An application software installation method, comprising: accessing , by a device , a server , wherein the accessing , by a device , a server comprises: accessing , by the device , the server by logging in to an associated account, wherein the associated account corresponds to a to-be-installed application set; after the accessing , by the device , the server by logging in to an associated account: if third application software not belonging to the to-be-installed application set has been installed in the device , sending , by the device , an adding request for a third application software identifier to the server , wherein the third application software identifier indicates the third application software, so that the server adds the third application software identifier to the to-be-installed application set based on the adding request; receiving , by the device , an editing operation of a user for the to-be-installed application set in the server , wherein the to-be-installed application set comprises N application software identifiers, wherein N is a positive integer, the N application software identifiers are used to indicate corresponding to-be-installed application software, and the to-be-installed application software is application software backed up by another device in the server ; and sending , by the device , an editing instruction for the to-be-installed application set to the server based on the editing operation, wherein the editing instruction is used to instruct the server to add an application software identifier to the to-be-installed application set and/or delete an application software identifier from the to-be-installed application set, so that the server obtains an updated to-be-installed application set. accessing , by a device , a server , wherein the accessing , by a device , a server comprises: accessing , by the device , the server by logging in to an associated account, wherein the associated account corresponds to a to-be-installed application set; after the accessing , by the device , the server by logging in to an associated account: if third application software not belonging to the to-be-installed application set has been installed in the device , sending , by the device , an adding request for a third application software identifier to the server , wherein the third application software identifier indicates the third application software, so that the server adds the third application software identifier to the to-be-installed application set based on the adding request; receiving , by the device , an editing operation of a user for the to-be-installed application set in the server , wherein the to-be-installed application set comprises N application software identifiers, wherein N is a positive integer, the N application software identifiers are used to indicate corresponding to-be-installed application software, and the to-be-installed application software is application software backed up by another device in the server ; and sending , by the device , an editing instruction for the to-be-installed application set to the server based on the editing operation, wherein the editing instruction is used to instruct the server to add an application software identifier to the to-be-installed application set and/or delete an application software identifier from the to-be-installed application set, so that the server obtains an updated to-be-installed application set. <EOS>