Trying to remember the name of that app you used one-time last year and never thought you would need again? Or did you have to delete games to free up needed space but now you want to play again?
Great news! There are a few simple ways of viewing your entire purchase history and finding what might have been lost to time (or just lost to my bad memory).
First, you can use the “App Store” app to find your purchase history.
Step 1. Open the “App Store” app and select the icon that’s located in the top right corner.
Step 2. Tap “Purchased” and then “My Purchases” on the following screen.
Step 3. Under the “All” tab you can now see everything that has been purchased. If you select the “Not on this iPhone” tab you will see only what has been deleted from your iPhone.
From the “My Purchases” tab you can re-download anything that had been previously purchased, including free apps. Thankfully, it is ordered by the date of purchase to make locating what you want a little easier.
Another way to see your purchase history is through your “Settings” menu.
Step 1. In the “Settings” menu tap your name.
Step 2. Select “Media & Purchases” from the next menu. Note: you may have a secondary menu pup-up where you will need to select “View Account.”
Step 3. In the “Account Settings” menu select “purchase History. The list that shows will just be for the last 90 days, but you can extend that range tapping “last 90 days” to adjust the date range.
This method is effective because you can get more specific on the dates. Instead of simply scrolling through an endless timeline of previous purchases in the “App Store” app, you can select the year and month to narrow down what you are looking for.
(Can we just ignore my excessive downloading in 2009? It was just a phase!)
You can view your history on your computer through the iTunes (or Music App) menu as well. Just choose “Account” and then select “My Account.” Scroll down to “Purchase History” and click to see all of your purchases there.
Voila! It is that simple to view your purchase history and relive some of the great moments of what was once your favorite app. This is also a very useful feature for when you get your Apple bill and can’t remember what that $4.99 charge was for.
And, if you are the main account holder for the Family Share Plan, you can check in on what purchases are being made on other devices.
The App Store purchase history is just another nifty feature the iPhone has to help you keep track of your life through your phone. Thanks, Apple!
Good to know how to review app purchases. However, is there possibly a way to remove permanently an app or possibly a book that has been read and will never be read or used again?
In the App Store purchased list you can slide the app to the left and select hide. I do no know if you can do that in settings.
I would be interested on removing books from iBook an iCloud? Also deleting some of these
App not using. Thks
I, too, would also like to know if there is a way to permanently remove an app or book that I will never use again? There are quite a few with the cloud symbol beside them – so are they taking up space on my cloud that I now have to pay extra for the amount of usage up there/
For apps: Go to Settings and tap on your name to get to iCloud Settings. In that menu select “manage storage.” Choose “Backups” and select the most recent one. Wait for the apps to load and you can “turn off and delete” any app from that menu. This will also delete it from the cloud.
For books: Open iBooks and select the book you want to delete. You get several options and bottom option is delete. It then asks you if you want to permanently book and it deletes it from iCloud as well.
I wish I could delete some apps on my iPhone/iPad that don’t have the – on them when you hold down on them.