Apps still stored in iTunes, why?

[chizzer2003]

Forgive me if this is in the wrong thread, it doesn't really fit anywhere else (that I have seen.)

I'm just wondering why does iTunes still store apps? With the advent of iCloud and the "download-on-your-device-anywhere" idea, why is this still necessary? I'm asking this because I am soon to be moving over to a MacBook Air with only a 128GB hard drive and want to reduce my iTunes library as much as possible - but a huge amount of space is being taken up by apps which are still synced across from an iOS device to iTunes.

Is it okay for me to discard all of the stored apps on iTunes and just move my music over?

To me, iTunes does not fit in with Apples iCloud idea and still feels like a piece of the old system, along with the archaic idea of still transferring your purchases across to your PC or Mac - I guess this is due to the large amount of people still without a decent enough internet connection to rely on the cloud. Nevertheless, I still think it needs a drastic overhaul.

 

[flyguy206]

What if your device needs to be restored and you don't have any access to Internet.

 

[darngooddesign]

So don't download to your computer and back up to iCloud.

 

[chizzer2003]

What if your device needs to be restored and you don't have any access to Internet.

Then you restore from a backup...

 

[Night Spring]

Then you restore from a backup...

Your backup doesn't contain the apps, just your settings and data. So if you were restoring from a backup with no Internet, you wouldn't get back your apps.

Even if you do have Internet, it's much faster to restore if the apps are already on your computer rather than waiting for them to all redownload.

Also, apps occasionally get pulled from the app store, either because Apple pulls them for some reason or the developer removes them from sale. Then they can no longer be redownloaded.

That said, with storage space being short on the Air, I see why you would want an option not to copy apps to an Air. I would just never have synced my apps with an Air in the first place, as I'm pretty sure you can just sync music without syncing apps. I'm just not sure if there is a way to stop syncing apps without losing them now that you've already synced them.

EDIT: Okay, so try this. Connect iPad to computer, start iTunes. Click on iPad icon in iTunes. Select "apps" tab. Uncheck "sync apps." You get a pop-up dialogue asking you if you want to keep the apps on your device or remove them. Select "keep." Now you can sync music without syncing apps, and any new apps you download to your iPad shouldn't be copied to your computer. Once you confirm everything is working fine, you should be okay to delete the apps from your computer.

 

[Beta Particle]

It's useful when an app is pulled from sale, a developer releases a broken update, or simply ruins the app and you want an older version. (See the new Kindle 3.1 vs 3.0 for example)

 

[chizzer2003]

Your backup doesn't contain the apps, just your settings and data. So if you were restoring from a backup with no Internet, you wouldn't get back your apps.

Even if you do have Internet, it's much faster to restore if the apps are already on your computer rather than waiting for them to all redownload.

Also, apps occasionally get pulled from the app store, either because Apple pulls them for some reason or the developer removes them from sale. Then they can no longer be redownloaded.

That said, with storage space being short on the Air, I see why you would want an option not to copy apps to an Air. I would just never have synced my apps with an Air in the first place, as I'm pretty sure you can just sync music without syncing apps. I'm just not sure if there is a way to stop syncing apps without losing them now that you've already synced them.

EDIT: Okay, so try this. Connect iPad to computer, start iTunes. Click on iPad icon in iTunes. Select "apps" tab. Uncheck "sync apps." You get a pop-up dialogue asking you if you want to keep the apps on your device or remove them. Select "keep." Now you can sync music without syncing apps, and any new apps you download to your iPad shouldn't be copied to your computer. Once you confirm everything is working fine, you should be okay to delete the apps from your computer.

Okay thanks for that! Didn't realise that nevertheless, I still believe that iTunes still doesn't quite fit into the iCloud philosophy quite as well as it should.

 

[softypolimer]

I get your point. Sometimes I wish there is an option to not download everything I buy on iTunes store, whether I use my mac on my iPhone.
This could a cause a problems when you on a slow network connection or low on disk space as the store wont allow you to purchase it (mostly on phone).

Still, it's a lot more convention to have what you own offline as you can access it instantly.

 

[R0b]

Okay thanks for that! Didn't realise that nevertheless, I still believe that iTunes still doesn't quite fit into the iCloud philosophy quite as well as it should.

There was rumor back a few weeks ago about itunes getting deeper integration with iCloud in iTunes 11.

https://www.macrumors.com/2012/04/10/itunes-11-to-include-improved-icloud-integration-and-ios-6-support/

 

[admwright]

Also, apps occasionally get pulled from the app store, either because Apple pulls them for some reason or the developer removes them from sale. Then they can no longer be redownloaded.

With more dependance on the cloud I think that more and more people could get caught out. With your music you can keep it in the cloud and stream / download when ever you want and delete to free up space. With Apps it seems you must keep a copy on hardware somewhere because it might get pulled (Apple or Dev). But if I have bought the App and have it in the cloud I should be able to access it whenever I want even if it is to download, run once and delete. Why can we not use Apps the same as we do music?

 

[spiderman0616]

I found that over the course of 2 years, apps in my iTunes on my computer at home were taking up a ridiculous amount of precious hard drive space. Ever since iCloud came out, I have not used them for backup EVER. When I got the new iPad, I restored from iCloud backup and it worked flawlessly. In fact it's the most seamless migration I've ever done from one device to another.

Also, I was sick of iTunes updating all these stored apps every time I loaded it up. iTunes is another piece of software that I barely need on my computer anymore because of iCloud, but sometimes I do like to open it up and listen to tunes on my computer. Which is fine, but I hate it taking up bandwidth with all these 1 GB game updates it now has to download.

Long story short, I delted all the apps on my local machine. They're not needed at all.

 

[scaredpoet]

Even for people who have internet access, there are a lot of people who have bandwidth caps on their internet access, even on their home connections. If someone has a 64GB iPad full of music, data and apps, or even a 32GB iPad and a 32GB iPhone that are close to full, and they restore from iCloud backup on their home Wifi, it's a pretty sizeable amount of data you have to transfer, and it adds up.

On a single restore in those scenarios, 25% of a monthly Comcast cap gets blown away on the restore. And it's 43% of the monthly cap if you're on AT&T's home internet service.

Or, you can restore your data from iTunes, and not use any ISP bandwidth at all.

(Note: Before you look at your iCloud backup usage and say the backjups are small, bear in mind that your apps and purchased/matched iTunes content don't show up in the reported backup size.)