What do I do with the "Mobile Applications" folder now?

[MrMister111]

After updating to iTunes 12.7 now apps are managed on iOS only, better in my opinion never understood why always having to update etc and store on my Mac. I know there is arguments for/against, just my preference,

So now they've gone, I understand old apps (ipa files, apps that aren't on App Store anymore) can be manually dragged to your iPad/iPhone and once connected dragged onto the device?

So does this mean I can now delete the "Mobile applications" folder now keeping a copy of apps I want in a different location, to save up some space? do I just delete it? It's nearly 30Gb that don't need as such now?

thanks

 

[Weaselboy]

I have had the same question since 12.7 came out. I found a couple articles saying it is okay to empty that folder, so I have backed up and plan to do so.

My new iPhone 8 is coming next Friday, so I guess I'll see what happens when I restore from iTunes.

https://apple.stackexchange.com/que...g-ios-apps-can-i-delete-ipa-files-from-my-mac

https://www.macworld.com/article/32...-127-how-to-cope-with-the-abrupt-changes.html

 

[adrianlondon]

You can delete it. I deleted mine. Sync no longer does anything with apps, and backups just list the app name (along with the apple ID it was bought with). Any restore will restore all your settings and data, including app data, but trigger a download of the apps from Apple. Best be on wifi at that point!

 

[Weaselboy]

You can delete it. I deleted mine. Sync no longer does anything with apps, and backups just list the app name (along with the apple ID it was bought with). Any restore will restore all your settings and data, including app data, but trigger a download of the apps from Apple. Best be on wifi at that point!

Yeah... seems like that is how it will work. You would sure think the iTunes update would have deleted that folder or at least had a release note about it or something. That folder was using over 6GB on my MacBook.

 

[adrianlondon]

Yeah... seems like that is how it will work. You would sure think the iTunes update would have deleted that folder or at least had a release note about it or somethin.

Ouch! Have you seen how many posts there are on all the forums about 12.7 no longer having an app tab? Can you imagine how many more there'd be if people's apps were deleted too?

 

[Weaselboy]

Ouch! Have you seen how many posts there are on all the forums about 12.7 no longer having an app tab? Can you imagine how many more there'd be if people's apps were deleted too?

Eh... it is pretty useless to have them. The only use case I can think of is if you have an ipa in there that is no longer on the app store you want to manually reinstall. Otherwise, the whole folder is wasted space. I could see just leaving it if it was a small amount, but 6GB is a lot and I don't even have that many apps compared to a lot of people.

Like I said, a release note or link to a KB article would have been nice.

 

[MrMister111]

Apple should release a article for this definitely then. I have 30Gb in the folder.

So is it safe to just literally delete the folder in Finder? I'll backup somewhere the apps no longer on App store just in case though.

 

[sracer]

Yeah... seems like that is how it will work. You would sure think the iTunes update would have deleted that folder or at least had a release note about it or something. That folder was using over 6GB on my MacBook.

I'm glad that they didn't delete that folder. I haven't updated yet but I have a half dozen or so apps that are no longer available from the app store that I still use. iMame being one of them.

 

[theanimala]

Old thread, just getting rid of an old computer and I found hundreds of old apps in the Mobile Applications folder of iTunes. I have a new iPhone 12, is there any way to move some of these old apps that are no longer around like iMAME into my phone or should I just delete this old folder?

 

[1madman1]

Old thread, just getting rid of an old computer and I found hundreds of old apps in the Mobile Applications folder of iTunes. I have a new iPhone 12, is there any way to move some of these old apps that are no longer around like iMAME into my phone or should I just delete this old folder?

Like many other titles ported from other platforms, iMAME is 32 bit. Apple killed all 32bit app support in iOS 11.

I had plenty of paid for games that died with that update. The 32 bit purge announcement is when I stopped buying apps for iOS.

 

[theanimala]

Like many other titles ported from other platforms, iMAME is 32 bit. Apple killed all 32bit app support in iOS 11.

I had plenty of paid for games that died with that update. The 32 bit purge announcement is when I stopped buying apps for iOS.

Thanks for the reply! Just saved up 60GB of data from my backup.