Before iOS 9, when I click on "Back Up Now" in iTunes, it would ask me if I want to back up my apps. Also, I could go to File > Devices > Transfer Purchases to copy my new apps to iTunes. But since I updated to iOS 9, both ways of backing up apps have stopped working.
I've seen other people having the same issue (link1 and link2). And it looks like it's due to App Thinning, which makes sense that we can no longer transfer new apps from iOS devices to iTunes.
So this raises a lot of questions for me:
I've seen other people having the same issue (link1 and link2). And it looks like it's due to App Thinning, which makes sense that we can no longer transfer new apps from iOS devices to iTunes.
So this raises a lot of questions for me:
- Does this mean all the apps I already have in iTunes are useless now?
- I've seen people say with iOS 9, the full apps are no longer copied to the iTunes apps section, but the slimmed apps will be included in iTunes backups. Is that true? (I don't think it is, because my latest backup is less than 2GB. I'm asking just to confirm)
- If apps are not backed up with iTunes, what will happen when I restore an iTunes backup to a new iOS device? Will they be automatically downloaded or do I have to manually download all of them again?
- If apps cannot be backed up with iTunes, then what's the advantage of iTunes backup over iCloud backup? I will have to re-download the apps either way.