[sra]

I recently upgraded my 16 Gb 2G iPhone to a 3GS. No problem there - everything that was on the old phone was backed up and transferred to the new one. But now I want to give the 2G phone to my wife. She has an AT&T number, and after reading various threads I gather we can either just activate that number on the old iPhone directly, or transfer her old SIM to the iPhone and then activate a data plan for it. This much I (think I) understand.

But I have a bunch of apps that I paid for, some of which my wife would like. When she syncs the old iPhone with her own computer via iTunes, it will tell her that it wants to replace the contents of the phone with the backup on her computer: i.e., wipe out everything. Is there some way to do one or the other of the following:
a) leave the apps the way they are, perhaps by just copying the old backup file from my computer to hers (I see that in ~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup/ there are two directories, one associated with my new iPhone and one with the old one). Or else
b) somehow decide to divide the community property, as it were, and transfer some of the apps to her (deleting them from my iPhone) while leaving others on my phone. There are a couple we would both like, but mostly they could be divided if necessary.

Any hints?

--
Steve Anderson

[kylef]

You can have applications that you have bought on both iPhones, no problem. The only nuisance is that whenever there are updates to them, you'll have to sign in to the iTunes account that the application was originally bought from, otherwise it won't let you update. Thankfully, 3.0 allows you to change iTunes accounts from the App Store itself (in 2.x it had to be done through iTunes).

Here's how you do it: plug in your wife's iPhone and when it asks to erase and sync, hit no/cancel. Then go to Advanced > Authorize Audible Account and enter in your iTunes details. Your purchases can now be synced with your wife's iPhones and yours. Up to 5 devices can be registered to your iTunes account.

As a UK based application reviewer I'm forced to have a US and UK iTunes account, so I know that it's a nuisance! For the record - my family is up to 4 iPhones now .. we share are our apps. No point in buying them twice!

[Big Mac]

Who do you write your reviews for, kylef?

[kylef]

Originally Posted by Big Mac 

Who do you write your reviews for, kylef?

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