How to find an iPhone app that you used to have but is no longer in the App Store

For one reason or another, app developers may discontinue offering their iPhone or iPad software through the App Store. Typically, you can continue to use apps that were removed from the store if the reason isn’t related to security. But what if you upgrade your iPhone or iPad, want to use the app on another device, or have your hardware stolen?

In most cases, you should be able to launch the App Store, tap the person icon in the upper-right corner, and go to Apps > My Apps. Even though the app won’t appear when you search in the App Store, you can search in this view and re-download apps back to the beginning of your history with an iPhone or iPad used with your Apple ID.

For instance, I scrolled to the bottom of a very long list and found AOL Radio, originally released in 2008. Even though it’s not on the App Store (tapping it caused an error) I could tap the cloud icon and download it. Remarkably, it even launched and worked. I have no idea the last time it was updated.

If you can’t find an app in the My Apps list that you’re currently using and are in a Family Sharing group, check other family members in the Apps view in your account at the App Store. (Other people in your group can also download discontinued apps that you have in your account if you’ve enabled app sharing at Settings > Family > Purchase Sharing > Name (Me) > Share Purchases.)

There’s no good way for several macOS releases to obtain the iOS or iPadOS app file (an IPA or .ipa extension file), which you used to be able to extract from a backup to your Mac. In some extreme cases, you might have then turned to the IPA and used the free Apple Configurator software in macOS to add it to your device. The third-party tool iMazing offers this feature, but I have not tested it with discontinued apps.

There’s one major catch: even if you retrieve the IPA and install it on someone else’s device, one that’s not logged into your iCloud account, all iOS/iPadOS apps are encoded to run only with that Apple ID–even if the app is free. If you try to launch such an app on another iPhone or iPad, at best you’re prompted for the Apple ID password; it might also simply refuse to run.

This Mac 911 article is in response to a question submitted by Macworld reader Bob.

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