purchased films on apple tv not available

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Level 1

7 points

purchased films on apple tv not available

Hi everyone, I've been trying to watch Christmas movies purchased in previous years on my Apple account. I can scroll through the purchase history and see that I purchased them (not rented) but they don't appear in my library. I've even repurchased The Grinch in error because it wasn't showing in my library and my kids wanted to watch it.

When I try to 'Report a Problem' on the Apple page it won't take me into previous years' purchases OR give the option to report that a purchased item isn't working. I don't want to request a refund for this year's purchase of The Grinch as we'll watch it again, but I do want to know why it didn't show in my library when I purchased it last year, as well as at least three other Christmas movies.

Also, some of those that I've bought no longer even appear on Apple TV. Are we paying for things that are no longer available?

Thanks for your help, I couldn't find any official advice but maybe you can direct me?

This problem doesn't apply to all my devices (laptop, desktop, ipad). Some show older purchased content than others even though they're all up to date.

Posted on Dec 16, 2022 11:00 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

brbo

Level 8

35,723 points

Dec 17, 2022 10:24 PM in response to vixietonkin

Hi vixietonkin

welcome to the Apple (user-to-user) Community!

Wondering if this Apple Support article can help:

View your purchase history for the App Store, iTunes Store, and other Apple media services - Apple Support

eg: says:

"Find information about older purchases

If you can't find an item in your purchase history at reportaproblem.apple.com,

check the purchase history in Settings on your iPhone or iPad.

Or check the purchase history in Account Settings on your computer."

Re: I do want to know why it didn't show in my library:

Seems if more free storage space is needed on a device,

(eg: so the operating system can work smoothly, or new downloads proceed),

older purchases that can be redownloaded if needed may be "sacrificed".

You might want to try RE-downloading those Christmas movies:

Redownload TV shows and movies that you purchased - Apple Support

And, what to do:

If there's an issue when you redownload apps, movies, or other content from Apple - Apple Support

or

How to: Restore purchased and deleted items to iPhone – Apple Support

All the best :-)

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Answer 2

brbo

Level 8

35,723 points

Dec 27, 2022 2:38 PM in response to vixietonkin

Thank you for your kind reply, and the added info., vixietonkin.

Surprised you do not see the download / redownload arrows.

Seems sometimes a movie is re-issued in a different, updated version,

and so the older purchased version is no longer available ...

but surely that wouldn't apply to ALL the older movies ?

Another suggestion:

Maybe the older movies are not available for iPhone iOS format,

so the download arrows may only appear on Mac for MacOS.

Else:

Wondering if you have changed your Apple ID (usually an e-mail address) since you made those purchases ... seems they would generally be available to the Apple ID that was in use at the time of purchase.

Sorry I do not have a concrete solution to offer:

You may want to contact iTunes, App Store, or the Billing Support Team

for help with a possible solution.

There are "Get Support" links (online chat, phone, eMail etc) or you could choose to download the "support" app, at the bottom of their webpages (links below):

App Store - Official Apple Support

iTunes Support

Billing and Subscriptions

Best regards :-)

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Answer 3

vixietonkin Author

Level 1

7 points

Dec 27, 2022 7:16 AM in response to brbo

Thanks for your ideas brbo, I appreciate the time you took. Unfortunately I end up going round in circles as I can see the films on my purchase history but there's no download arrow so I can't download them. And if I go through the 'report a problem' page I can't get far back enough to find the films I purchased AND the complaint options are limited to refund request, quality etc.

Strangely the older films are available on my husband's ipad even though the billing shows they were purchased on my desktop so there's no issue of storage space. And looking through my purchase history on my iphone there are even more films than I realised that just don't show on any of my devices.

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Answer 4

brbo

Level 8

35,723 points

Dec 27, 2022 2:46 PM in response to vixietonkin

PS: Maybe you can "unhide" older movies ?

Hide and unhide music, films, TV shows, audiobooks and books – Apple Support

Hide purchases from the App Store – Apple Support

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