iPhone to iTunes application transfer

Question

• Usually people used to download application on iTunes & then install it on their iPhone using iTuens sync.
• Currently, I have an iPhone that I bought from my friend.
• He had purchased many applications on iPhone.
• When I connected the phone to my iTunes, it asked to transfer or don't transfer. When I choose, transfer - It transfered all the items.
• Even though it was not from same account of itunes.
• I have different iTunes account & purchased application was from different itunes account even though it could transfer - my question is why - iTunes allows doing this ?

Ok. One more problem that I faced is as follows.

• When I was in wifi range, I directly downloaded an application ( using same account which I have on my itunes ).
• Next when I connected iPhone to iTunes, it didn't transferred anything & I lost my downloaded application.

Did any-one faced this issue ? If yes, What did you do to resolve this issue ?

Thanks in Advance for sharing your great Knowledge. Sugar.

Answer 1

1)your friends itunes account was probably registered on your phone when you synced with the computer.

2) you can only be synced with one itunes account at a time. your problem might be that your synced with your friends account so any app that you download with your account wont be able to sync any apps unless you change it to sync with your account(which will delete all apps not purchased with your account.)

Answer 2

Either there was previous authorization on your system for his account, or if the iPhone was modified in some fashion (ie. Jailbreak), then any predictability with normal function goes out the window.

If iTunes synced and removed an application without any warning, then there is a problem with your iTunes, or there may be a corruption with the iPhone requiring a possible restore. I'd de-authorize the computer, re-authorize, and then sign out and back in on your iPhone with further testing.

Answer 3

It is possible to use applications from different accounts on one iPhone. I do this too, where I usually download the free apps with my account and the paid with my wife's (we usually only buy using gift cards, and by redeeming all gift cards on one account we save up the spare cents after each 0.99€ song). For this to work, I needed to authorize my iTunes installation to use stuff bought using my wife's account.

So it's possible that you authorized your computer some time in the past to play music from your friends computer (even by streaming them, not only a file copy), and iTunes remembered this authorization so you can get the apps now. For updates to these apps it will ask for the password of your friend, so you see this use-case is usually limited to situations where people know each other very well and password sharing is not a big problem (in one household, usually).

In the mobile version of the App Store you can see which account you're logged in as by scrolling down on the first page. If it's still acting weird a restore could help that. Since you were able to transfer the purchased apps from the iPhone to your computer, you should be able to place them back after the restore.

Answer 4

You must ensure you sync the iPhone with one and the same iTunes account. To authorize/deauthorize iTunes, you might want to have a look at this Apple page:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1420