Restoring your Free iLife (iPhoto, iMovie etc)

Last modified: Nov 9, 2012 9:30 AM
1 43390 Last modified Nov 9, 2012 9:30 AM

Hello and welcome to my User Tip



When you have your drive erased or replaced, the Free iLife you had on the machine is likely gone.


If you paid for iLife out of the AppStore, then hold option and click on purchases and redownload it.




This is how you replace your free iLife suite (iPhoto, iMovie, Garageband, etc)




If your machine originally came with 10.7 or 10.8, then follow this:


Restoring iLife applications after Internet Restore of OS X Lion or OS X Mountain Lion

If you erase install OS X Lion or OS X Mountain Lion on a new Mac that shipped with OS X Lion or OS X Mountain Lion installed, you can download iPhoto, iMovie, and GarageBand from the Mac App Store.


  1. After installation, start (up) from OS X.
  2. Double-click the App Store icon in the dock.
  3. Enter your Apple ID and password.
  4. Click Purchases.
  5. If you haven't previously accepted your bundled iLife applications within the Mac App Store, you should see your iLife applications appear in the Accept portion of the screen. Click Accept.
  6. You may be asked for your Apple ID and password once again. Your iLife applications now move to the Purchased section. These applications are part of the software that came with your Lion based computer. Your account will not be charged for them. Click Install to complete installation of your applications.


https://support.apple.com/kb/HT4718




If your machine originally came with 10.6


You run the bundled app installer on the "came with the machine" colored 10.6 disks, and if it doesn't work, then use Pacifist from CharlesSoft.


Run Software Update under the Apple menu to bring the program up to date (and with your files)




If you upgraded 10.6 from 10.5


Then you have a white Snow Leopard disk, this doesn't have the free iLife suite on it.


You can use Pacifist from CharlesSoft to extract the iLife off the 10.5 machine specific disks that came with your computer, or have a tech savvy person do it.


Run Software Update under the Apple menu to bring the program up to date (and with your files)


Or you can upgrade 10.6 to 10.6.8 via Software Update and log into the AppStore and buy another copy.

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple ID.