Move old app, not in App Store any more, to new iPhone
Hi, it's against Apple policy I think. But is there a way to recover an old app from my former iPhone to the new one?
The app does work with an appliance, but the company stopped selling the appliance and did not leave the app in the store. It is on an iPhone 15 running iOS 26, but by moving to an iPhone 17 the app was left out.
Thanks for reading.
Max
iPhone 17 Pro, iOS 26
That has not been possible for many years now. Back in the early iOS days you could do this with iTunes but that disappeared many years ago. Now you can only do as instructed in Redownload apps from Apple - Apple Support
and if an app is no longer in the Store then you cannot do that. If it is an Apple app, you cannot downgrade iOS to a version that still has that app.
You say the app was "left out". What exactly do you mean by that? If this is an Apple app, sometimes Apple will change app functionality to a different app.
That has not been possible for many years now. Back in the early iOS days you could do this with iTunes but that disappeared many years ago. Now you can only do as instructed in Redownload apps from Apple - Apple Support
and if an app is no longer in the Store then you cannot do that. If it is an Apple app, you cannot downgrade iOS to a version that still has that app.
You say the app was "left out". What exactly do you mean by that? If this is an Apple app, sometimes Apple will change app functionality to a different app.
No. Sorry.
Contact the developer and ask that person to put the app back onto the Store. They may have simply decided that it is not economical to develop, or they have move on in their life to other things. That's the way it is, even in a broader sense. I recently had to get rid of a car I had that still ran but for which it was no longer possible to get even minor parts or find anybody who knew how to repair that kind of car.
Hi, thanks much. When i moved the content to the new iPhone, this app (non Apple) did not appear on the new iPhone. I could use the old iPhone just to use this app, but that seems a bit exaggerated as someone else could use the „old“ iPhone 15., shame on Apple.
glanz wrote:
Hi, thanks much. When i moved the content to the new iPhone, this app (non Apple) did not appear on the new iPhone. I could use the old iPhone just to use this app, but that seems a bit exaggerated as someone else could use the „old“ iPhone 15., shame on Apple.
If this is not an Apple app, it's not shame on Apple. It's shame on the App Developer for no longer supporting their app on newer devices. You are placing the blame on the wrong entity.
Don't blame Apple. The App developer is the one who chose not to offer it any more. Apple doesn't have a choice in that case. Apple does not 'own' the app or control the distribution rights for it. The developer does.
Move old app, not in App Store any more, to new iPhone
