Are ipa files a thing anymore?

[Analog Kid]

I've got a Mobile Applications folder full of .ipa files in my iTunes media folder. Are those even a thing anymore or can I delete them? Last restore I did, it looked like everything dowloaded from the network.

I favored the partitioning of the media database into separate managers but, man, I wish iTunes would have cleaned up the mess it made when it exploded into a million bits-- that media folder is full of crap and I don't know what's actually important. I'm tempted to just start with fresh libraries for everything and drag the media files onto the various apps to reimport, but last time I did that I spent an eternity undoing all the "compilation" albums that iTunes made.

 

[Shirasaki]

Those ipa files are for installing iOS applications locally. Usually it includes all versions too (device agnostic). You can delete them if you are confident to not need to install any app locally ever again. I keep them for faster update and save some data.

 

[Analog Kid]

Those ipa files are for installing iOS applications locally. Usually it includes all versions too (device agnostic). You can delete them if you are confident to not need to install any app locally ever again. I keep them for faster update and save some data.

Are they still used? I don't see any indication that when I do a local sync that they're being copied one way or the other... I don't use iCloud backup.

 

[NoBoMac]

Apps have not been backed up since 2017 timeframe. iMazing does app "backup" but it's really contacting App Store and downloading from there, and then can install from local copy via their software. Guessing other competing products do the same.

As mentioned here, App Store items do not get backed up via Finder/iTunes backups or via iCloud backups.

Just eating disk space at this time.

 

[Analog Kid]

Apps have not been backed up since 2017 timeframe. iMazing does app "backup" but it's really contacting App Store and downloading from there, and then can install from local copy via their software. Guessing other competing products do the same.

As mentioned here, App Store items do not get backed up via Finder/iTunes backups or via iCloud backups.

Just eating disk space at this time.

Thanks. That's kind of what I'd expected since the time stamps are pretty old, and couldn't think of much downside to nuking them, but couldn't get myself to click delete yet just in case. The link is pretty authoritative.

 

[arw]

Regarding ipa files in general, there a niche use case:
I only update via AppleConfigurator and backup the ipa files so I can downgrade an app in case some bug gets introduced in the current version. Or if an app gets completely removed from the App Store and I have to set up a new device.

 

[Analog Kid]

Regarding ipa files in general, there a niche use case:
I only update via AppleConfigurator and backup the ipa files so I can downgrade an app in case some bug gets introduced in the current version. Or if an app gets completely removed from the App Store and I have to set up a new device.

Interesting, and that nugget of wisdom makes me feel like this thread might be useful to more people than just me….

I don’t think I’ll follow that path myself, but good to know it’s possible. Thanks!