iTunes sync takes too much space on mac

[Raizen.Z09]

Hi,

I'm trying to clear up disk space on my MacBook Pro and I found iTunes is using up too much space, so I decided to dig in and see how is it using so much of my disk space.

Beside my large music library, I found that iTunes is saving all my iPad and iPhone .ipa files of every application I have in a folder call "Mobile Applications".

By checking this Apple support page iTunes: About iOS backups. In the What does iTunes back up part of the article it says iTunes does back up the "App Store app data (except the app itself, its tmp, and Caches folder)".

I'm curious why are those .ipa files there and how to stop iTunes from syncing those .ipa to my Mac? Since if I deleted some apps on my iDevice, when I want them back I can download them back from Purchase section on App Store anyway, I don't need to sync the app back from my Mac.

 

[ErikGrim]

Don’t sync apps with iTunes. Simple.

 

[cookies!]

There's a setting to not sync apps when syncing with iTunes somewhere in iTunes

 

[Raizen.Z09]

There's a setting to not sync apps when syncing with iTunes somewhere in iTunes

I've dig through iTunes Preferences, that option does not exist there.

 

[Raizen.Z09]

It appears like I found a solution.

I just deleted my Device backups in iTunes Preferences > Devices. I also deleted all the .ipa files in the "Mobile Applications" folder (by default it's: ~/Zen/Music/iTunes/iTunes Media/Mobile Applications/)

After I did that, plug my iDevices to my Mac, start the sync. This dialogue show up:

I clicked on "Don't Back Up Apps" and after the sync, I checked the "Mobile Applications" folder, there's is no .ipa files there. But over times there might be a few (but not all) .ipa files there. I suppose they are new updates of the apps that got transfer to iTunes library when it say "Transfering purchases from your iPhone/iPad".

Still, Apple should add an option in the Preferences to prevent iTunes from syncing app .ipa backups.

I hope this helps other who are having the same problem.

 

[Lennyvalentin]

If you back up your iThings to iCloud instead of your local computer you shouldn't run into these kinds of issues. Toggling your backup destination is done inside iTunes after first connecting and then clicking the button for your iThing. Hth!

 

[Raizen.Z09]

If you back up your iThings to iCloud instead of your local computer you shouldn't run into these kinds of issues. Toggling your backup destination is done inside iTunes after first connecting and then clicking the button for your iThing. Hth!

Now that you've mention it. I just ran into a weird issue this morning when I was trying to find a solution. My iPad back up need over 17GB Of space on iCloud in order to do the back up. I lol'ed.

Now my back ups are on my computer and checking the backup folder, it just takes up about 2GB of storage on my MBP.

About that 17GB iCloud back up though, I'm still scatching my head over that...

 

[josephd]

iTunes sync takes too much space on mac

Don’t sync apps with iTunes. Simple.

So I am curious, how do you back up your apps? If you don't use iTunes.
Any data in your apps that you need to save, will not be.
And if you back up your apps to iCloud. Won't the same files be stored within iCloud?
Not to mention, with only 5GB's of storage. Your available space would disappear in a hurry.

 

[Planey28]

So I am curious, how do you back up your apps? If you don't use iTunes.
Any data in your apps that you need to save, will not be.
And if you back up your apps to iCloud. Won't the same files be stored within iCloud?
Not to mention, with only 5GB's of storage. Your available space would disappear in a hurry.

App data is still backed up with iTunes if you have app sync turned off. Not sure what you mean about iCloud.. iCloud backs up your app data as well and will re-download the apps from the app store when you restore your data. There's no point in backing up the apps themselves to iCloud when they can just be redownloaded from the store... there's basically no point to ever backing up the app bundles themselves, except for cases where apps are removed from the store.

 

[josephd]

iTunes sync takes too much space on mac

App data is still backed up with iTunes if you have app sync turned off. Not sure what you mean about iCloud.. iCloud backs up your app data as well and will re-download the apps from the app store when you restore your data. There's no point in backing up the apps themselves to iCloud when they can just be redownloaded from the store... there's basically no point to ever backing up the app bundles themselves, except for cases where apps are removed from the store.

I have to find the thread, we were talking about the same thing.
And I agree with your theory. But the poster said, "the reason you back up some of your apps, is because of the data within the app which gets lost".
I tested his theory, and he was correct to a point.
For example, my medical card has my member number, and zip code in it, and AAA also has the same thing.
If you don't back those up, and restore them from either iTunes, or iCloud all that information gets erased, if you just download them again as new.

 

[josephd]

It appears like I found a solution.



I just deleted my Device backups in iTunes Preferences > Devices. I also deleted all the .ipa files in the "Mobile Applications" folder (by default it's: ~/Zen/Music/iTunes/iTunes Media/Mobile Applications/)



After I did that, plug my iDevices to my Mac, start the sync. This dialogue show up:

Image



I clicked on "Don't Back Up Apps" and after the sync, I checked the "Mobile Applications" folder, there's is no .ipa files there. But over times there might be a few (but not all) .ipa files there. I suppose they are new updates of the apps that got transfer to iTunes library when it say "Transfering purchases from your iPhone/iPad".



Still, Apple should add an option in the Preferences to prevent iTunes from syncing app .ipa backups.



I hope this helps other who are having the same problem.

I don't know how that works out for you. But I deleted my apps in iTunes, backed up my phone.
When I got the message to back up the apps, I clicked no.
After the phone finished backing up, all the apps ended up being restored.
And those ipa files you talked about are back in the mobile applications file.
At this point, I am not going to worry about it.
What's funny with Apple, you need both iTunes, and iCloud.
If you want to sync music, pictures etc to your phone.
ITunes is the easiest way to do it. But clicking sync ends up creating a back up onto your PC.

 

[ErikGrim]

So I am curious, how do you back up your apps? If you don't use iTunes.
Any data in your apps that you need to save, will not be.
And if you back up your apps to iCloud. Won't the same files be stored within iCloud?
Not to mention, with only 5GB's of storage. Your available space would disappear in a hurry.

iCloud saves data, not apps. Apps come from the App Store. There’s zero need to back up individual .ipas either on your computer or on iCloud (which is why they are not backed up to iCloud).

For the record I have 200GB iCloud space, but only 10.2MB is taken up by app data.

Now there is a valid use case for backing up .ipas to your computer via iTunes: If you want to do a restore via iTunes and avoid having to redownload all applications (much faster that way). But generally they are a waste of space.

 

[josephd]

iTunes sync takes too much space on mac

iCloud saves data, not apps. Apps come from the App Store. There’s zero need to back up individual .ipas either on your computer or on iCloud (which is why they are not backed up to iCloud).

For the record I have 200GB iCloud space, but only 10.2MB is taken up by app data.

Now there is a valid use case for backing up .ipas to your computer via iTunes: If you want to do a restore via iTunes and avoid having to redownload all applications (much faster that way). But generally they are a waste of space.

I use iCloud back up, with only 5GB's. With 34 apps, I still have 4.9 GB's of storage left.

I was just curious when it came to those ipa files.
I never gave it a thought until I saw this thread, and did some digging myself.
It seems the apps when you do a restore through iTunes, takes up more space as opposed to an iCloud back up.
Maybe because you can toggle off what apps data you don't want backed up.