Unhide iOS app

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Unhide iOS app

Hi.

I know there is currently no way to unhide hidden iOS apps using iPhone (according to this article https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201322), but at least one month ago I was able to unhide iOS apps using Music app on my Mac.

Somehow I am not able to do it anymore. In hidden purchases section there is currently only music. No Apps section as it used to be here (take a look at the photo below - taken from that article https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208167#unhide).

There is also no Movies section, no TV Shows section nor Audiobooks section any more (take a look at screenshot below).

Please, do you have any idea how to unhide iOS apps now, when it is not able in Mac Music app anymore?

PS: I know it is possible to redownload hidden iOS apps using iPhone, but I do not just wanna redownload them, but unhide them!

Posted on Feb 10, 2020 4:19 PM

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Answer 1

MrHoffman

Level 10

146,293 points

Feb 10, 2020 5:50 PM in response to václav

iTunes on Mac does not have this capability.

Not on current iTunes releases.

The Music app is not tied to apps.

If you want to manage apps on iOS or iPadOS from Mac, get the (free) Apple Configurator from the Mac App Store.

If it’s the lack of a means to unhide a hidden app on iOS, it’s buried in the App Store, in your profile, under Hidden Purchases. Launch the App Store, select your icon in the upper right, select your account and email to get to your account settings, and select Hidden Purchases from Account Settings. There does appear to be a bug here in iPadOS 13.3, as there’s no way out of this menu other than force-quitting the app.

Is that what you’re looking for?

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Answer 2

václav Author

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10 points

Feb 10, 2020 4:52 PM in response to MrHoffman

I am sorry, but you probably did not understand my question. I know know what the article is about. I know it is about hiding/unhiding iOS apps in the list of previous purchases.

And that is what I want - to unhide apps that I have previously bought (and then hide for some reason) in list of previous purchases.

Currently there is no way to unhide apps in list of previous purchases using iPhone but until a few weeks ago there was still a way to do it using Mac as I have already told. But that option is gone somehow. So I am asking about any other way to do it.

But thank you anyway for the reply. 🤗

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Answer 3

václav Author

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10 points

Feb 10, 2020 5:24 PM in response to MrHoffman

My question was generally how to unhide iOS apps in list of previous purchased apps.

Since iOS 13 came out I have been doing it using Music app on my Mac (because using iPhone you may only hide purchased apps, redownload them, but not unhide them).

I think last time I unhide iOS apps in list of previous purchased apps using Music app on my Mac was 2 weeks ago. But it seems that with some update the option to unhide iOS apps in list of previous purchased apps using Music app disappeared.

Is that bug? Or was it intended? I do not know. I may just say that due to it I do not know any other way to unhide any iOS app in list of previous purchased apps.

PS: I am sorry for my language skills, but i am not native English speaker.

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Answer 4

václav Author

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10 points

Feb 11, 2020 2:11 AM in response to MrHoffman

Sorry, but you are not right.

Music app was tied to apps somehow even though it did not contain App Store. I was able to unhide hidden apps in previous purchased section even a few weeks ago. Take a look at the first screenshot I have posted! That is how Music app looked like. It let you to unhide not only music in recently purchased section, but also TV show, Apps etc... But not any more.

And yes, you are right, it is currently impossible to unhide iOS apps using iPhone. That is what I already stated and apple knows it (because they inform about in support article).

So I was just looking for a workaround to unhide those hidden purchased apps since Music app can not be used to do it any more and nor iPhone.

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Answer 5

MrHoffman

Level 10

146,293 points

Feb 11, 2020 5:57 AM in response to václav

Use what was described. Music app is not the path to managing app purchases, even if some probably-a-bug in the app or in the back-end exposed the database-level relationships within Apple’s purchasing and billing systems.

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Answer 6

MrHoffman

Level 10

146,293 points

Feb 11, 2020 7:03 AM in response to MrHoffman

Or put slightly differently, can you imagine the confusion and consternation and puzzlement that would be involved with needing to explain to every iPhone and iPad user that the app un-hide mechanism is in the Music app?

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Answer 7

václav Author

Level 1

10 points

Feb 11, 2020 7:50 AM in response to MrHoffman

I would not consider this ability it to be bug.

Answer to your question: From my point of view it would not be confusing since it is almost the same way how to unhide hidden music and the same way how it used to work in iTunes. Or am I wrong?

Thank you anyway, I will try Apple Configurator (in fact I have never heard of it before). Hopefully it is able to unhide hidden iOS apps.

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Answer 8

MrHoffman

Level 10

146,293 points

Feb 11, 2020 1:25 PM in response to václav

I do not consider the ability to unhide apps a bug.

I do consider the placement of that feature in the Music app to be poor.

It’s better located over in the App Store, not that it isn’t currently well hidden over there.

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Answer 9

MrHoffman

Level 10

146,293 points

Feb 10, 2020 4:34 PM in response to václav

The cited support article discusses how to hide iPhone and iPad apps in the list of previous purchases shown on that device, and how to hide Mac apps using the Mac App Store and the list of previous purchases there. Hiding the app in the App Store doesn't change whether the app is installed or not, only whether the app is visible in the App Store for the platform.

That cited article does not reference how to use a Mac to load an app onto an iPhone, as you seem to want.

The app is not installed on your iPhone, which means a download of that app to that iPhone from somewhere, and that somewhere is usually the App Store.

Which is what you also seem to be trying to avoid.

You're going to have to download the app either from Apple directly, or maybe from a local macOS content-caching server if there's one of those configured and operating locally, and if that also has the app in its cache. Which is fairly unlikely for most folks.

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Answer 10

MrHoffman

Level 10

146,293 points

Feb 10, 2020 5:02 PM in response to václav

So your question is how to use iTunes on Mac to manage apps on iPhone and iPad? You don't. That capability was removed from iTunes a while back, and no longer exists in iTunes. The replacement approach is the use of an MDM system, whether using Apple Configurator 2 app on macOS, or otherwise. Or you use the iPhone or iPad directly, and manage the apps from there.

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Unhide iOS app

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