Need to restore, but unable to sync

yoi55 · Feb 22, 2017

My iPhone 6 needs to be restored to fix a few buggy issues. I have been trying to transfer purchases and sync to my iTunes, but it will not work (could be part of the bugginess). I do have some apps that are no longer on the app store, that I would like to keep. Also, any saved games, and other app data that has not been backed up since the last time I synced (it's been a while). I have tried 3rd party software like CopyTrans, iMazing, etc., but none of them will get all of the apps. There used to be a way to extract the actual app files, but that has since been blocked apparently. My device is not jailbroken, so that's of no help. Does anyone know of some software to backup everything, including the apps no longer in the app store? I really don't want to lose all of my apps and data.

I did speak with a senior advisor at Apple support, but he came to the conclusion that I have to restore and would lose the apps I want to keep...along with any other data such as game saves.

scifan57 · Feb 22, 2017

Transferring purchases no longer transfers apps to the iTunes library on your computer. You have to manually download them to your iTunes library while they're still in the App Store or your purchase history. That's what I do and my iTunes library contains every app I've ever purchased, including many that are no longer in the App Store or my purchase history. Try going into your App Store purchase history on your computer to see if some of those apps are still there. If they are, download them to your iTunes library. Once ther, they can be installed on any iOS device you sync with iTunes, if they're compatible with the iOS version on your device.

fg3_colton · Feb 22, 2017

yoi55 said:
My iPhone 6 needs to be restored to fix a few buggy issues. I have been trying to transfer purchases and sync to my iTunes, but it will not work (could be part of the bugginess). I do have some apps that are no longer on the app store, that I would like to keep. Also, any saved games, and other app data that has not been backed up since the last time I synced (it's been a while). I have tried 3rd party software like CopyTrans, iMazing, etc., but none of them will get all of the apps. There used to be a way to extract the actual app files, but that has since been blocked apparently. My device is not jailbroken, so that's of no help. Does anyone know of some software to backup everything, including the apps no longer in the app store? I really don't want to lose all of my apps and data.

I did speak with a senior advisor at Apple support, but he came to the conclusion that I have to restore and would lose the apps I want to keep...along with any other data such as game saves.

Some games save to iCloud, make sure to check your iCloud settings under documents and data to see what games support this. On a side note, App purchases are saved to your account, meaning, if you downloaded an app, you will always have access to it by going into the App Store>updates tab> purchases> not on this iPhone. You can also resort your iPhone without a computer assuming you have your backup saved to iCloud by going into settings> general> reset>reset all settings.

yoi55 · Feb 22, 2017

scifan57 said:
Transferring purchases no longer transfers apps to the iTunes library on your computer. You have to manually download them to your iTunes library while they're still in the App Store or your purchase history. That's what I do and my iTunes library contains every app I've ever purchased, including many that are no longer in the App Store or my purchase history. Try going into your App Store purchase history on your computer to see if some of those apps are still there. If they are, download them to your iTunes library. Once ther, they can be installed on any iOS device you sync with iTunes, if they're compatible with the iOS version on your device.

I looked in my purchase history, and they are there, but I do not see a way to download them. I looked in the Purchased area of the app store on my phone, and it's listed there, but when I tap on it, it doesn't actually load.

scifan57 · Feb 22, 2017

yoi55 said:
I looked in my purchase history, and they are there, but I do not see a way to download them. I looked in the Purchased area of the app store on my phone, and it's listed there, but when I tap on it, it doesn't actually load.

Do it in iTunes on your computer. Got to apps in iTunes and click on store. Select the purchase history from the column at the right. Apps in your purchase history that are not in your iTunes library will have the cloud symbol in the upper right corner. Tap on it and the app will download to your itunes library. Once there, you can sync the app to any iOS device it's compatible with.

yoi55 · Feb 23, 2017

scifan57 said:
Do it in iTunes on your computer. Got to apps in iTunes and click on store. Select the purchase history from the column at the right. Apps in your purchase history that are not in your iTunes library will have the cloud symbol in the upper right corner. Tap on it and the app will download to your itunes library. Once there, you can sync the app to any iOS device it's compatible with.

The apps I want are not listed when I search for them in my purchase history in iTunes either. It seems that I am able to backup to iCloud. For 196 apps, it takes up about 500MB...is that right? Also, if I restore, will I have to manually re-download each app individually? I'm guessing that the apps no longer in the app store are going to be lost, and there's nothing I can do about it.

scifan57 · Feb 23, 2017

yoi55 said:
The apps I want are not listed when I search for them in my purchase history in iTunes either. It seems that I am able to backup to iCloud. For 196 apps, it takes up about 500MB...is that right? Also, if I restore, will I have to manually re-download each app individually? I'm guessing that the apps no longer in the app store are going to be lost, and there's nothing I can do about it.

Your previous post stated that they were in your purchase history, which is why I gave you the advice I did.

yoi55 · Feb 23, 2017

scifan57 said:
Your previous post stated that they were in your purchase history, which is why I gave you the advice I did.

Oh, they are listed in my actual purchase history receipts. That is where I looked previously, as that is where I thought you meant. I assume that since they are no longer available in the app store, they will not be listed in the purchase history in the apps section.

bear7962 · Feb 23, 2017

Not necessarily, that is why he told you to look in the Apps purchase history.

yoi55 · Feb 23, 2017

bear7962 said:
Not necessarily, that is why he told you to look in the Apps purchase history.

Well, that seems to be true in my case anyway. I guess I'm going to have to cut my losses and lose those few apps with the restore. Hopefully, the iCloud backup is correct and I won't lose a ton of saved games. Thanks everyone for the help.

scifan57 · Feb 23, 2017

yoi55 said:
Oh, they are listed in my actual purchase history receipts. That is where I looked previously, as that is where I thought you meant. I assume that since they are no longer available in the app store, they will not be listed in the purchase history in the apps section.

An app can be no longer available in the App Store but still be in the App Store purchase history. If it's in the purchase history, it can be downloaded to the iTunes library on your computer. From there it can be synced back to your iPhone.

yoi55 · Feb 23, 2017

You know, I actually scrolled through all of the apps (instead of searching), and did find a couple of the ones I was looking for...they had different names. So, I downloaded them to my PC. I'm still missing one, but it's not a big deal really. Thank you @scifan57 for the suggestion!! That helped a lot!!!

scifan57 · Feb 23, 2017

yoi55 said:
You know, I actually scrolled through all of the apps (instead of searching), and did find a couple of the ones I was looking for...they had different names. So, I downloaded them to my PC. I'm still missing one, but it's not a big deal really. Thank you @scifan57 for the suggestion!! That helped a lot!!!

You're welcome. I'm glad I could help.

For the future I suggest that you download every app to the iTunes library on your computer as soon as you first purchase it or download it to your device.

On my own computer my iTunes library is on a 2TB external hard drive. I also have several other backup copies. It contains everything I've ever purchased or downloaded from iTunes and the App Store.