I have a back-up of my iPhone 5 on my Mac. Once I delete the newer less accessible app from my iPhone, how do I restore an earlier more accessible version from my Mac backup?I realize that my cloud back-up will restore only the most current version of an app.So I guess I probably have to use iTunes -- ouch! Am running latest OS on both phone and mac.
Thanks for your assistance.
By Scott, 12 August, 2014
Forum
iOS and iPadOS
Comments
Steps
Double check but I think this is right. Plug in your iPhone and start up iTunes. Go to the iPhone button and click that. Then choose the Apps check box. A list of all apps should then show up in iTunes with the ones that sync to your iPhone checked. Go down the list and make sure that the one you have backed up and want to sync is checked. Then click Sync.
Remember, make sure the version that you don't want has been deleted from your phone. Also, it will be a very helpful thing if you have not synced your phone with your computer since the update.
Also note that these are the steps to take with iTunes and a PC. I would think and hope that iTunes on the Mac works the same way.
It is the same on a Mac
The process is the same on the Mac. Select the device in the sources table, then press the Apps tab, then find the app you wish to reinstall an older version of. Make sure it is checked, then press the Apply or Sync button, whichever it is called, at the bottom of the iTunes window.
For this to work, the app must be in your iTunes library. It doesn't matter if you have backups with iTunes or not, since the backups only include data, not the apps themselves. When I first tried to perform an app downgrade, I discovered that iTunes on my Mac didn't have any of my apps in its library. I had to adjust a couple of preferences to get iTunes to sync apps, though I forget what it was I had to change. Even after changing the preferences, the settings only applied to new apps, so I had to transfer purchases to get my other apps into the iTunes library.
Be warned that if you performed a sync while a newer version of an app is on your device, iTunes will add the newer version to its library and delete the old one. Therefore, if you install a new app and realize you need to downgrade, you must remove the new version before connecting the device to your computer for syncing, or else you will lose any opportunity to downgrade.
Thanks for Help
Since I have never adjusted iTune preferences to include apps, I will check out the iTunes preferences to accomplish this. Is there a way to transfer all of my prior app purchases to the iTunes library?
Thanks so much.
Scott
Transferring apps to iTunes library
When I ran into the problem I mentioned in my prior post, this is what I had to do to get things working right. This is on the Mac, so it might be different on Windows.
First, I selected Preferences from the iTunes menu. Under General, there is a place to control which media categories to show in the sources list. One of the check boxes is for Apps, which was unchecked on my computer. I had to check this box. I also went under the Store tab in the preferences window, where there is an option to download new apps automatically when they are purchased on another device. I turned on that check box, which was previously unchecked. It's possible these check boxes were on by default and were later turned off, because for a long time I had no need for apps because I had no iOS devices.
After adjusting the settings above, iTunes now automatically imports newly purchased apps to its library, without my having to do anything special. Also, when syncing my iPad, newer versions of apps are automatically transferred.
To get my previously purchased apps into iTunes, I went to the File menu, then Devices, then Transfer Purchases. This added all apps I had installed on the iPad to the iTunes library. This did not, however, add any apps I had installed, but later removed, but I was fine with that because I didn't like the apps and no longer care about them.