iphone apps not opening

September 28, 2009 7:47 AM

Has anyone had this iPhone issue: Upon syncing with the computer, apps will subsequently not open. Weirdly, deleting an app (e.g. the NY Times) and then reinstalling it somehow makes all the other apps work again. But this takes time and I can't imagine this is how it's supposed to work. Is there a setting or some such that needs to be changed? Thanks for any tips...
posted by dearleader to computers & internet (11 comments total)

That happened to me yesterday. I think it's just a bug in the sync update.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 7:55 AM on September 28

1) Try restarting the phone (turn off, turn back on)
2) Turn off application syncing, and sync the phone so it has no installed apps, then re-sync the apps. You'll lose your settings
3) Restore. It's annoying and takes a while (depending on how much music, an hour or two), but usually solves everything
4) Restore, and don't put the backup back on (Extra annoying! but should fix everything)
posted by CharlesV42 at 8:10 AM on September 28

My brother ran into this issue on his iPhone. It turned out that he had logged in to iTunes on his computer with one Apple ID, but was logged in to the App Store on the phone itself using a different Apple ID. When he made sure that both the iPhone and iTunes were using the same Apple ID and synced again, the problem went away.
posted by esd at 8:18 AM on September 28

I had the same problem using two different Apple IDs well.
posted by procrastination at 8:30 AM on September 28

I only have one Apple ID, and I had this problem before. It happened on an iPod touch with software version 2.2.1.

Since then I have had an iPhone 3G with software version 2.2.1 -> 3.1 and haven't had any problems of that nature.
posted by Biru at 9:07 AM on September 28

Ditto the multiple Apple ID problem.
posted by maryrosecook at 9:32 AM on September 28

I can't help you with a better fix but I can confirm that with an iPhone 3G and iPhone OS 3.1 I had a similar problem: many of my apps refused to open (and they didn't need an update.) The fix I used was just to delete the app and then download it again from the store.

Major pain and the above solutions seem more efficient . . .(The multiple IDs are ruled out in my case).
posted by jeremias at 10:10 AM on September 28

I had the same problem, but I don't know what fixed it. It hasn't happened to me in a while.

I read somewhere that you should try logging out of apple store on both the phone and itunes and log back in. This helps re-authenticate both the iTunes and the phone.
posted by ydant at 11:40 AM on September 28

I had this problem at one point because something had gone grievously wrong with a previous app install, which also corrupted my backups from that point forward. Nothing fixed it except hosing out all my backups, deleting all the apps that were causing the issue, and starting over.
posted by fairytale of los angeles at 12:11 PM on September 28

It's because either your apple/iTunes credentials got somehow erased from your iPhone, either through a restore or some other means.

The apps won't launch because they are linked to your apple/iTs ID, and re-downloading (or just downloading another app) sets your credentials on your phone which then fixes the problem.
posted by wongcorgi at 2:49 PM on September 28

I learned the hard way that iPhone doesn't seem to checksum app downloads, so if there's any corruption due to a flaky network connection, this is exactly what happens. I know it seems insane.

If you contact Apple Support, they'll suggest removing all your apps and then resyncing them from your computer. One rep even suggested that this is importand to do or the corruption "may spread to other apps". Not kidding.

I opted not to lose my data, and just delete the corrupt apps and reinstalled them.

Long-term solution: put off app downloads until you're on a stable connection, whether it's an area with good reception or a stable wifi connection.

Still pretty happy with my iPhone despite Apple's best efforts.
posted by Nameless at 12:16 AM on September 29