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Why are iPhone/iPad apps stored on Mac's now?

M

MrMister111

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Jan 28, 2009
3,900
382
UK
On my iMac I have iTunes, library, and in there have loads of apps for iPhone and iPad. In fact they take up 25Gb I've just checked. Now we have numerous iPhones and iPads in the household, but only sync with iTunes for music, and do it wirelessly anyway. Its my music so I have to look after it as such.

With apps though they are all held on Apple servers, e.g. when you do a iCloud restore, on the iPhone/iPad they are just "markers" and then they redownload, otherwise the iCloud backups would be HUGE. SO the apps are held on Apple's side, and I'm happy with this.

So why do I need to store 25GB+ on my iMac, wasting HDD space, and more crucially more Cloud (Non Apple Livedrive/crashplan type) backup space that I subscribe to is getting used by this.

I need to regularly update all apps on my iMac, for no reason really either , as I just update on the individual iPhones/iPads anyway. Can someone tell me why its needed (apart from plunging in to sync maybe), why have all them on the iMac etc.

thanks
 
itunes has stored apps on the hard drive for as long as i remember (as long as you had the options to sync apps with the computer enabled)...
 
They have always, but now iCloud is about, there's no reason. Maybe if you need to do a full restore it will be quicker as the apps are on the Mac, but I just normally do an iCloud restore without connecting to my Mac anyway.
 
I believe your iOS apps are only stored on your computer if you choose to backup your device (iPhone, iPad, etc) to iTunes or transfer purchases to your computer?

Or are they showing up without you having done either of these options (manual backup / transfer of purchases)?
 
aaagat111 said:
I believe your iOS apps are only stored on your computer if you choose to backup your device (iPhone, iPad, etc) to iTunes or transfer purchases to your computer?



Or are they showing up without you having done either of these options (manual backup / transfer of purchases)?
Click to expand...


I probably in the past backed up, like everyone before you could properly to iCloud. I'm happy to not backup to my iMac now, it would save me do much HDD space and cloud backup space.

How can I disable this now then?
 
MrMister111 said:
I probably in the past backed up, like everyone before you could properly to iCloud. I'm happy to not backup to my iMac now, it would save me do much HDD space and cloud backup space.

How can I disable this now then?
Click to expand...

You can just delete all the apps from your iTunes folder and then just never backup any devices to your iMac.
 
luked14 said:
You can just delete all the apps from your iTunes folder and then just never backup any devices to your iMac.
Click to expand...


Are you sure? It's safe to do this? Anyone else confirm this please. Do you do this?

When I go on my Mac now, even though I haven't plugged in an iPhone/iPad, it still updates apps etc though
 
MrMister111 said:
Are you sure? It's safe to do this? Anyone else confirm this please. Do you do this?

When I go on my Mac now, even though I haven't plugged in an iPhone/iPad, it still updates apps etc though
Click to expand...

Yes, it's safe to do this. You can either delete them all from Finder or go to the apps page in iTunes, hit command+A and delete them all from there. Then you'll just have to empty your trash.
 
Why are iPhone/iPad apps stored on Mac's now?

I still want to sync with iTunes on my Mac though is this still ok to do?

I'm talking my music, my own, non iTunes bought, movies etc.

So can I delete all the apps in iTunes, and still use it for music and my movies.

By the way you should never delete anything in finder as it will cause problems, doing it in iTunes would be ok though.
 
Last edited:
I'm sure once you've bought an app, free or paid, even if they are not on any iOS devices, it had a little cloud so you can download them later.

For example, some apps are free for a day, promotion etc, I normally "buy" the app even if I don't download it will always be in my account that I can download later on?
 
MrMister111 said:
I'm sure once you've bought an app, free or paid, even if they are not on any iOS devices, it had a little cloud so you can download them later.

For example, some apps are free for a day, promotion etc, I normally "buy" the app even if I don't download it will always be in my account that I can download later on?
Click to expand...

Yes until it's removed from the app store it is available to download, but some apps get pulled and then you lose access.

This is the same for music and movies/tv bought from itunes, there is no guarantee that it will always be available to you unless you back it up on your own local storage.
 
So what's the general conscience then, keep them on Mac as well? Can't thick there's too many apps that aren't available that I did have before.

The issue I have is that there's always updates to do on the Mac, and then they have to be updated to my cloud backup service
 
CelestialToys said:
I personally keep them all on my mac but just update them once every month or so.

My itunes library is on it's own dedicated external drive and gets cloned weekly to an off site hard drive.
Click to expand...


Thanks.

I thought about using offsite external HDD, but too much hassle to remember etc so went for a cloud backup service (KnowHow) instead. Trouble is when it says a change it backup up.

May just update every month suppose, it's just habit to update when I see the apps need it.
 
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