I just purchased an iPHONE 5C with 16GB and already own an iPOD Touch 4G with 32GB.
After restoring my iCLOUD backup, and updating to the latest IOS, I was completely out of space on the iPHONE, whereas I keep about 5GB free on my iPOD.
After some research, I realized that even without data, my 16GB iPHONE really only has a bit over 12GB due to the large size of IOS 8.1. That's not true for my iPOD Touch, with IOS 6.1 being considerably smaller.
So I went to Settings-General-Manage Storage and deleted the most data-intensive apps, many of which I don't really need on the new iPHONE anyway.
But now I have to figure out how to manage things going forward. Should I keep two separate iTunes libraries? I don't sync from iTunes that often because I find it very unfriendly in Windows and I don't use a MAC. But I did sync occasionally.
Or, should I ditch iTunes altogether now that I've got two iDEVICES with different storage sizes?
And how can I efficiently keep different apps on the two different devices? I'm figuring that apps which don't need cellular access should live on the iPOD and apps which do should live on the iPHONE, but I still have a lot of rearranging to do.
On Windows computers this is easy; you simply copy or move data to the drives where you want the data to reside. The concept of syncing is a lot more slippery and even though I've had my iPOD for over three years, I still wish it behaved more like a flash drive, where I could easily cut and paste without hassle.
Right now my iPOD has about 14GB of music, about 7GB of ebooks and audio books, and the rest of the space is used by data in various apps. I'm happy to keep all the media on the iPOD, but of course, data from navigation and identification and tracking apps would better work on the iPHONE.
What are others' suggestions for keeping this all straight? I want to avoid having to manually delete apps constantly just to free up space. I also want to avoid keeping track of different iTunes libraries.
By Deborah Armstrong, 8 December, 2014
Forum
iOS and iPadOS
Comments
Similar Situation
I recently got a 16GB iPhone 6, as a partner for my 32GB iPod Touch 4. Here's how I decided to go.
I restored the iPod to factory settings, and did not install any apps. I use it as my main music player.
I have one small playlist of music on the phone, and all my apps like iCatcher, Digit-Eyes, KNFB Reader and so on.
I use the same iTunes library, and manage apps and music and data sync'ing via iTunes. Because I have all my music on the devices in playlists, I can easily control which stuff goes where.
In my case, I don't want any apps on the iPod, so I made sure that I unchecked the box in its App screen to automatically install new apps.
In iTunes, each device has its own screen, and its own configuration settings. There is no need for you to have two iTunes libraries in order to keep things straight. Believe it or not, this is one case where iTunes is rather simple to deal with.
Profiles
Hello,
I had this dilemma as well. What I did was create two windows login profiles. One profile was for iPad and the other was for iPhone. I wanted certain apps and certain songs on each device. This solution works perfectly for me as each profile allowed me to have different settings.
Skipping iTunes was not an option for me since I wanted to make sure my stuff was backed up and didn’t want to use iCloud. I am paranoid about putting my stuff on the net.
Good luck.
Why?
I'm confused as to what the benefit of multiple log on accounts are for multiple devices. In iTunes, each device is controlled independently, so what is gained with the extra hassle of multiple log on accounts?
I'm not trying to be rude. I'm really curious...
Easier for me.
Hello,
I have a 16GB iPhone and a 64GB iPad.
With the iPad, I keep most of my music library in addition to audio books. Plenty of apps too since I am not bound by storage constraints.
On my iPhone, I don’t have much free space so I don’t store much music or books on it. When I finish a book or get tired of the music on it, I simply log into my iPhone profile, select all the songs and audio books and delete. I don’t have to select each song. I just do a CTRL A then delete all of it. Then I go to my file folder on the local drive and copy and paste the songs and books I will listen to next.
In addition, the apps are better organized for me. On the iPad, the apps are automatically installed whereas on the iPhone, they are not.
I know there were other reasons why I went this route but I can’t remember them right now.
Still confused
Thanks for the advice. I guess I'm really paranoid because I like having my backups both in iTunes and on the net. But if I understand the Apple knowledgebase articles correctly, if you use iCloud, then all your purchased apps are automatically downloaded to your device. It's actually the apps, with all their relevant data taking up the space on my iPHONE, and I really don't need all my books, podcasts and similar media there.
And a few things, like Chrome, are eating 75MB; no idea why Chrome needs that much space.
I haven't synced with iTunes yet, so I don't have any music on the iPHONE except of course for the free U2 album that came with iOS 8. But it's full of apps I don't need to use on the iPHONE.
Most of the solutions I've read focus on regularly syncing with iTunes, but suppose I chose not to. Could I keep it purged of the apps which work equally well on my iPOD?
Separate Devices
Yes, You can have totally separate control over which apps are on your phone and iPod. When you load iTunes, you select which device to interact with. As long as you have the check box for "add new apps automatically," or something like that, unchecked, you can download an app on one device, without it being added to the other.
Each app has its own app settings, so you can have iPod apps on the iPod, and iPhone apps on the phone. They maintain independent backups, and can be restored, if needed, individually.
iTunes does not treat them as clones of each other.
To find the device settings, here's what i do.
Fire up i Tunes.
Connect either, or both, devices.
Use F6 to move to the search box.
Then use Tab until you hear a devices button.
Hit Enter on that button and select the device you want to manage.
You can then F6 to the tree of various screens like Summary, Music, Info, and down arrow to apps.
Use F6 to get to the Apps section of the device screen.
You can down arrow through the apps list and check or uncheck apps you want installed or uninstalled to the device.
After this apps tree you will find the box I mentioned about automatically install new apps.
F6 to the listing that tells you how many audio, photos, apps, and other data amounts are.
Tab to the Sync button, and whack it confidently.
Very helpful points
Thanks for explaining that "iTunes does not treat them as clones of each other." That was a crucial piece of information I was missing. It's such a crucial piece of information that I'm repeating it here; iTUNES does know they are different devices, even if I sync with the same Apple ID. It's too bad the iTUNES help doesn't say this anywhere.
I do still have questions though, but now they're better suited for a different forum topic. I'll post under that. Again, thanks for all the suggestions!
You are most welcome.
I could tell you were having trouble with the concept, and I was having trouble thinking of how to better express myself. The "clone" was the ticket. See you in that other topic.