Hi everyone, I was just wondering if anyone out there is sync-savvy? I'm trying to sync the apps between my iPad (v1) and my itunes library on my computer.

- I've authorized my computer.
- I've enabled home sharing.
- I've transferred my purchases from my iPad
- I can see all my apps in my itunes library on my computer. If I install a new app on my iPad, it syncs fine to my computer.

The problem is, if I delete an app from my iPad, it doesn't delete itself from my computer on sync. Vice-versa, if I delete an app from my computer, it doesn't delete it from my iPad on sync (rather, it re-copies itself to my computer).

I've looked at a ga-billion websites through google and can't seem to find the answer to this. I've also searched through these forums. I was starting to think that syncing apps wasn't possible, and the iPad purely backs-up the apps, essentially using the computer purely as a dumping ground. However, I found that on the Apple website itself it says:

'You can use iTunes to sync content on your computer (such as music, applications...'

- so it surely must be possible? After all, sync=sync and backup=backup. 2 different terms with separate meanings. The website says 'sync'.

Does anyone know how to do this please? If so, it'd be greatly appreciated if you could share your wisdom (it's driving me crazy)!

Thanks.

Lee

Originally Posted by leeuk321

Hi everyone, I was just wondering if anyone out there is sync-savvy? I'm trying to sync the apps between my iPad (v1) and my itunes library on my computer.

- I've authorized my computer.
- I've enabled home sharing.
- I've transferred my purchases from my iPad
- I can see all my apps in my itunes library on my computer. If I install a new app on my iPad, it syncs fine to my computer.

The problem is, if I delete an app from my iPad, it doesn't delete itself from my computer on sync. Vice-versa, if I delete an app from my computer, it doesn't delete it from my iPad on sync (rather, it re-copies itself to my computer).

I've looked at a ga-billion websites through google and can't seem to find the answer to this. I've also searched through these forums. I was starting to think that syncing apps wasn't possible, and the iPad purely backs-up the apps, essentially using the computer purely as a dumping ground. However, I found that on the Apple website itself it says:

'You can use iTunes to sync content on your computer (such as music, applications...'

- so it surely must be possible? After all, sync=sync and backup=backup. 2 different terms with separate meanings. The website says 'sync'.

Does anyone know how to do this please? If so, it'd be greatly appreciated if you could share your wisdom (it's driving me crazy)!

Thanks.

Lee

To delete an app from your iPad you have to also delete it out of iTunes. That's a back up and when you sync if iTunes still has the app it's going to install it back on your iPad. There shouldn't be a copy of it after that anywhere.

So you need to delete two times. You need to delete it from your iPad and from iTunes. Otherwise at sync it will indeed back up or restore what you might not want.

I hope that helps.

That isn't how it works for me and never had worked like that. Never had to delete a app in iTunes because I've deleted it on iPad. Once deleted on iPad next time at sync it does not get re added from the library again. It stays off the iPad.

Ok see it works this way

When u install a new app or anything and sync ur ipad it goes into itunes..then if u delete that app from ur ipad and then sync it then it will remain deleted from ur ipad but NOT from ur itunes in the pc..so if u want to permanently delete it then go to the apps section at the top in itunes...search for ur app and delete it from the pc..if u want to re-sync it then just tick it and it will sync back on ur ipad...hopefully u didnt get confused

You don't have to delete the app from iTunes. Simply plug in your iPad, click on your iPad name in the sidebar, tap on the "Apps" tab at the top of the screen, scroll through your apps, and "uncheck" the app you don't want synched. Delete the app from the Ipad and synch and the offending app will not synch back to your iPad.

Thanks for everyone's replies, it's been really helpful. That's what I thought was happening, the process purely backups up the ipad's apps to the computer. I've never had it where if I delete an app from the ipad it'll reinstall itself from the computer. It's the other way around - if I delete an app from the computer it'll re-copy itself from the iPad.

Hmmm, I don't know why they've described this as syncing on the apple website. If it's too complicated to do 2-way syncing (i.e. if different apps are deleted from both ipad and computer, and then synced, what does iTunes do?) but they should at least implement a 1-way sync. I.e. if I delete 10 apps from my iPad and install 5 new ones, then on sync the 10 deleted apps should disappear from my computer and the 5 new ones should be copied over.

Without this functionality, I'm either going to have to babysit the apps on my computer to make sure it's the same as the iPad, or just let the chips fall where they may and leave it unattended. Maybe Apple has done it this way because of people with multiple devices (iPod/Phone/Pad) with overlapping apps? Personally, if I had multiple devices, I'd prefer have separate app libraries on my computer. Someone steals my iPhone - no problem. Got insurance, replace phone, 1-click restore and it's done, no guesswork. Which is the kind of simplicity that I thought Apple was all about?

The idea is that your iTunes library is a master copy and so should contain anything you have, wether you want to sync it to your devices or not. Personally I never delete anything from my library, as I don't care about that, it's handy to easily reinstall rather than having to redownload.

Anytime you sync and iTunes finds something on the iPad that's not in it's library, it will want to copy it across to the library to keep the 'master copy' correct. However deleting a app on the iPad just means that it's is no longer on the iPad but still in your library ( assuming you did a sync before deleting).

I see what you mean. I suppose it wouldn't be the end of the world to have to browse through the library to check what I'd have to re-install. Thanks for everyone's help.

I finally found someone having the same problem with me.

I got an iPhone. I have 305 apps on it but 355 apps in my computer. I removed 50 on iPhone.
I want to have the same 305 list on PC.
It's a painful job to find out which 50 apps should I remove.
because I can not delete those app in the 'device' page (of iTunes). I can not find out which is one of the 50 apps I want to remove, either, in the Lib/Apps page (of iTunes).

Why don't apple just provide these options:
device to overwrite PC
PC to overwrite device
sync and merge both

I have found that if you select "transfer purchases" (on the iPad line) when you first hook the iPad up to iTunes (not syncing first), the iPad/iTunes combo will move all new apps from the iPad over to iTunes. At the same time, this process will uncheck apps you've deleted off your iPad. Yes, they'll still be in iTunes, but they'll be unchecked.

Oh, and I don't "sync" my iPad to iTunes. I only use it to "transfer purchases" to iTunes and then do a backup. So, far, stuff I've deleted off the iPad stays off and is unchecked. YMMV.

Maybe this'll help?

Marilyn