Missing apps, music, and ringtones?!?!

[caysters]

Just upgraded to iOS 5, so lets just say that when I discovered the amount of apps completely missing from itunes and my phone, let alone the number of ringtones and songs missing, I was VERY upset.

Any ideas on how to get these back? Obviously I have paid for my ringtones and songs, so I am extremely mad that they are just gone.

My phone was backed up before the upgrade, but I have no clue how to access it.

NOT happy Apple!!!!

 

[Bernard SG]

First, try restarting your phone.

 

[caysters]

First, try restarting your phone.

That was the first thing I did. Nothing.

 

[Bernard SG]

OK, when you look at your AppStore app in your iPhone, are the missing apps showing in the "Purchased" list? (That's under "Updates")

 

[caysters]

OK, when you look at your AppStore app in your iPhone, are the missing apps showing in the "Purchased" list? (That's under "Updates")

Ok, so I can get the apps back.

Now any ideas about the music and ringtones?

 

[decafjava]

The music and ringtones must be on your computer I suppose? Have you set it to automatic sync or manual management?

 

[TLewis]

Just upgraded to iOS 5, so lets just say that when I discovered the amount of apps completely missing from itunes and my phone, let alone the number of ringtones and songs missing, I was VERY upset.

Assuming you did the upgrade from the system from which you normally sync and do backups, one reason for this is that you were impatient and disconnected the iphone too early -- you might have gotten everything back had you waited. If you are lucky, and IF you did the upgrade from the system from which you normally sync and do backups, you might be able to get everything back by reconnecting and doing a sync (some people have reported success with this, but I don't know if it'll work for everyone). However, if you did the upgrade from a different system, you might be screwed.

 

[caysters]

Assuming you did the upgrade from the system from which you normally sync and do backups, one reason for this is that you were impatient and disconnected the iphone too early -- you might have gotten everything back had you waited. If you are lucky, and IF you did the upgrade from the system from which you normally sync and do backups, you might be able to get everything back by reconnecting and doing a sync (some people have reported success with this, but I don't know if it'll work for everyone). However, if you did the upgrade from a different system, you might be screwed.

Umm, I DID wait till it was done actually.

 

[haruhiko]

Assuming you did the upgrade from the system from which you normally sync and do backups, one reason for this is that you were impatient and disconnected the iphone too early -- you might have gotten everything back had you waited. If you are lucky, and IF you did the upgrade from the system from which you normally sync and do backups, you might be able to get everything back by reconnecting and doing a sync (some people have reported success with this, but I don't know if it'll work for everyone). However, if you did the upgrade from a different system, you might be screwed.

Right. iTunes will restore your stuff if you let your iPhone plugged in after the reboot. Now the OP disconnected the phone pre-maturely, the only thing he can do is to RESTORE FROM BACKUP.

 

[TLewis]

Umm, I DID wait till it was done actually.

Did you see the tiny "restoring apps" dialog box?

 

[caysters]

The music and ringtones must be on your computer I suppose? Have you set it to automatic sync or manual management?

I have it set to manual. I have synced. They're on my itunes, says they're on my iphone, but they're not. I have an option for 4 of my ringtones, plus a huge list of ones added in the upgrade. But I'm missing songs and ringtones on my phone, but I can't seem to get it to work.

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Did you see the tiny "restoring apps" dialog box?

Yes I did. And it didn't restore all of them. Said 9 items couldn't be synced. Said it was done. Said I could eject. I waited till it was done. And the apps are no longer my problem.

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Right. iTunes will restore your stuff if you let your iPhone plugged in after the reboot. Now the OP disconnected the phone pre-maturely, the only thing he can do is to RESTORE FROM BACKUP.

Did NOT disconnect prematurely! That is why I am pissed, because I waited two hours for the entire thing to finish. I got my apps back, I want my music and ringtones that I've spent a lot of money on!

 

[TLewis]

I have it set to manual. I have synced. They're on my itunes, says they're on my iphone, but they're not. I have an option for 4 of my ringtones, plus a huge list of ones added in the upgrade. But I'm missing songs and ringtones on my phone, but I can't seem to get it to work.

Take a look at your memory usage. Does it look the same as before? If so: I thought Apple fixed this, but there used to be a bug where stuff would get restored but wouldn't appear anywhere. In the case of ringtones, try syncing a single new ringtone, and ejecting -- disconnect the cable (repeat later with a song if you have any missing songs).

(This used to bite me with every major iOS release, and my workaround was to upload something new and eject, hopefully forcing an internal database rebuild. This generally worked for me.)

 

[Bernard SG]

I have it set to manual. I have synced. They're on my itunes, says they're on my iphone, but they're not. I have an option for 4 of my ringtones, plus a huge list of ones added in the upgrade. But I'm missing songs and ringtones on my phone, but I can't seem to get it to work.

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Yes I did. And it didn't restore all of them. Said 9 items couldn't be synced. Said it was done. Said I could eject. I waited till it was done. And the apps are no longer my problem.

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Did NOT disconnect prematurely! That is why I am pissed, because I waited two hours for the entire thing to finish. I got my apps back, I want my music and ringtones that I've spent a lot of money on!

Don't panic, you're not gonna lose anything you purchased. Bear in mind that iOS 5 works quite differently from previous versions. Before, your device was "locked" until the sync was complete; with iOS 5 apps and music syncing can be interrupted and resumed.

Here's a trick to try: plug the iPhone into iTunes add some random playlist (or artist, album, whatever) to the music you sync with the iPhone and click "apply changes" to re-sync.

 

[caysters]

Take a look at your memory usage. Does it look the same as before? If so: I thought Apple fixed this, but there used to be a bug where stuff would get restored but wouldn't appear anywhere. In the case of ringtones, try syncing a single new ringtone, and ejecting (repeat later with a song if you have any missing songs).

(This used to bite me with every major iOS release, and my workaround was to upload something new and eject, hopefully forcing an internal database rebuild. This generally worked for me.)

The memory usage does not look the same. Much less memory usage than before.
I will try your suggestion and see if that helps get the rest of them back.

 

[TLewis]

The memory usage does not look the same. Much less memory usage than before.
I will try your suggestion and see if that helps get the rest of them back.

Sorry, but if you're using much less memory, that's not going to work. They're not there, and you'll have to restore them manually.

Edit: on the plus side, Apple has a record of your itunes purchases, and will allow you to re-download anything you've already bought.

 

[caysters]

Sorry, but if you're using much less memory, that's not going to work. They're not there, and you'll have to restore them manually.

They won't go onto my phone. itunes says they're on my phone, but they aren't. This is extremely frustrating, especially since I didn't even want the upgrade to begin with...

 

[TLewis]

They won't go onto my phone. itunes says they're on my phone, but they aren't. This is extremely frustrating, especially since I didn't even want the upgrade to begin with...

Hmm, you may have to delete them all, eject, reconnect, and re-add them all.

However, you might try deleting just one, and ejecting. My guess is that this won't work, but it's probably worth a try at this point.

Edit: no, you might as well delete them all, since that's what you'll end up with if the "delete just one" suggestion works.

 

[caysters]

Thanks for the ideas. I ended up getting it to work. I had to completely reset to factory settings again, restore from last backup. Then I had to go and resync everything again. It's currently still working on it, but I finally got my apps, music, and ringtones back!