How to transfer old apps to new iphone

After a hideous amount of time and effort, I finally found a way to get my apps that are "no longer available on the App Store" and do not show up under "Purchased" from my old iPad to my new iPad Pro.

It requires that you have backed up your computer over the past few years, or at least one year.

Ensure that your iPad is not plugged into iTunes. Close itunes. Find your backup. In Finder, search ".ipa". (Note: just searching for the app name.ipa does not always work, nor will searching for the iTunes mobile applications folder always display the .ipa files within it. No idea why.) Locate the .ipa file for your missing app or apps. Copy them to a new and accessible folder. Open iTunes. Click Library. "Drag and drop" your .ipa file INTO the field of app icons. They should copy over. Now plug iPad in to your computer. Click on the little device icon to open up your device in iTunes. Click Apps. The list should now include your missing app. Either drag it onto your Homescreen on the righthand panel, or change the app's button to "Will Install". Click DONE. Dialog appears: "You've changed settings... apply?" Click APPLY. Apps should now be installed on your device!

If only a few of your apps install, and you get an "Could not sync xx number of apps" error, disconnect and do a hard reboot of your device (hold both buttons down), restart and reconnect. Check in iTunes that things have not been reordered; reposition if necessary, then click DONE-APPLY again.

Related things I have discovered, to my dismay:

Apple is culling older apps off the App Store at an alarming rate - three times as many last month than ever before. Back up your apps now, separately! Itunes no longer saves your full app, so it is up to you to do so manually.

In Setting-About on the iPad, a list shows on the left supposedly of all the apps installed on your device. THIS IS NOT ACCURATE. I did a spotlight search and found dozens of other apps that were actually installed, but not showing in that list! Some of them had icons on the screens, too. Further, when I did a restore from the older iPad to the newer one, the newer iPad not only did not list every app that ended up installed, but some apps that did NOT SHOW IN THE LIST AS INSTALLED on the old iPad DID install on the new one, verified by Spotlight search! The moral: do NOT rely on that list!

Some older apps that started with a symbol of digit have been renamed with it spelled out. Adjust your search to that. Example: #photos is now Hashphotos.

Some older apps were discarded and started anew by the developer, with a similar but not identical name. Find the name of the developer for your app and search as to what other apps they have made. You may find the newer version, and if it requires payment, sometimes contacting the developer and telling them you have the old one that won't work now will result in them sending you access.

Some older apps do things that Apple is not allowing anymore. In some cases, by installing the oldest .ipa version you can find in your backups restores its original functions... if you are lucky.

If you do manage to install some very old apps on your new device, they may not work well, or may just plain crash. No guarantees.

No app icon showing up on the device, yet Spotlight Search finds it? You may have all your Homescreens filled up to capacity. There is a limit (20 pages, I believe; do not quote me on that). If this is the case, apps WILL install, but the icons themselves are "hidden". Once you group apps into folders and free up spots for icons, they will one by one appear.

I hope this helps someone, and you do not have to go through what I did to learn all of this from scratch!

Apps didn't transfer to my new iPhone

I just set up my new iPhone, but my apps didn’t transfer. I’m upset because I took great care to curate and arrange my apps on my old phone. Do I really have to re-download each individual app now? Or can I somehow redo the setup process so that it looks exactly like my old phone?

- Question from Apple Community

When you buy a new iPhone, you may want to transfer all data from old iPhone to the new one via iCloud backup during the setup process, so that you can quickly get started with the new iPhone. However, things may not happen as perfectly as you expected. For example, you click into this guide to seek solutions to the issue apps didn’t transfer to new iPhone 14/13/12/11.

Why didn’t my apps transfer to new iPhone 14/13/12/11?

Before trying specific solutions, you’d better figure out why your apps failed to transfer to new iPhone since chances are that you cannot transfer certain apps to new iPhone.

✕ Different Apple ID. To transfer apps from one iPhone to another, both iPhones need to be signed in with the same Apple ID.
✕ Poor network condition. During the transferring process, make sure you’re connected to stable Wi-Fi. You cannot restore a backup using your mobile Internet connection. Besides, you’d better plug in your device to a power source.
✕ Apps are not currently available in the App Store. If the purchased apps are refunded or unavailable in the store, they won’t be transferred to your new iPhone. What’s more, for some third-party apps, you may need to download data from the app provider again.

4 fixes to apps didn’t transfer to new iPhone

After figuring out why apps are not transferring to new iPhone, it’s time to know how to fix it or how to transfer apps to new iPhone. The following solutions are all nice tries to fix the issue. You can also try the shortcut in the next part to transfer everything (apps are included) from old iPhone to your new iPhone.

Solution 1. Check network condition

The first thing you may need to do is to check the network condition. You can go to the Safari app and open a webpage to check if the Wi-Fi is working.

Just in case, to avoid any network error, you can reset network settings by going to Settings > General > Transfer or Reset iPhone > Reset > Reset Network Settings. Enter your iPhone password to continue.

The Reset Network Settings doesn’t erase any data on your iPhone. Instead, the Wi-Fi password and Bluetooth connection history will be wiped.

Solution 2. Enter password to transfer purchased apps

When you restore the iCloud backup to the new iPhone, you may get a prompt to enter passwords. To transfer purchases including purchased apps successfully, make sure you enter them.

Solution 3. Check the transfer process in the background

Sometimes, it seems that the transferring process is finished, but your iPhone is still downloading information in the background. To check this, tap Settings > [your name] > iCloud > iCloud Backup.

If your iPhone is still being restored, you will see “This [device] is currently being restored and will automatically backup when it is done.”. Then, you may wait for another minutes or hours until it is completed.

Solution 4. Check iCloud storage

Go to have a check if your iCloud storage is full. If your iCloud storage is full, the apps may not be included in this version of iCloud backup, let alone transfer them to your new iPhone. On your previous iPhone, go to Settings > [your name] > iCloud > Manage Storage to view your available iCloud backup.

If iCloud storage space has run out, you may need to pay for extra space and backup your previous iPhone again, or you can head to the next part transfer everything from iPhone to iPhone directly.

Suggested: How to transfer apps to new iPhone without iCloud

If the solutions above don’t work, what about transferring everything including apps from one iPhone to another without iCloud? FoneTool, a professional transfer tool for iOS devices can be the best choice for you. It enables you to transfer data from iPhone to iPhone without backup.

✓ Fast transfer speed. It takes no more than half an hour to finish transferring everything from iPhone to iPhone.
✓ Wide compatibility. FoneTool supports iPhones from iPhone 4 to the latest iPhone 14 series, iPad (including iPad 2022), and iPod Touch. It also works well with versions of iOS, including iOS 16.
✓ Simple design and operation. With a simple interface and design, the transfer task can be done in three steps as you can see below.

Please click the icon below to free download FoneTool to your computer. Then, follow the tutorials about how to transfer everything from one iPhone to another with FoneTool below.

Warm tip: If there is something important on the new iPhone, please try the function Custom Backup to backup iPhone to PC first. When the transfer task finishes, you can restore them back.

Step 1. Connect both iPhones to PC with USB > Launch FoneTool and click Phone Transfer on its homepage. Mous over to iPhone to iPhone and choose Start Transfer.

Warm tip: If you have only one USB cable to connect iPhone and computer, you can try full backup your old iPhone first, and then restore the backup to your new iPhone.

Step 2. Both the source iPhone and target iPhone will be listed. Optionally, you can enable Backup encryption to protect your privacy.

Step 3. Click Start Transfer to begin the transfer.

When the transfer completes, the new iPhone will be restarted automatically. After restarting, you will find everything has been copied to your new iPhone.

It’s also a useful tool to enable you to share selective music, photos, etc. between two devices. Just try the Transfer to iPhone/Computer functions in FoneTool.

Conclusion

That’s all for apps didn’t transfer to new iPhone. Indeed, it’s kind of complicated to fix the issue. If necessary, you can pick FoneTool to transfer everything to your iPhone. If this guide helps you out, please share it with more people.

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