iMazing or AnyTrans?

LuxuryTouringZone

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Which of these two iTunes third party alternatives is better? Both seem really good, but I want to know who is using what in 2018. What made you ultimately choose one over the other?
 

Sherry_B

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We cannot guarantee the security of any information on your phone if you use 3rd party software not officially supported by Apple.
 

LuxuryTouringZone

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We cannot guarantee the security of any information on your phone if you use 3rd party software not officially supported by Apple.

Thanks for your response and concern. Both of these two are well recognized alternatives, that even have a trial and paid version, as well as customer support.
 

Just_Me_D

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Thanks for your response and concern. Both of these two are well recognized alternatives, that even have a trial and paid version, as well as customer support.
Since you appear to know a good deal about them, why don't you tell us which one "you" think is better?
 

LuxuryTouringZone

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Since you appear to know a good deal about them, why don't you tell us which one "you" think is better?

The purpose of this thread is get the input of people who've actually used either one of those two. Despite their good reviews, recognition and all, I have yet to actually personally use them myself. The latter is the reason why I even made the thread in the first place.
 

Just_Me_D

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The purpose of this thread is get the input of people who've actually used either one of those two. Despite their good reviews, recognition and all, I have yet to actually personally use them myself. The latter is the reason why I even made the thread in the first place.

You stated, “Both of these two are well recognized alternatives, that even have a trial and paid version, as well as customer support.” That response led me to believe you were familiar with them.

With that being said, you are absolutely correct about the purpose of this thread.

Having said that, neither of the above are widely used by the iMore community if I were to base it on what I’ve seen in the forums over the years. As a mod, I can tell you that “my” involvement with those products have been in the form of SPAM.

Both could be the best products on the planet, but those who SPAM sites like this with them causes users to be leery of even trying them.

Anyway, hopefully regular members who have used either will reply soon. Take care.
 
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Tartarus

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I am not familiar with either of those apps and truth be told, I wouldn’t use it either.
I don’t trust any third party apps to synchronize or edit my iDevices with.
 

tuminish12

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I am using AnyTrans for over 2 years now and can't criticize one single thing. Works like a charm and is very reliable. Great design, does its job and I find the user friendliness to be amazing.
I even recommended it to 3 family members who are very thankful so far! One of them is over 40 years of age and is not so technophilic - still gets along greatly with AnyTrans.
Haven't had contact with the customer support because I had no problems until now, so I can't tell you anything about that.

As for iMazing I only heard good things about it as well, but since I have never used it on my own, I have no experiences I can share with you.

Generally speaking, I believe you won't have problems with either of these two.
 

LuxuryTouringZone

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You stated, “Both of these two are well recognized alternatives, that even have a trial and paid version, as well as customer support.” That respond led me to believe you are familiar with them.

With that being said, you are absolutely correct about the purpose of this thread.

Having said that, neither of the above are widely used by the iMore community if I were base it on what I’ve seen in the forums over the years. As a mod, I can tell you that “my” involvement with those products have been in the form of SPAM.

Both could be the best products on the planet, but those who SPAM sites like this with them causes users to be leery of even trying them.

Anyway, hopefully regular members who have used either will reply soon. Take care.

Ah, I see. I thought you were trying to be snide with a "If you know it, tell us!" sort of thing, which led to me that response. I also wasn't aware that most people in this forum prefer stock iTunes.

I am not familiar with either of those apps and truth be told, I wouldn’t use it either.
I don’t trust any third party apps to synchronize or edit my iDevices with.

I can understand where you're coming from, but not all alternative applications are dangerous. Research and asking around for tips, advice, and reviews helps to eliminate such concerns.

I am using AnyTrans for over 2 years now and can't criticize one single thing. Works like a charm and is very reliable. Great design, does its job and I find the user friendliness to be amazing.
I even recommended it to 3 family members who are very thankful so far! One of them is over 40 years of age and is not so technophilic - still gets along greatly with AnyTrans.
Haven't had contact with the customer support because I had no problems until now, so I can't tell you anything about that.

As for iMazing I only heard good things about it as well, but since I have never used it on my own, I have no experiences I can share with you.

Generally speaking, I believe you won't have problems with either of these two.

Great to hear. I have ultimately decided to go with AnyTrans, but it was a really tough decision between these two. Both companies have their Internet media accounts and such, so if anything ever did go wrong, it would be really easy to target them.
 

Tartarus

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I can understand where you're coming from, but not all alternative applications are dangerous. Research and asking around for tips, advice, and reviews helps to eliminate such concerns.

I haven’t connected my iPhone to iTunes in maybe two years, if it isn’t longer ago.
I wouldn’t know why I’d need iTunes, everything I need and want I can do on my iPhone.
Therefore I don’t see the added value of an alternative for it.
But you’re right, not every third party app is dangerous.
 

Minorite

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Just some feedback from the 'other side' :)

I use iMazing for over a year now and it worked perfectly in almost all situations. I had some troubles at the beginning but mostly because I've just switched from Android and had troubles with understanding Apple workflow (who could know that if you use iCloud data may not be saved locally? :D ).

The interface of the app is extremely simple and convenient, all features work according to their guides (guides are also really straightforward which is not that frequent these days), support usually replies withing 24 hours and never had troubles with them.

Features I really like: incremental backups (shallow copies of your backups similar to Time Machine, saved me several times when I had to recover an old note with important information. I usually save around 10 backups), possibilty to use custom backup location (works with NAS but not cloud services like Dropbox or Google Drive), possibility to choose what data to restore when restoring a backup (for example exclude Photos dataset or some apps from the restore), more convenient UI for iOS reinstall, ringtones and Safari bookmarks management.

Most beloved feature: possibility to download .ipa files from AppStore (similar to iTunes 12.6), which allows you to downgrade apps if needed or reinstall them even if it was removed from the AppStore. And this is must-have app for people with slow internet or limited plan (believe me, they still exist).

About security, from what I can see they use only official drivers and no side processes are involved (trust me I'm a tester :D ), so at least it shouldn't be much less than with iTunes in my opinion. In some cases it can lead to iTunes limitations, for example you won't be able to delete photos added with iMazing from your device, or you won't be able to import music to iPod Classic series. Another problem is that most iTunes and iOS bugs will also affect iMazing (like the 'Device disconnected' bug on iOS 10.3.3 related to special chars), but sup will always give you a workaround if there is any.

Also they have pretty good history on TrustPilot and I've seen that it was recommended in several articles on MacRumors, so I think it's at least a known software that was tested by many users and it gives at least some kind of protection from scam or user data usage.

Hope this helps someone.

Edit: It appeared to be a long post, so TL,DR: iMazing is a good app with simple and convenient UI. Cool features: Incremental backups, possibility to choose what data to restore from a backup, ringtones, Safari. Really cool feature: possibility to download .ipa files from AppStore similar to iTunes 12.6. Has good sup and easy to read how-to articles.
 

wilber1

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I used anyTrans briefly(free version) when I got my 8 Plus just to transfer a few ringtones as iTunes is confusing sometimes to say the least and it worked perfect .