Get Your Apps Back after an iOS 5 Update

Photo by John Karakatsanic via Flickr

I took the plunge and updated my iPad 2 to iOS 5 today. It took about 3 hours which included a few setup steps, updating over half my apps, and getting the apps reinstalled on the iPad.

It seems like there ought to be a better way, but all your purchased apps are erased from the iPad during the process. Depending on how your settings are in iTunes, you may or not get them back after your first re-synch. Mine weren't there. A quick web search was not very helpful and found basically two suggestions: (1) re-synch the iPad; and (2) re-download your purchased apps one at a time from the app store.

A lot of the comments at the places I visited seemed to harsh on Apple because people couldn't get their apps back. Lots of complaints but no solutions. I had the same problem. My apps did not reinstall when I synched either, but I have been using Apple stuff long enough to know that this really ought to work pretty easily. The solution was simple.

These steps apply to Mac OS 10.6 (Snow Leopard) and iTunes 10.5. All you have to do is:

1. Plug your iPad into your computer.
2. If iTunes does not launch automatically (because you do not have it set to), launch it.
3. Click on the iPad icon on the left side panel in iTunes.
4. Click the Apps tab at the top of the iPad screen.
5. Take a moment or two to rearrange your apps on the iPad springboard as needed.
6. Check the Synch box (mine wasn't checked).
7. Synch the iPad and all the apps will be reinstalled on your iPad.

Now that wasn't so hard was it?  Maybe some people really do have a problem getting their apps back after a major update. But, I'll bet they just don't have their settings right in iTunes. Let me know if this helped you.