It Depends.â˘
Sometimes an app can be âremoved from saleâ from the app store but still be available for re-download via the app store, usually via your âPurchasesâ section.
Sometimes things get removed even from your âPurchasesâ. Apple does this with older versions of macOS, for example.
You can still download Interact. I just verified this myself.
Unfortunately Apple doesnât make it all that easy to search your purchase historyš so I find it most useful to use a tool called âmasâ in situations like this, because mas
will let you install apps if you know their App ID number.
How do you find the App ID number? Well, if you can find an old link to the app, you can get it from there. For example, the URL for Interact Contact Scratchpad was
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/interact-contact-scratchpad/id1199660222?mt=12
See the very last part there? id1199660222?mt=12
? Thatâs the part you want, minus the id
and the ?mt=12
which leaves you with just 1199660222
.
To install it via mas
you would enter mas install 1199660222
in Terminal, which would go something like this:
% mas install 1199660222
==> Downloading Interact Contact Scratchpad
==> Installed Interact Contact Scratchpad
VoilĂ ! Now you have the app installed again.
This works on macOS.
On iOS it is much more difficult because Apple now wants you to download apps right from the App Store. Even if you have the .ipa
file, installing it will be a challenge. The previously-mentioned iMazing would be my suggestion if you want to do that.
I have a script that looks at all of my installed apps from the Mac App Store and backs them up. The only downside is that it means I have to have a Mac where I can download/install the latest versions of all of the apps I own. It checks to see if there is a backup of the current version, and skips it if there is; if there isnât, it makes a new backup.
š I really miss the old âPurchasedâ tab from the older Mac App Store. Not only did I find a list easier to scan than the ârows of iconsâ in the newer version of the Mac App Store app, but it also had the option to export the HTML of your purchases.
Fortunately I have an old Mac running El Capitan, which still uses that version of the Mac App Store.app. When I export the HTML from the âPurchasesâ page, I have another script which generates this web page: https://mas.luo.ma that includes the ID numbers for âdeadâ apps, and links to available apps. Plus I can use âF to find apps by name.
When I am setting up a new Mac, I use that page and mas
to reinstall all of the apps I want from the Mac App Store.
I just hope that Apple supports El Capitanâs access to the Mac App Store for a long time, because thereâs no way to do this with newer versions of the app store.