Reason for synching iPad apps?

[JPA]

I don't see the need, or even the reason, to synch iPad apps with my PC via iTunes. I can't use the apps on my PC and if I were to accidentally delete them from iPad or I had to do a iPad reset, I could get them back from app store for free.
Am I missing something? Do some apps keep user entered data with them that would also get synched?

 

[Surely]

Am I missing something? Do some apps keep user entered data with them that would also get synched?

Yes.

 

[Yumunum]

I can't help too much (sorry) But I can mention a few things: 1. You can update, and manage your apps from your PC. Then next time you sync with your iPad, the changes will be made. Also, you can use it to sync your apps between multiple devices. For example, I sync my iPhone and iPad with my computer so I always have the same apps. Pretty handy, in my opinion. However, the apps stored in iTunes don't sync the data within each app to your devices. So my progress in Angry Birds on my iPhone will just have to be repeated on my iPad. Sad, really.

Anyways, if you only have one iDevice, you won't benefit too much from app syncing. <- my opinion.


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Sent from my second generation, tabular Apple product

 

[DeaconGraves]

1) If your iPad crashes/fails for whatever reason, you will lose all the data in your apps.

2) Syncing to iTunes creates an automatic backup of your iPad. So if it does fail (or if you get a new one), you can plug it in and restore it to your last backup. If you haven't been syncing, you'll have to go and manually redownload each app.

 

[saiyan]

I don't see the need, or even the reason, to synch iPad apps with my PC via iTunes. I can't use the apps on my PC and if I were to accidentally delete them from iPad or I had to do a iPad reset, I could get them back from app store for free.

Sure. If you reset your iPad, you can re-download all your apps for free assuming they are still available in the App Store but you will have to search for them in the App Store and install them one at a time.

How many hours would you want to spend on searching for apps, re-download them over Internet and install them on your iPad?

Or you can simply restore and sync apps from iTunes back to your iPad assuming you have backed up your iPad apps in iTunes periodically. Also apps which you have backed up but are no longer in the App Store will still be available.

 

[Bluemeanie1976]

In its simplest terms, iTunes acts as a back up. You don't have to sync, but if you have an issue it is a LOT easier to just plug in, and restore.

Just out of curiosity, do you have a back up of your computer? Same applies. The amount of people nowadays that don't backup their computer is absurd, and the ipad is no different.

Plus, you can update all your apps on the PC, then just sync.

 

[silverblack]

Imagine when you get a new iPad, iTunes can "restore" it as your existing one.

 

[JPA]

Thanks. Got it.

Thanks, all, for your replies.
I guess it just wasn't clear to me that apps data is included in the apps synch. Maybe it's a Mac vs. PC thing to consider data as part of the app/program.
And I can see that, in the event of a crash, restoring all apps in one swoop would be easier than re-downloading then individually from the app store.

 

[JPA]

Are spreadsheet and text documents considered data backed up with app synch?

But does that mean that if I create a text document or a spreadsheet with an app and then synch the app to my PC, that is also creating a backup of the document on my PC?
I haven't used any serious data creation apps yet so maybe that was a dumb question.

 

[Night Spring]

Thanks, all, for your replies.
I guess it just wasn't clear to me that apps data is included in the apps synch. Maybe it's a Mac vs. PC thing to consider data as part of the app/program.

Data backup and apps sync is a separate process, but they are all performed when you sync an iPad to a computer. I think the order goes something like:

1. App data and system settings are backed up. On a Win7 PC this goes into a folder called: C:\Users\YOUR_USER_NAME\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer
Other versions of Windows might put it in a slightly different location, but you get the idea.

These backup files are compressed, and not really readable. That is, if you create a document on your iPad, it will be somewhere in these backups, but you wouldn't be able to see it or use it.

2. Any apps that are on your iPad but not already on your computer are copied to your computer. This goes into the Mobile Applications folder inside your iTunes Media folder. You can see the location of your iTunes Media folder by going into iTunes Preferences and clicking on the Advanced tab.

3. Music, video, podcasts, etc are synced. (If you have set up your iPad to sync music)

4. Calendar, contacts, bookmarks are synced, if you have them set up to sync.

5. Photos are synced, if you have set them up to sync.

These are all separate processes, but when you click the sync button in iTunes, they are all performed one after the other. Again, I'm not quite certain about the exact order -- 3 and 4 might be reversed, for instance. But I hope you get the gist of this.

 

[Capt T]

Yes it will back up the spreadsheet. When I upgraded to the second gen iPad and did a restore I had all my data.