Apps Removed From the App Store’s “Purchased” Tab
iPhoto and Aperture were both discontinued earlier this year when Apple released Photos for OS X Yosemite. While Apple no longer sells the apps, it continued to make them available for download for users who had bought them. At some recent point, those links — in Mac App Store users’ Purchased list — disappeared.
The disappearance of the ability to re-download older software irked users, with some calling the action “user hostile.” It’s unclear if Apple pulled the software intentionally or whether the Mac App Store experienced a temporary bug in advance of the availability of OS X El Capitan. However, the software was unavailable for several days before returning tonight.
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As noted by several readers, some discontinued software including Logic Pro 9 and older versions of OS X Server remain unavailable for re-download from the Purchased tab.
This was not limited to Apple apps. Panic’s Coda, as well as their Prompt app for iOS, were also removed (but now seem to be back).
Update (2015-10-07): Eli Hodapp (via Paul Haddad):
If you’ve been following the drama over the last week or so surrounding classic premium games vanishing from App Store purchase histories, strap in for the equally disappointing and baffling conclusion to it all: According to Apple, apps that are no longer for sale on the App Store also will not be available to download again in your App Store purchase history. I’m really just sort of at a loss as to what to even say about all this anymore. Originally it seemed like it was easy to assume big publishers were pulling things they didn’t want to support, particularly with the erie silence from them. When those same developers finally formulated a response and were just as confused as we were, things got interesting. Never in a million years would I ever have thought this was an unannounced policy change direct from Apple, but, here we are.
It’s particularly puzzling, as for years now Apple has been championing the wonders of iCloud backups. I’d go as far as to say most iOS users, at least the ones I know, don’t sync anything to iTunes anymore, as there hasn’t been any real reason to since iOS 5. […] With this recent Apple policy change, you can no longer trust iCloud as a backup method as your apps will only exist for re-download as long as they’re available for sale on the App Store. If an app gets removed now, and also purged from your purchase history, if you’re not backing up locally via iTunes you’re out of luck and Apple’s response is to go pound sand.
Update (2015-10-07): Eli Hodapp:
We fired off a cursory email to Apple, but felt confident publishing this as both historically Pocket Gamer writes stories based on good sources and in nearly a decade of working with Apple, everyone gets the same response. Apple’s PR is a well oiled machine with two settings: No response (or a “No comment”) or the response. I just got off the phone with Apple’s US PR who have assured me there has been no policy change, and they’re in the process of getting an official statement approved which will be released today.
Update (2015-10-08): Rene Ritchie:
It was a bug, Apple fixed it, and purchase histories were restored. Now a similar bug has been fixed on the iOS App Store, and purchase histories there are also being restored.
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That seems to have been limited to the US store. We have not noticed any issues over here (Jpn store) and a friend in France told me the same. – FWIW.
