I want to buy apps for our employees, figure them out and transfer them to those employees, not keeping it for myself.

And there are apps already purchased on some of our devices that need to transferred to other iPads.

How can this be done?

Thanks, Phil.

You can't share apps among devices unless they're on the same iTunes account. If they're on different iTunes accounts, you need to buy a copy for each.

If you want to use one iTunes account and control which apps are purchased, you can lock users out of the app store under Restrictions on each iPad. Whoever has the passwords to unlock Restrictions and access the iTunes account can buy content.

You also can gift apps to people if they don't share an iTunes account. Again, that requires buying a copy for each device.

Phil,

I'm sure you can understand that Apple is unlikely to assist you in "transferring" a purchased app to another device. That is the sort of "old thinking" that came with purchasing an application for a computer on hard media and then loading it onto another computer. That has always been a problem for software vendors since it's difficult to police such activity and protect against piracy. So, as Kaykaykay points out, you'll have to purchase a copy of each app unless the iPads are on the same iTunes account. (And even then there is a limit.)

However, if you're doing what you describe, i.e. evaluate an app and then purchase individual copies only for the iPads you want your employees to use, there is a "workaround" of sorts. You can purchase a particular app, evaluate it (preferably immediately), and then request a refund from the iTunes App Store for the app you've purchased. Trying to do this can be a chore. (Apple doesn't make it easy to figure out how to do so.) But in my (limited) experience I've been able to return an app that failed to provide the functionality I required. The charge to my credit card was reversed within a couple of days. (Try wandering around in the maze of iTunes App Store screens on a computer to figure out how to get in touch with iTunes App Store support.) Once you've done this, you can then purchase the app (if you wish) for each of the employee's iPads using individual iTunes accounts all linked to a single credit card.

Finally, there is apparently a way to purchase apps in bulk for multiple iPads. This service may be problematic for you since it's designed, as I understand it, to deal with large corporate customers. But you may be able to find some help from an employee devoted to small business sales at your local Apple store, especially if you plan to purchase numerous apps. I'd recommend that you contact your nearest Apple store and ask to speak to the "genius" who has this particular responsibility.

You can only share apps if they are on the same account. I have done this with our ipad/iPods for home. We share the games between them.

Hope this helps

Phil,

You may want to look into Apples App Store Volume Purchasing for Business. I am working on a project for work doing the same thing possibly deploying several hundren in the next few months. I am also looking into mobil device management (MDM) software and having a corporate app store for when we do our volume purchases.

Good Luck!
Laura

Sharing iTunes accounts in a business for the purpose of avoiding paying for apps is not legal. Apple has volume purchase agreements for business users.

Using the same iTunes account on multiple devices is meant to support personal use not business use.

Could Apple have a way of detecting such apps sharing among numbers of iDevices?

Originally Posted by bluebottle

Could Apple have a way of detecting such apps sharing among numbers of iDevices?

Yes, Apple knows what device IDs are tied to which iTunes accounts.