Quickly Install and Backup Your iOS Applications

Managing your iPhone/iPad applications can be a bit complicated at times, as you always need to have iTunes installed in order to synchronize them. iAppMaster is an application that comes as an alternative to the iTunes app synchronization, and allows you to manage your iOS enabled device.

The application lets you install, backup or uninstall applications on your iPhone and/or iPad (jailbroken or not).

iAppMaster won't install any additional daemons, you will have only the application and a .plist file. This can prove to be very useful for those people that want to use the tool and then easily delete it from the computer.

All you need in order to use the application are some .ipa files, or you can search Google/App Store from within the application. This is useful for those accustomed to Apple's App Store, using it on a regular basis to download and update their applications.

The Looks

iAppMaster's interface is simple, allowing you to access some basic functions, like installing, uninstalling or creating a backup for your applications. These functions can be accessed from the upper part of the main window.

The central area lets you visualize and browse through the applications installed on your iPhone or other iOS enabled devices. Here you can view your apps' icons, names, and some brief details.

The lower area displays the name of the connected device, as well as the iOS version currently installed on it. It also provides users with the means to access the iAppMaster website by clicking the question mark, in order to download the latest version, a useful feature since the application lacks an automatic update function.

The Works

Working with iAppMaster is straightforward; firstly, you must ensure that you have the .ipa files on your Mac. After that, you can start the application and press the Install button. Each installation process will bring up a confirmation window, a feature that I found to be quite useful if you have a lot of .ipa files and choose the wrong one.

The installation process can take a while, depending on the size of the original file. For testing purposes, I used 10 .ipa files with various sizes (20 to 400 MB), and the time needed for copying and installing them was between 20 seconds and 1.5 minutes. I must admit its speed is pretty impressive when compared with iTunes' synchronization process, that took 3 minutes for the 400 MB file.

If, for some reason, you need to delete applications from your iPhone, iAppMaster can also help. I had a nice surprise when I saw that you can batch uninstall applications, instead of uninstalling them one by one. After the process is finished, iAppMaster will automatically refresh the application list of your iPhone, without requiring you to press any buttons.

Creating a backup for any application is also an easy job. The tool provides two backup options: a simple backup to any location on your Mac or local network, or a backup to your Dropbox.

If you choose the Backup to Mac option, iAppMaster will archive the application's content available on your iPhone and download it into an .ipa file that you can save anywhere on your Mac. The other function is pretty similar, only in this case all the applications will be saved in your main Dropbox folder. Be advised that, in order to use this function, you will need a Dropbox account. If the application is already running on your Mac, iAppMaster will automatically detect your account.

iAppMaster also allows you to view device information, which includes the build version, device class and name, hardware model, product version, as well as the device ID. It would have been nice if it enabled users to change the device name, a very useful feature if you plan to sell your iPhone.

For each installed application you will have some basic information. Unfortunately, you cannot arrange the applications by name or version, which might useful if you need to delete or backup a specific app. This should be fixed by implementing a feature allowing you to sort the applications by clicking the tabs under the Search field.

The Good

Installing, uninstalling or creating a backup for your applications without having to use iTunes is something that iPhone users like myself have been looking for a very long time. iAppMaster lets you do this, and also comes with some unique features, like backup to Dropbox, one of the most used internet backup solutions.

I encountered no errors while installing, uninstalling applications or creating a backup, even after using it for more than a month.

The Bad

While I encountered no problems regarding the application's functionality, I did encounter small issues regarding the interface. You cannot sort or arrange the applications in a certain order and iAppMaster also lacks the presence of an update function for both itself and the installed applications.

The Truth

This tool proved to be the best choice for installing applications on my iOS device. Quick and easy application management, as well as backup features provide users with the best means to install and uninstall any .ipa on their device. I strongly recommend iAppMaster to anyone that has such a device and got tired of using iTunes.

Here are some snapshots of the application in action: