On Tue, 19 Dec 2017 12:56:22 -0500, JF Mezei wrote:
>> The question in the OP is (verbatim):
>> "What do you use to transfer an older already-installed app
>> from one iOS device to another iOS device?"
>
> Officially, you can't.
Thanks. I know that now. It's not that I didn't half expect that to be the
answer, as more often than not, if it isn't already scripted for you by
Apple Marketing, then the user has to just give up.
I think we have the answer now, which is that the older free app is
codesigned such that even if you did transfer it, it wouldn't work because
you're never going to have the appleid/password of the original downloader
of the free app.
> You can backup the app's data and restore it to another device. Simple
> and supported. But you can't extract the actual app from an IOS device.
That's too bad that you can't extract the app from the iOS device because
Android does that aplenty. If the app is already installed, you just hit a
button and it's backed up to a ZIP file which is easily transferred to any
other Android phone (even system apps). Not all apps brought over to a
different hardware will work but my experience so far has been that most
do.
> If the person used iTunes to install the app, then iTunes would have the
> .IPA bundle (already posted this) which you can install in a supported
> fashion onto another phone.
But it's still going to ask for the original downloader's appleid/password
(which doesn't happen on Android so it's a more restricted use model).
> They are not imaginary hurdles. They are real and serve a purpose to
> protect the IOS environment from malware. Apple goes through a lot of
> effort to ensure you don't install older version of apps or IOS to
> ensure you use most modern internal APIs and get the latest bug fixes to
> eliminate viulnerabilities from the field.
OK. I'm not saying that Android is safer than iOS, as you probably well
know that I always posit that nobody is safe on a consumer mobile device.
Apple MARKETING goes to great lengths to make iOS users *feel* safe, but
the fact is that the weakest link is the same on all mobile devices.
> There is a cost to this: inability to bypass the standard software
> install mechanisms. To most, this is not a big cost as they get the
> functionality they need.
I have both iOS and Android devices, just as I have Windows and Linux
devices, where I find that when I need functionality, Android gives it to
me as does Linux. When I want push-button solutions that everyone else does
all the time - then they all do that.
The platforms are only different when you want to do something functional,
like debug a wifi or cellular network. Or if you just want to copy an
already-installed free app from one phone to the other.
> (Apple further restricted software installation by closing the app store
> on iTunes, so you now MUST use your tiny phone to research apps and
> install them).
That's too bad since I hate the little screens of phones, which is why I
almost never use the web browsers on phones. For example, I watch and play
and download and extract audio from YouTube with a freeware app called "New
Pipe", so that I have all the power but not the ads or limitations of
YouTube.
If functionality like that existed on iOS, LOTS of users would use it.
>> The iOS user has to *just give up* all day every day whenever they want to
>> do anything that Android users just do all day every day.
>
> Copying old software from one android to another is not something people
> do every day.
The rest of that paragraph you're responding to listed offhand three or
four things that I do all day every day (e.g., automatic call recording),
which Android users *do* use all day every day and which are impossible on
iOS.
What is automatic call recording impossible on a non-jailbroken iOS device?
I don't know. You tell me.
All I know is that there is plenty we do all day every day on Android that
is just impossible on iOS. You can pick any one thing but I can easily list
a hundred things (literally) where you know we've already been there.
>> on Android that it's just not funny. You can even email the older already
>> installed app to someone - it's that easy.
>
> Yep. that easy to email a compromised app to a friend to spread malware.
> You're the darling of the NSA and other orgs.
You can spread FUD - but what I've learned is that the iOS user just wants
to *feel* safe (not actually be safe). The NSA has absolutely no problem
tracking you if they want to track you - on any consumer grade mobile
device.
The weakest link in a mobile device is the same no matter what the mobile
device. You think the NSA, with all it's billions, doesn't know that?
If you think an iOS device "protects" you from the NSA, then you are out of
your mind.
>> On iOS you have to *just give up*.
>> It's just another case of what is trivial on Android is impossible on iOS.
>
> Also another case of something Apple has done which Androi will follow
> in some time in order to secure their platform.
It is sad actually that some things on iOS (e.g., utterly horrific prices)
have filtered down into the Android world (which is something nospam gloats
about with glee since any fool can find a lousy price-to-performance
comparison).
Luckily, there are always Android devices with the same hardware
functionality as iOS devices for about half the price - and we already know
that the app functionality of almost any Android device is far greater than
that of any iOS device in general.
> I wouldn't brag so much about abilities that Android STILL has when
> those are vulnerabilities likely to be closed in a coming release of
> Android.
I don't think Android will close the ability for an app to create an APK
from an already installed app but if they do, we'll deal with it. Certainly
once the app is in the APK zip file format, transferring it from one phone
to another has so many methods that it isn't funny. And they don't need a
desktop computer to do something as simple as transfer a file.
Having said all that, I admire your better balanced approach, where you
don't stoop to fabricating imaginary functionality for iOS like Jolly Roger
does. Nor do you twist the facts to suit your argument, which nospam does.
It's refreshing to find an iOS owner who can handle the basic facts.