July 13, 2008

• iPhone App Sharing

iTunes allows you to authorize music files on up to five computers, so why not applications?  It’s possible with five easy steps:

  1. Copy applications from ~/Music/iTunes/Mobile Applications/ to the same folder on the second machine.
  2. On the second machine, drag the .ipa file from finder into the applications area of iTunes.
  3. Unlike songs, you can’t click on an application in iTunes and expect something to happen.  Instead, click the ‘check for updates’ button at the bottom of the applications area to trigger authorization.
  4. Authorize as the account used to purchase the application.
  5. Sync your iPhone.
I haven’t tested this thoroughly, but I can confirm that the application syncs and runs two two different iPhones from two different computers.