Worried about connecting to iTunes...

[Raj24v]

Hey everyone.
Just some advice please as it's my first Apple device and kind of confused!

I've had my iPhone 4 for a couple of months and haven't connected it to iTunes to do a backup/add music etc yet.

I want to do this and but am worried I'll lose everything I have on my phone at the moment!
I have many apps etc and I've heard that when you press sync it over-writes the phone with what's on iTunes (nothing).

How can I assure not to lose anything when I connect to iTunes??

Thanks on advance.

 

[ste1164]

Unless you have synced with another iTunes library you should be fine. Just log in with your iTunes account on iTunes and then you can select to transfer purchases. You can also back up your phone.

 

[Raj24v]

Thanks for the reply mate.

No it hasn't been connected to any iTunes as of yet, but my PC is also used by my brother for his iPhone.
Will this confuse iTunes?

We're both going to use the same PC fir our phones but we have different accounts. How does it know what phone belongs to which account when I plug it in??

 

[Interstella5555]

Thanks for the reply mate.

No it hasn't been connected to any iTunes as of yet, but my PC is also used by my brother for his iPhone.
Will this confuse iTunes?

We're both going to use the same PC fir our phones but we have different accounts. How does it know what phone belongs to which account when I plug it in??

It can differentiate, I have my 2G, 3G, and 4 all synced wit my computer with no problems.

 

[Jkazmeyer]

Agreed, I'm not sure if there is a limit at all, i have an iphone 2g, 3g, 3gs, 2 iphone 4's, ipad, and ipod nano all synced to the same library. I've never had a problem.

 

[Raj24v]

Ok great. I take it that the various iPhones you guys are synching don't have the same apps etc on them?

I.e it knows which phone has what apps on it?

I basically don't want it to wipe my apps with my brothers ones....

 

[Big Ells]

It won't wipe your apps, but if you have 'Sync new apps' checked on itunes it will install any of your brothers apps in itunes you may have.

Unless you tell itunes to it will keep your phone as the master copy, not the back up on your computer.

 

[Raj24v]

It won't wipe your apps, but if you have 'Sync new apps' checked on itunes it will install any of your brothers apps in itunes you may have.

Sorry what did you mean by this?
You saying that if I have that checked, it will also install my brothers apps onto my phone? (without deleting mine?)

 

[Small White Car]

The first time you plug in the phone will probably do everything automatically, but just to be safe, once it's done syncing, right-click the phone and select "Transfer Purchases" and, once that's done, right-click again and select "Back Up."

Sorry what did you mean by this?
You saying that if I have that checked, it will also install my brothers apps onto my phone? (without deleting mine?)

iTunes knows what apps you have and what apps your brother has. It keeps them seperate.

The ONE exception is that it wants you both to try new things. So if your brother has 'App A' in iTunes and you don't, it will be added to your phone (if iTunes is still set to the default settings).

This is simply iTune's way of saying "here, try this." If you erase it from your phone, it won't come back because now it knows you've tried it and decided not to use it. So that's a one time thing. Likewise, your brother will get your apps added to his phone but once he erases them they won't come back either.

This is assuming you share an Apple ID. If you have different ones then your apps can't be shared. I didn't see if you answered that or not, it will change how this works.

 

[Raj24v]

Thanks SWC.
No we don't share an Apple ID, we both have our own separate iTunes accounts.

Does this change things much?

 

[Small White Car]

Thanks SWC.
No we don't share an Apple ID, we both have our own separate iTunes accounts.

Does this change things much?

I haven't done this (used 2 Apple IDs within one iTunes) so I can't say exactly how it will work, but the bottom line is that your apps won't run on his phone and his won't run on yours.

You'll have to try it and see how it works, exactly. I'm guessing it'll all work out, it might be a little confusing is all.

Have you both considered using different user accounts for the computer itself? That might make things simpler so you don't accidentally see apps in iTunes that you can't put on your phone.

 

[plinden]

The best thing for you is to use a different account on your brother's PC so you use a different iTunes library. (duh, like he said above ^ )

 

[Raj24v]

Yeah I figured that we wouldn't be able to share apps etc, my main concern is not wiping the apps on my phone with his.

I think I'll go ahead with the separate accounts on the PC then. I'm surprised I can't do what I want from just the one shared iTunes library.

Thanks to everyone who replied.