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Kendo

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Apr 4, 2011
2,339
858
I have a ton of apps on my iPhone that I want to get rid of. I can manually delete each and every one but I wanted to do a fresh clean install while still maintaining things like my contacts. If starting from scratch and erasing all content and settings as a brand new phone is the cleanest you can get, how do I get the next cleanest with a fresh iPhone BUT still have my contacts and notes? I don't need messages saved or anything else, and all my photos are on iCloud Photo Library.
 

bcave098

macrumors 6502a
Sep 6, 2015
516
207
Northern British Columbia
I have a ton of apps on my iPhone that I want to get rid of. I can manually delete each and every one but I wanted to do a fresh clean install while still maintaining things like my contacts. If starting from scratch and erasing all content and settings as a brand new phone is the cleanest you can get, how do I get the next cleanest with a fresh iPhone BUT still have my contacts and notes? I don't need messages saved or anything else, and all my photos are on iCloud Photo Library.

If you sync contacts and notes with iCloud or another email service, then those contacts will return upon signing in to iCloud or that email.
 

ZEEN0j

macrumors 68000
Sep 29, 2014
1,569
721
Everything that's checked in iCloud settings on your phone you will get back without restoring from a backup as mentioned above. Reminders, calendar, notes, contacts, safari etc.
 

Kendo

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Apr 4, 2011
2,339
858
Suppose I backed up my iPhone to my Mac a few weeks ago but I've been backing up on iCloud until now. If I need one single app that is on my Mac (since it is no longer available on the App Store), can I sync my iPhone to that backup and ONLY get the app? I don't want to restore my phone from a backup that is 3 weeks old.
 

Eau Rouge

macrumors regular
Sep 21, 2013
145
87
What about if I sync the app from my backup to my iPhone, will it just add it?

The app file is separate from the device backup. Doing a sync with itunes set to install the app will do just that, without any app data. You'd have to do a restore to get the app state to what it was previously, but that's all or nothing as noted above.
 
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