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Strange App in my list of Purchased Apps

For the bast 2 months, an app that I did not purchase is showing up in my Updates section.


It's some odd Chinese Mahjong Game - which I never purchased.

I don't have kids so it wasn't installed by anyone else.


Even more oddly, when I go ahead and select "Update", App Store asked me to Re-enter my Apple ID!


Then, when I input my Apple ID, it reads:

"Update Unavailable with this Apple ID - This update is not available for this Apple ID either because it was bought by a different user or the item was refunded or cancelled."


What is this??? Did a purchase from some other person's account get crossed with mine somehow? Is this some odd hack???


Unfortunately, Apple does not let you delete purchased apps from your Store Purchases - ever.


>>>> So, am I stuck with this app forever living in my Updates List - which I can't even update to get rid of it always in my Updates?


Please help!

Posted on Oct 17, 2015 11:31 AM

Reply
1 reply

Oct 17, 2015 12:27 PM in response to Craig Stickler

You may have installed at least one hacked app, originally from the Mac App Store. It contains the receipt for a different app, downloaded using an account that you don't control. You need to identify and remove the hacked app.

Important: The app you need to remove may not be the one named in the update notice. For example, the App Store could prompt you to update "Angry Birds" or "Twitter," but the hacked app could be "Final Cut Pro." Don't make any assumptions about which app you're looking for. To find it, you must carry out a systematic search with Spotlight.

1. Triple-click anywhere in the line of text below on this page to select it:

kMDItemAppStoreHasReceipt=1

Copy the selected text to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C.

2. In the Finder, press command-F to open a search window, or select

File Find

from the menu bar. In the search window, select

Search: This Mac

from the row of tokens below the toolbar. Below that is a popup menu of search criteria, initially showing Kind. From that menu, select

Other...

A sheet will drop down. In that sheet, select

Raw Query

as the criterion, then click OK or press return.

Now there will be a text box to the right of the menu of search criteria. That's where you enter the raw search query. Click in that box and paste the text you copied earlier by pressing command-V.

3. The search window will now show all the App Store products that are installed. Compare those search results with the list of your purchases from the App Store. To see the complete list, you may need to unhide hidden purchases. If any apps were downloaded from the App Store using other Apple ID's that you control, sign in to the store under each of those ID's and check the purchases.

4. At least one of the apps in the Spotlight search results is not among your purchases in the App Store. Delete each such item.

5. Quit and relaunch the App Store. Test.

If you find these instructions confusing, ask for an alternative method.

Strange App in my list of Purchased Apps

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