I purchased an app a while ago that is no longer available in the app store and when I "transfer purchases to my Mac" in iTunes, that one app doesn't transfer. Is there some program or app that anyone can recommend so I can copy it over to my new MacBook? (a free one would be nice since I'll probably only be needing this one time.)
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Is there a way to transfer an app?
- Thread starter itsjustmeee
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Was this app purchased/downloaded using the same iTunes account as the rest of your apps? If not, try authorizing your computer with the account associated with that app.
Yes it was. I've only used one account for everything. This game (puzzle quest HD) for some reason seems to have been pulled from the app store. It doesn't show up anywhere including my "purchased apps" in the app store on my iPad. I read somewhere that now if apple pulls an app, it is no longer available to download again. That appears to be the case here so I need some 3rd party app to pull it from my iPad so I can copy it to my macbook.
Well, I don't know what to tell you. I happen to have an app on my iPhone that was pulled from the app store a long time ago, and I just tried "transfer purchases" and the app transferred fine along with all the other apps I had on my iPhone.
I don't know of any way to pull an app from an iPad to a computer -- first of all, I'm pretty sure you'd need to be jailbroken, and even then, it's not so simple because when apps are on the iPad, they are expanded, and just copying the expanded app to your computer won't result in an app file that can then be reinstalled back onto an iDevice when you need to.
I just spoke with someone at applecare and basically you can NOT transfer an app from your iPad/iphone to your computer if it's been pulled by the app store. She explained that when you "transfer purchases from iPad to computer", you are actually downloading them from the cloud and not the iPad itself. So this means if you get a new computer and don't have a backup of the old computer that you've been syncing your device to, you're out of luck so be forewarned.
Good to know, thanks! I wonder if there is some way of getting it from your backup files though?
I totally don't believe that. As I said, I just saw an app that is no longer on the app store transfer from my iPhone to my computer. Also, I've downloaded ePubs into iBooks from sources other than the iBookstore which were subsequently copied to my computer when I did "transfer purchases." I know those books weren't downloaded from "the cloud" because they aren't in the cloud. And whenever I download or update an app on my iPad or iPhone, then subsequently sync with my computer, the transfer happens a lot faster than how long it takes the apps to download from the internet. I think that person at AppleCare doesn't know what she's talking about!
I agree. I don't believe for a minute that the 'transferring purchases from iPad' is actually downloading them from the Internet.
If it's really important, you could jailbrake and either try to transfer the game's actual files directly, though I'm not sure if it would work. Or you could download an IPA file for the game and install it, though some may consider it piracy, if you actually bought the game before, I see no problem. The only trouble would be finding the IPA file, it might come up on your first google search, or in some German forum on page 41 of google.