

I've been advocating for this for years ever since Retina iPads came out.

That's one aspect, dynamic downloads is another part.
 

getrealbro

macrumors 6502a
Sep 25, 2015
604
262
This is true only in a limited sense. ....
Oh, this works. I backed up and kept the apps in iTunes “up to date” on an iPhone 3Gs* until just a few months ago. You don’t even have to use a separate Mac. Each account on a Mac has its own folders for MobileSync (where the backups are stored) and Mobile Applications (where the apps are stored).

The trick is to update the apps for each old iToy OTA, and only use iTunes to back it up manually, telling iTunes to transfer the updates that are not already in that account's Mobile Application library. This keeps the apps in the Mobile Applications library (on that Account/Mac) compatible with whatever version of iOS that older iToy is running. And of course, you never want to tell iTunes to "update" the apps in that account's library.

— GetRealBro

* I was always happy to see that some app developers made their updates compatible with my antique iPhone 3Gs. BTW I like my new 6s but I’d still be happily using my 3Gs if it had survived its most recent aqueous encounter.
 

jb-net

macrumors regular
Apr 7, 2012
152
692
Austria
If I download an app over iTunes, does iTunes do the App Thinning when syncing with an iPhone/iPad or does the iPad still gets the whole universal app-file?
 

soccerjoshj07

macrumors regular
Oct 11, 2011
241
55
So iTunes doesn't transfer the apps anymore still, like this is the future method?

So what's the alternative, just download the apps on the computer as well as phone?
 

sanke1

macrumors 65816
Nov 9, 2010
1,067
436
This defeats the purpose of universal app.

So let me understand this whole situation correctly,

Every App will have it's version for each and every iDevice
4S
5, 5c
5S
6
6+
6S
6S+
iPad 2, iPad Mini 1
iPad 3
iPad 4
iPad Air
iPad Air 2
iPad Mini 2, iPad Mini 3
iPad Mini 4
iPad Pro

So App Store has to determine separate sizes for app of every variant and devs have to do the extra work for it?
(15 total variants) This will only increase once Apple further expands their product portfolio.

Too much resources (CPU) wise would be wasted everytime a user updates his/her app by the App Store because it has to calculate checksums and different variables to determine which files are getting pushed to which device.

Users cannot sync their apps to iTunes to back them up.

All this for what?

So that Apple can sell 16 GB variant in 2015/2016!

By this time any self certified Apple fanboy must realize how much Apple is intercoursing with our rear!

I wouldn't be surprised if Apple abandons this App thinning in next 2 years once they introduce 32 GB entry level variant citing too much work and once enough devs start complaining about it too.

So I can see this being a big fail and unsustainable in the long run.
 

newellj

macrumors G3
Oct 15, 2014
8,154
3,047
East of Eden
Certainly seems like it would increase the work by devs, and I agree that selling 16GB devices today is almost a deceptive trade practice. Forget about the OS and apps, look at how fast Live Photos and hi-res video fill up storage.
 

Yongkykun

macrumors member
Jul 21, 2015
61
22
And yet they still limit our download size to 100MB. Trying to be cute aren't they?
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.