[dica] How to move all your iOS apps to another computer

Sooner or later everyone is going through the same problem: having to transfer all iPhone, iPod touch or iPad applications from one computer to another. Whether because you need to format the computer or because you bought a new one; or you simply want to burn all the purchases you made on the App Store to a DVD, so you don’t have to worry about hard drives.

Luckily, they are all in the same folder and it is easy to burn it to an external disk or put it on another computer. Check out how to do it.

There are several ways to save a backup copy of your application library, either manually or via an iTunes menu.

Official solution – Backup to Disk

ITunes itself has an option to burn your library to CD / DVD in the menu File> Library> Backup to Disk.

It makes it possible to record the entire library of music, movies and apps or only purchases made on the iTunes Store (our case), which for most Brazilians means only the applications downloaded / purchased from the App Store.

If the amount is greater than the media, it will tell you how many discs are needed.

Workaround – Manual copy

A faster and more practical way to make this backup copy is to directly copy the directory where the applications’ .IPA files are located. Each system has a different place to store them:

Mac OS X: / Users / Username / Music / iTunes / Mobile Applications Windows XP: Documents and Settings username My Documents My Music iTunes iTunes Media Mobile ApplicationsWindows Vista or Windows 7: Users username Music iTunes iTunes Media Mobile Applications

Just copy the entire folder to an external disk or CD, and then transfer it to another computer, in the same place where you took it.

It is important to know that you will need to have the password for the accounts to which all applications are associated, otherwise you will not be able to install them on your iPhone or iPad. You must deauthorize the old computer (or the same, if you are going to format it) and then authorize the recipient PC (learn how to perform the whole process in our special article).

————-

The second solution is much more practical and easier. Use the first one only if you are not very comfortable fiddling with directories on your computer. ?

Be sure to check out our tips section here on the Blog.