Itunes messing up my app folders

Hei.
I have the following problem:
- I installed itunes on my new computer
- transfered the apps to itunes
- Now I want to sync - itunes tells me that all my apps are replaced
and at the same time I can see that all my folders are not there anymore.
How can I tell itunes that my iphone app folders should be transfered to itunes?
Help appreciated
Greets from Finland!
Björn

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ITunes is messing up my app folders.

Hi,
I have had the misfortune of having had my iPhone 4 replaced 3 times since purchase on launch day. Before each occasion I have always backed up my iPhone before going to the apple store. When I have got home with the replacement phone I have connected it to iTunes to activate it. Then I opt to restore from back up and select the latest back up. iTunes for some reason only replaces my contacts and alters other basic settings but does not reload my music or apps. In iTunes when I click on iPhone then Apps then 'Sync Apps' it loads all my apps back onto my phone but it does not put them into folders how I arranged them and I have to spend an hour sorting everything out. What is the point of a back up if this does not work?
I'm having yet another problem with this replacement handset and the only thing stopping me from having it swapped by apple is the hassle I will have restoring my phone. I have opened iTunes, clicked on iPhone and then Apps only to find that the 'Sync Apps' check box has unchecked itself at some point. When I check the box it asks me if I want to sync apps and I said yes and then selected the apps I wanted to sync. iTunes then, in effect removed all my apps from my phone and reinstalled them, not in folders like I had them. Why does it do this? Is there something I'm not doing properly?
If I have to have this phone replaced them I am going to book an iPhone and a Mac genius appointment side by side at my local apple store and explain to them whats happening and see if they can suggest a way to stop it happening. I will then restore my iPhone whilst in the store and if it places my apps all over the place then I won't leave until one of their members of staff has spent an hour putting my apps into folders.

I am so sick of the crappy way iTunes and iPad handle app folders.

I'm a long-time iPad user who, for various reasons, has accumulated over 500 apps. It is absolutely essential that I keep my apps organized into folders. This requires a lot of folders, too: with a maximum of 20 apps per folder, that's at least 25 folders.
What prompted this message is that after the last time a major software update decimated my carefully-constructed folder organization (which itself is inexcusable), I spent two hours with the horrible iTunes interface dragging and dropping and creating new folders and getting everything re-organized, finally, only to have iTunes fail to sync the changes to my iPad.
It synced, but afterwards, the iPad still had its old folder layout, and iTunes still indicated the new one. I power-cycled the iPad and tried syncing again: same thing. I quit and re-launched iTunes and synced again, and lo, iTunes wiped all the tedious work I'd done and just copied the defective organization back from the iPad into iTunes.
This isn't a one-time thing. It's consistently been the most time-consuming, time-wasting aspect of owning an iPad, and really, it's inexcusable for Apple to have let this go on and on for so long.
Why not just let them float free instead of constantly hitting my head against the "folder wall" and gradually move the ones I use a lot to early pages? Well, it turns out that if you have too many apps installed, the iPad doesn't show them all: there's a limit to how many pages of apps it will show. Dang it.
Why not use the search page to get to my apps? Well, I could, but some of them are named in unfortunate ways. (Also, when you search for an app, it doesn't indicate whether it's located in a folder nor in which folder it's located. That's not just stupid: it's caused me to go manually poking through folder after folder to find an app that I've "mis-filed".)
And if you have multiple iDevices? I recently jumped from Android to iPhone, and guess what: I had to go through the whole, pain-staking process of creating a folder organization for the phone, because I couldn't use the iPad's as a template. I did learn my lesson, though: the iPhone only has installed the apps that I use on a regular basis. At least that cuts down on the length of the pain if not the intensity.
C'mon, Apple, get a clue! This app folder "organization" is about as crappy as it gets. (Though you have a bad history of poor organization: how long did it take to get photo albums?) Please, please, please, if you can't at least get the novice-programmer-stupid-bugs out of your folder sync/iTunes logic, come up with an alternative.
Here, I can think of a REALLY EASY one right off the bat: let me tag my apps and search/access them via tags. (Oh, say, then maybe I could just have a "smart folder" to make them easier to find.) (What? Be able to organize apps in more than two dimensions?) Or at least make the drag-and-drop-to-move-apps interface (on both the iPad and iTunes) less fragile and frustrating.
Back to bashing my head against the wall... thanks for listening.

I've had a not-so-rewarding experience with one of Apple's support-issue-submission forms. It was a reminder that as much as I'd prefer to think otherwise, Apple may be unusual, but it's just another company where it's not possible for everyone to be "above average".
Frankly, I'd be happy in this case if iTunes dropped an XML file with apps-in-folders, let me mess with it, and then loaded and applied it to shuffle things around. That's one thing I love about OS X, but then that also allows one to be too smart for one's own good. Be careful what I ask for, I guess...

App folders not showing up in itunes ???

I have an iPhone 4 and iTunes 10.2.1.1
I have multiple folders set up on my iPhone containing all my apps. However when I sync my phone to iTunes the screen shots of my phone that show up in iTunes does NOT show any folders. (Under the apps tab where you can organize your apps and sync options.) All of my apps show up individually.
Can someone please help?
Thanks !

Thanks for the suggestion, but I'm not unhappy with my overall experience.
I've had it turned on on my iDevices since yesterday, that's how I know it isn't syncing sub-folders.
I've really only ever used smart playlists as a tool, not for order, so that doesn't effect me.
It didn't move my playlists anywhere, thus my beef that I had to move the playlists I wanted access to out of their organized subfolders. When I did this they instantly appeared on my iPad in their new, service acceptable locations.
This is new frontier stuff, and that means there will be some things we learn to do different, and hopefully smarter and faster. Apple doesn't dump this stuff out there and walk away. The kinks will get ironed out, and the early adapter that stick with it will ultimately find the experience they desire, or this was never the service for them. Just because it doesn't work the way you want it to, doesn't mean it doesn't work. I didn't decide to subscribe to the service because change offends me, and I can't blame Apple for finally introducing this new service that I was prepared to join two weeks ago, and didn't have time to re-learn until after the first of the year.

Downloaded ios5 one week ago, synced itunes and lost most apps, even folders and modified backup. How can I get back what I had before last synced?

Downloaded ios5 one week ago, last nigth synced itunes and lost most apps, even folders and modified backup. How can I get back what I had before last synced?

Try resetting your home screen layout, go to your setting>general>reset home screen layout.

I can't see my apps & folders in the newest iTunes?

On the latest version of iTunes, I can't view my device (iPhone5) or manage the apps or folders on the iPhone5. I can sync my iPhone, transfer purchases from my iPhone, Backup or Restore from Backup. I used to be able to see a pic of my homescreen and manage apps & folders, but no longer can.

I assume that you have already powered down and restarted the entire network.
The next thing to check is this:
Click anywhere on the open desktop so that the Finder menus appear at the top of the screen
Click the Finder menu, then click Preferences
Click the General tab
Under the heading of Show these items on the desktop, make sure that there is a check mark next to Connected Servers
You may need to restart the entire network again.
Any help?

App folders disappear

I turned on my iPhone 4 with OS 4.1 yesterday morning, and all of my folders were gone, with the apps now arranged in alphabetical order. There was only one folder, a new one named Utilities that contained several of the apps that come with the phone.
I've seen other threads about this happening after synching, but the last time I synched was 5 days ago, and I had turned the phone off and on each day since then with no problem.
I hoped to get things restored by synching (Lenovo laptop with Windows 7 Ultimate). I launched iTunes, connected the iPhone 4, and when I clicked on "Apps" in iTunes, iTunes appeared to freeze. There was no indication that synching was happening. This lasted about a minute, and when iTunes came back to life, it displayed the apps in the same way as on the phone -- except that the letters of the app names on about half of the apps were superimposed over each other, making many app titles unreadable. (No such problem on the iPhone 4.) I exited iTunes, then re-launched it, and at least the lettering of the app names was back to normal.
Again, while others have posted about folders disappearing after they synched, the last time I synched was 5 days before this event, and I had turned the phone off each night and on each morning after synching for 4 days with no problem.
What's going on, Apple? If this phenomenon is caused by some sort of malware, let us know, and tell us how to protect ourselves. (My phone is NOT jailbroken.) If it's your problem, then please fix it. It took me about 2 hours to get all of my apps organized again, and I do not appreciate that.

Make sure you do not have
automatic sync
First select transfer purchases
itunes with your device/iphone
attached.
Backup your iphone (take a mental
note or record time you backup)
Enable restrictions on iphone
-go to Settings/
General/Restrictions/ Select on
applies to install and delete
apps
check sync apps
and unselect automatically sync new apps
(if itunes does not allow this and
states warning this will remove
apps from iphone, hit okay)
if itunes syncs, slide to cancel
on your iphone.
Now you should see your iphone
display no longer grayed out on
the itunes/computer display and your folders will
now appear on itunes. At this point deselect
automatically sync new apps on the
left display of itunes.
Now check any apps in the itunes under the "checked sync apps"
that may have had their check marks removed and you should see all of your folders on your iphone retained and appearing on the itunes devices display.
GO about further organizing your folders, sync, and your folders will be retained on both itunes and your iphone.
Good luck.

Syncing and losing app folders

Hi since the new massive software upgrade last week my iphone is losing message threads and also all the app folders I created. I have re-created these twice now but it is a wste of time and very tedious.
Any bright ideas?
Thanks
Judi

I dont know, but I arrange my apps into folders in itunes and when I sync there are some folders but not all the apps are in the folders i put them in.. I too feel like this is a big waste of time.But maybe I am not doing something right.. some times it takes me over an hour to arrange my apps and then when I sync half dont show up and the other half I have to search for because they are not where I put them.. any suggestions?

ITunes is saving my Apps in two different places

When I buy an App in iTunes it is downloaded to
~/Music/iTunes/Mobile Applications
But when I by an app direct from my iPod and then sync with iTunes, it appears on my hard drive in:
~/Music/iTunes/iTunes Media/Mobile Applications
This means I have two Mobile Application folders, both with unique content.
I have consolidated the library and have updated to the new media organisation.
Is this normal behaviour for iTunes and iPod to use different Mobile Application folders?
Why isn't iTunes defaulting to the new media organisation and putting Mobile Apps inside the Media folder?
Thanks for any help.

Further Investigation:
1. I thought that maybe ~/Music/iTunes/Mobile Applications was a legacy folder, so I deleted it and downloaded a free App from the app store (using iTunes)
iTunes created the folder again and put the App inside it!
2. Another strange discovery - If you consolidate the Library to an external Hard Drive, iTunes merges the contents of the two local Apps Folders and puts them in ExternalHD/iTunes/iTunes Media/Mobile Applications
I wonder why it is keeping this legacy folder in the Home Directory, and why it is still putting new Apps there, but then putting new Apps from the iPod/iPhone into iTunes Media

IPhone apps folders

Does anybody know what is needed to see the iPhone apps folders, just like in the pic below?
Uploaded with ImageShack.us
Ubuntu natively does that, but I don't know what package I need to be installed in Arch to allow that. As you can see on the left side of the image, there are two mountpoints, one for the iPhone root folder and the other containing some of the iPhone installed apps.

I just had this happen this evening - I spent hours categorizing everything, had it down to a lean 4 or 5 screens, and had sync'd a few times. After the last sync, however, they were all reset to alphabetical, unfoldered order.
One odd thing I remember prior to the sync wiping the app layout is that I had one app that appeared to be installed twice - it was visible both in a folder and on the main screen in iTunes (I don't know if it actually appeared twice on the phone itself). I think it was AAA Triptik (couldn't tell you for sure, since everything after page 11 is missing, and that only goes up to 'R'). I clicked on the cross to delete one instance of it (from the main screen, not the folder) - this prompted me to uninstall the app. I was fine with that since I don't have any saved data - I sync'd and it uninstalled the app. Don't know if that's what also clobbered the layout. I then re-checked the app in iTunes and sync'd again so it'd get reinstalled.
Not looking forward to doing this again... :-/
Graeme

ITunes not re-installing apps after restore

Anyone having a problem where iTunes is failing to re-insall apps after a carrying out a restore? I backed up my phone before carrying out the restore, once the restore is complete everything is re-installed except apps. I have to then manually place them back on my phone.

Yeah I carry out a sync before doing my restore, the Apps I want are ticked. After doing the restoring my device iTunes then offers me the option to restore from either my last sync (today it was the one before restore was carried out) or previous ones. I choose today's and then it starts to place back everything but Apps. Then after the restore sync was completed, I saw my apps folders (which I created) there and every app I have had on the side. That's when I have to manually place them back. Where do you think I'm going wrong so I know next time what to do? It's only happening recently, I've never had this problem before with restoring.

IPhone APP Folders

I have a lot of apps downloaded on my iphone excess of 200
Had them neatly organized in folders.
Was working fine for a while
Not sure if anything changed but when I tried to synch with my home desktop suddenly all folders disappeared.
Tried shutting down and restarting the iphone4
Folders still gone
Then startted the process of recrating the folders again
When I organize the same online and click synch they again disappear and I am back to all apps as is without folders
How do I fix this?
Thanks in advance

Hello I combed many threads on this.
I finally resolved it.
if you have not performed a sync before, backup your iphone to save your folders.
If you lost your folders storing your apps
First restore the last backup of your iphone. (You may have to do it twice.
Ie restore backup, then when sync occurs after back up. stop the sync.
Then hit restore backup.
The above was on other threads.
Now for resolving the disappearing folders do the following:
Make sure you do not have
automatic sync
First select transfer purchases on
itunes with your device/iphone
attached (this will back up your purchases to itunes).
Backup your iphone (take a mental
note or record time you backup)
Enable restrictions on iphone
-go to Settings/
General/Restrictions/ Select on
applies to install and delete
apps (this prevents itunes from deleting your iphone data)
check sync apps
and unselect automatically sync new apps
(if itunes does not allow this and
states "warning this will remove
apps from iphone, hit okay...itunes will now try to sync and wipe out your iphone folders..)
if itunes syncs, you must slide to cancel sync
on your iphone to retain your folders.
Now you should see your iphone
display no longer grayed out on
the itunes/computer display and your folders will
be the same on your iphone and will appear on itunes on your computer.
At this point deselect
automatically sync new apps on the
left display of itunes.
Now check any apps in the itunes under the "checked sync apps" box
that may have had their check marks removed in the prior sync process and you should see all of your folders on your iphone retained and the folders will now also appear on the itunes devices display.
GO about further organizing your folders on the itunes/computer display,
Now sync, and your folders will be retained on both itunes and your iphone. Finally resolved.
The disappearing folders seems to occur when one uses two computers for syncing. Prior to this method my folders would disappear. No more.
Good luck.
Appledoc

Is anyone else wasting a lot of his or her life constantly rearranging apps & app folders, trying to figure out how to organize them, and what to call each app folder?

Because I'm constantly downloading & deleting new apps; struggling to figure out what the app folders should be called, where they should they be placed, and how to find them in the mess of apps & app folders; and because I don't know what it is about the design that has created this problem; I don't know what to do about it & I'm confused.
I'm really curious about how small or big of a problem this is, if at all. Is anyone else wasting a lot of precious time which could be used for important things? Plus, is Apple trying to fix the problem like I asked them to? Thanks.

I didn't mean that it's Apple's fault. Jeez, you've mis-interpreted my message, and already you're judging me. I've always had this immediate judgmental reaction & organizational problem. Plus, I have many disabilities like autism.
What I meant was that certain people like me have trouble with organization; taking notes; understanding how technology, the world, real life, people, etc work; etc(especially since nobody ever taught me how to be organized).
So sorry if I seem to be the only one who's having trouble understanding how to best use app folders. Sorry about that, I'm having a messed-up, bad day today.
Anyways, it's even harder because there is/are no universal standard methods/controls/commonality/design/etc across many different companies/products/etc when it comes to technology).
I'm used to using home computers where you can categorize emails, folders, software, etc by name/type/date/etc.
I can't help it if I wasn't taught many of the things most people knew well before I did. I had to choose between academic classes/school/etc and small easy classes.
Basically, what I'm trying to say is that Apple isn't to blame; but the design can be confusing to some people & it can help aid the person into creating this problem themselves.
Plus, it increases the likelihood & possibility of the person developing this problem while using the iPad based on many different factors. So, Apple & their design are not responsible, but the design doesn't help the situation for some people.

Restore - does it preserve app folders?

I'm having some problems with my iPad and would like to do a restore, but I have a lot of apps organized into folders and I'm worried that this organization will be lost. If I do a restore, I know that the apps and their data will be restored, but a recent restore on an iPhone 3GS trashed most (but not all) of the folders. That is, the apps and their data were there after the restore, but a large number of apps that were in folders before the restore are now not in folders. The strange thing, to me, is that some of the folders were retained, but many weren't. Should a restore retain (or rebuild or restore) all of the folders? Both the iPad and iTunes (Win XP) are the latest versions.

Yep, the solution posted by JPBOSS on that thread worked for me too. You need to do a second restore from backup. And I agree completely with your sentiments—this is a glaring bug which Apple has had years to fix, but evidently still hasn't. I can confirm it still exists, restoring from iTunes backup in iTunes 12 (Yosemite) to iPad Air 2 (iOS 8). I wonder how many poor frustrated souls have spent hours manually reorganising all their apps because Apple hasn't bothered to fix the way an iTunes restore works (presumably their attention is on iCloud now)!
Some additional info…
The first restore (for a new device) is like a full restore that wipes your device and then loads it up again with your app data and settings. In my experience, the first restore did NOT actually restore any apps to the device, even though they were all in iTunes. I had to then choose 'Sync' (or 'Apply') for it to do do this. That's when the weirdness really starts. In iTunes, it previewed the apps on my device in the same order they appear in the left side bar, but when they downloaded to the iPad, the order was different again. I couldn't work out the logic at all. In any case, neither arrangement resembled anything close to the way I had my apps organised before the iPad was backed up.
So as JPBOSS says, you need to do a second restore. In iTunes 12, go to the 'Summary' settings screen under your device name. IMPORTANT: Don't press the 'Restore iPad…' or 'Restore iPhone…' button in the top grey box. You don't want to wipe the apps that you just synced to your device. For the second restore, choose the 'Restore Backup…' button in the second grey box. Then choose the same backup you restored from the first time. After this, my apps were finally restored to their original order (aside from a whole bunch of new apps at the end, because 'Automatically install new apps' was ticked.)
One more thing… It's probably not a bad idea to archive your original backup as the very first step, so it's always there if things go wrong. I once had an iTunes backup fail, but when I tried to restore again, I discovered to my horror that iTunes had deleted the original backup and replaced it with a new, and completely useless one! You can archive a device backup in 'Preferences > Devices'. Right click on the backup and choose 'Archive'. Or you could always click 'Show in Finder' and then copy it to another folder manually.

HT204266 App Folders?

how do i create separate folders for my apps?

On your device (iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch), press and hold an app until they start to shake, and then drag one of them (not too quickly) over and on top of another app - you should then get a folder created with those two apps in it. There is a limit of 20 apps in an iPad folder, and 12 on an iPod or iPhone. You can also rearrange your apps when connected to your computer's iTunes - select the device on the left-hand side of iTunes and on the Apps tab on the right-hand side you can use the screen mock-ups to move your apps and create/update folders, and then apply/sync those changes to the device.
There should be a bit of info about app folders in the device's manual : http://support.apple.com/manuals/

Itunes messing up my app folders

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