Why don't I have my App Store apps after upgrading to iOS5?

[ozaz]

I just upgraded my iphone to iOS5. Before upgrading I created a backup in iTunes. After upgrading I restored from backup. All of the apps I downloaded/purchased from the App store are now missing on my iPhone Only the core apps that come preinstalled on iOS5 are present.

However, all the music, contacts, and photos that were previously on my iphone are still there (ie the contents and settings in the core apps have been restored). Also, folders that I had previously put core apps into have been recreated.

Does this point to any error I made in the upgrade process? I didn't transfer purchases from iPhone to iTunes when prompted before the upgrade, nor do I sync apps between iPhone and iTunes. I assumed all this content would be included in the backup.

 

[Ivan P]

The backup generally only includes the settings for the apps (login details, folders, contacts, home screen backgrounds, etc) - the physical content such as the apps themselves, your music, etc, are not included in the backup. I'm assuming that, unlike the apps, your music and photos were all saved to your computer? That's why they are present on your phone while your apps are not. They are not included in the backup, just their settings are. You'll have to re-download them all again.

 

[foiden]

The automatic process of upgrading to iOS5 automatically went to restore my apps from the backup and I kept every single one of my Apps after the upgrade was done. So I'm not sure what happened. Perhaps you didn't have iTunes make sure your iTunes, on the computer copied the apps from your portable device before you upgraded?

 

[ozaz]

The backup generally only includes the settings for the apps (login details, folders, contacts, home screen backgrounds, etc) - the physical content such as the apps themselves, your music, etc, are not included in the backup. I'm assuming that, unlike the apps, your music and photos were all saved to your computer? That's why they are present on your phone while your apps are not. They are not included in the backup, just their settings are. You'll have to re-download them all again.

Thanks. Yes music was in my iTunes library. Photos were the photos I had taken on the phone. I now understand that apps are not included in the backup and need to be synced just like music and other iTunes library content. Does not seem intuitive to me that apps should be treated the same way as media content, but oh well. Luckily, I had been syncing my apps until a few months ago so most are already in my iTunes library and I just needed to re-enable sync.

The automatic process of upgrading to iOS5 automatically went to restore my apps from the backup and I kept every single one of my Apps after the upgrade was done. So I'm not sure what happened.

I guess that, unlike me, you had sync apps enabled during the upgrade.


UPDATE: If anyone else runs into this issue and does not have their apps saved in iTunes, in the App store section of iTunes store there is a "purchased" link on the right hand side which shows the apps that you have downloaded in the past. You can re-download all of them with a single click.