Can I transfer "used" aps from a used iphone I bought to my other iphone?

September 3, 2009 3:17 PM

I just bought a used Iphone 3g, jailbroken. It has some applications on it. I want to either transfer them to another iphone or at least keep them and still be able to download new aps. But when I go to sync aps, it tells me it will erase the aps that came with the used phone, and add the aps I have in Itunes. Which sounds like I'm not supposed to be able to do this (I'm guessing because I'm supposed to buy the used aps new.) Is there a way of doing this? And, if so, is it legal?

Note: I understand how to transfer applications I've bought new from the Itunes store to all of my iphones. This question has to do with aps bought by someone else, the person from whom I bought the used iphone. It appears that I can either keep and use the "used aps", and never get a new ap for that phone, or not keep the "used aps", and be able to get new ones plus transfer the old ones I've purchased. Thanks for any help.

posted by rabbus to Computers & Internet (6 answers total)

Basically transfer the old apps to a "profile" (which wont' include any apps you've already purchased on another profile), factory reset your iphone or however you do that for a jailbroken one, synch with the profile, and voila!

I am not touching the legality aspect of this as I have no idea if the apps and settings are legit or free anyway, but this is how I fixed my stubbornly broken iphone when I upgraded to os3. Not jailbroken, so this might be the worst advice ever. It just worked for me.
posted by shownomercy at 3:19 PM on September 3, 2009

Response by poster: Hi, and thanks. I can't facotry reset the iphone, because it's jailbroken. I believe hitting reset will "brick" the phone.
posted by rabbus at 4:32 PM on September 3, 2009

You can't put applications purchased off of the official iTunes app store onto an iPhone without the copy of iTunes (you are running) having logged in with the old owner's account.

To put it simply, no, you shouldn't try to, and can't do it legitimately.

If it were mine, I would restore the phone and use it fresh since you don't know what is running on it from the previous owner. This would (probably) remove the jailbreaking but it is always possible to do that again later.
posted by TimeDoctor at 4:39 PM on September 3, 2009

I think it might help to know how it was jailbroken. can you do a list of apps maybe, it will tell us a lot
posted by By The Grace of God at 5:02 PM on September 3, 2009

You can't transfer apps you don't own to another iPhone - you can only sync apps you've bought through the iTunes store.

The existing apps could be either -

1. Previous owners purchased apps
2. Pirated apps

Either way, they're unusable on your non-jailbroken phone.
posted by wongcorgi at 5:33 PM on September 3, 2009

You should be able to factory reset the phone with no trouble if it was jailbroken with Quickpwn or Pwnage tool (apologies for the stupid names, but these are the most common 3g jailbreaking tools). This shouldn't "brick" your phone, but you will lose any of the benefits of jailbreaking if you do this. A reset will make the software as close to factory new as it will ever be.

As for retaining the existing apps after a reset or sync, it's true that Apple doesn't really want you to do this. I don't think that you have an option here unless you also have a computer authorized under iTunes login credentials that purchased the apps.
posted by owls at 12:27 PM on September 4, 2009