How to recover deleted applications

Looking through the applications on your smartphone or computer, you could not find one that you used to use only in a few circumstances but which, in those specific contexts, was very useful. You have therefore thought about an icon positioning problem (which you may have moved or hidden after the last use) but, following a more in-depth check, you have found that the app is no longer installed on your device. And now? Considering that you don’t even remember its name anymore, how do you get it back?

Don’t worry: if your situation is exactly what I have just described, I can help you solve the problem. In fact, in this tutorial, I will show you how to recover deleted applications on your devices. I will show you the procedures to follow both on Android smartphones and tablets and on iPhones and iPads. Furthermore, I will not fail to explain to you how to repeat the same steps on computers with Windows and on Mac.

I anticipate right away that, in case you want to download a paid application again, you will not have to make a new disbursement (you can re-download it for free, as it is associated with your account). If, therefore, you can’t wait to know in detail what are the steps you need to take, keep reading: you will find everything explained below.

Index

• How to recover deleted applications: smartphones and tablets
  • How to recover deleted applications from Android
  • How to recover deleted apps on HUAWEI
  • How to recover deleted applications from iPhone
• How to recover deleted applications: computer
  • How to recover deleted applications on Windows
  • How to recover deleted applications on Mac

How to recover deleted applications: smartphones and tablets

Whether you have an Android device or an iPhone / iPad, recovering deleted applications from smartphones and tablets is really a breeze: just open the application store, access the section with the history of apps installed in the past and select the ones to re-download. Here are all the details.

How to recover deleted applications from Android

Whenever you install an app from the Play Store for Android, whether free or paid, it is recorded on ‘ Google account you have associated with your device. This means that you can find it and re-download it at any time, as long as you use an Android device associated with the same Google account with which you initially downloaded the app.

To access the section of the Play Store that contains the history of the apps downloaded/purchased, start the latter (the colored ▶ ︎ symbol that you find on the Home screen or in the app menu) and press on the profile photo of your Google account, located at the top To the right. In the menu that appears at this point, select the Manage app and device item and then click on the Manage item located at the top right.

Now, proceed by tapping on the Installed item that you find at the top left and select the item Not Installed. You will immediately be shown the list of all applications previously downloaded with your Google account, including those no longer present on the device in use (you will also be able to see those you have downloaded on other smartphones or tablets using the same Google account).

If you prefer that the apps are shown in order of installation (from the most recent to the oldest), click on the Name item at the top right and then tap on the Recently added item. To remove some of them from the list, instead, press the corresponding Trash icon.

To install the apps again, simply tap on the box located on the right, corresponding to the name of each of them and then press the down arrow icon located at the top right. As for the paid apps, as mentioned at the beginning, you will not have to buy them again.

It didn’t take long, did it? If you want to control apps downloaded with another Google account, read my tutorial on how to change the Google account used on a device.

How to recover deleted apps on HUAWEI

The AppGallery app store is pre-installed on HUAWEI devices without Google services, which takes the place of the Play Store on the devices in question (although it is possible to install it, following specific unofficial procedures ). Just like on the Play Store, the applications you download from the AppGallery from time to time are stored and associated with your HUAWEI account. This means that you can retrieve them at any time.

How? I will immediately show it to you. First of all, start AppGallery by tapping on its icon (the word HUAWEI on a red background) located on the Home screen or in the app menu of your device. Subsequently, press on the User item located at the bottom right and, from here, tap on the Purchase History item.

Subsequently, press on the item Do not install that you find at the top and you can view all the apps downloaded previously with your HUAWEI account. To get the app you want again, all you have to do is tap the Install button on the right, corresponding to the name of the app itself.

See how simple it was? For other doubts about using the HUAWEI virtual store, I refer you to my tutorial on how AppGallery works.

How to recover deleted applications from iPhone

Are you wondering how to recover deleted apps from iPhone or how to recover deleted iPad apps? You should know that the Apple App Store, as well as the Android Play Store, has an “archive” of all the applications that are downloaded or purchased with your own Apple ID.

How to access this archive? I’ll show you right away. First, open the App Store by pressing the “A” icon on a light blue background that you can find on the Home screen or in the App Library of your device. Once the App Store is open, press on your profile photo, at the top right, and select the item Purchases from the menu that opens: in this way you can take a look at all the applications downloaded/purchased previously with your account.

To view the uninstalled ones, press on the item Not on iPhone (or on item Not on iPad, depending on the device you use) located at the top right. At this point, to reinstall one of the apps that are no longer present on your device, tap on the cloud icon with the arrow pointing down placed on the right, corresponding to the name of the app itself (if the one you want download is a paid app you won’t have to buy it again).

It wasn’t complex at all, do you agree? If you want an app to no longer be shown in this list, press and hold your finger on the app name and then move it from right to left; finally, click on Hide. How do you say? Some time ago you had already hidden applications from the list of those downloaded previously and would you like to view them again?

So, in this case, go back to the home page of the App Store and press on your profile photo located at the top right. Once this is done, proceed on your name and access this section by verifying your identity with Face ID, Touch ID or Apple ID password.

Subsequently, press on the item Hidden purchases located in correspondence of the iTunes tab in the cloud and repeat the procedure I showed you in the paragraphs above. In conclusion, if you intend to recover the apps downloaded with an Apple account other than the one you have used so far, check out my guide on how to change Apple ID.

How to recover deleted applications: computer

Do you want to know how to recover deleted applications on a computer equipped with the Windows operating system or a Mac? Read on to find out how to proceed. I anticipate that the steps are quite similar to those just seen on mobile devices.

How to recover deleted applications on Windows

Even the Microsoft Store pre-installed on all versions of Windows starting from Windows 8 has a section where you can view the complete list of all the applications previously installed/purchased on your computer and associated with your Microsoft account: from this it is then it is possible to proceed immediately with the reinstallation of the removed applications.

To access the virtual store of the Redmond house, click on the white shopping bag icon located at the bottom left, on the taskbar (next to the search field): if you do not see this icon, click on the Start button Windows (the one with the flag icon at the bottom left), scroll through the list of programs and, finally, click on the Microsoft Store item.

Once you have accessed the main page of the Microsoft store, click on the … button at the top right and, from the menu that is shown to you, select the item My collection. What you are facing now is the list of all the applications that you have previously downloaded with your Microsoft account.

To proceed with the reinstallation of a specific application, all you have to do is press the Install button located next to it (if it is a paid application you will not have to make a new purchase). Really simple, don’t you think?

If you wish that one of these applications is no longer shown in this list, click on the … button located on the right and click on Hide. If, on the other hand, you also want to view the list of applications that you have previously hidden, click on the Show hidden products button at the top right (to proceed with the installation of these applications repeat the steps above).

Did you also use another profile to download applications to your computer? Then take a look at my tutorial on how to switch Microsoft accounts.

Are you looking for an application that is not in the list you just viewed? You should also know that all the programs and applications you install on your PC can leave “traces” on it (empty folders, files of various kinds, etc.) and these elements can lead you back to the program or the application itself (because, perhaps, they report the name) by searching on Google.

To see if there are elements of this kind on your computer’s memory, start the Windows File Explorer by clicking on the folder icon on the taskbar (bottom left), and check the paths C with this tool :> Program Files (or Programs ) and C:> Program Files (x86). Be careful though: if you are not particularly familiar with Windows, do not touch the files and folders you see.

Finally, again, from the start page of the File Explorer, try typing .exe or .msi in the search field located at the top right, in order to see if the installation files of programs of your interest are still present on your computer.

How to recover deleted applications on Mac

Even on macOS it is possible to recover a deleted application installed through the Mac App Store, the app and game store of the Apple operating system. The operation to perform is simple, as is the one seen in the previous chapter on Windows. Also in this case, in fact, every time an application is downloaded, it is stored and associated with the account (in this specific case, the Apple ID ) associated with the computer in use.

All you have to do, therefore, to restore the applications removed from your computer is to access the Mac App Store by clicking on its icon (an “A” on a blue background) that you find in the Dock or inside the Launchpad. Once the macOS store has started, click on your name in the lower-left corner. On the page that opens, you will be listed all the applications you have previously installed (including those you have deleted from your Mac).

By clicking on the cloud icon with the arrow pointing down, placed under the icon of each application, you can proceed to download the applications you see again (you will not have to make a new purchase for applications already purchased). By moving the mouse pointer next to the cloud icon and clicking on the … button, the Hide purchase item will be shown and you can, therefore, remove the item in question from this list by pressing twice in a row on this item.

If you have already hidden some applications from this list in the past, click on View information at the top and then enter your Apple ID password. Once this is done, click on the Manage item located on the right, in the Hidden elements section. By doing so, you will also be able to view the applications that you had removed from the list on the previous page and you can install them by repeating the steps in the paragraph above.

If the application you installed and found you were looking for was obtained from the Net and not from the Mac App Store (for example via package .dmg or .pkg ), then you can try to see if there are such files in the Downloads folder that you can open by accessing the Finder (the smiling face icon on the Dock).

From the Finder you can also directly start a search for these files, by typing .dmg or .pkg in the search field at the top right and then selecting the item This Mac.

Furthermore, you can also check if there are residual files of uninstalled applications, by right clicking on the Finder icon, selecting the Go to folder … item from the context menu and using the search field to explore the path ~ / Library / Application Support. This will display the list of folders with the files used by the programs on the Mac.

Among these you could find some related to the applications themselves that bear the name of the latter and you could install them again by searching on Google. But I recommend: if you have no particular experience in using macOS, do not touch the folders or files you see. Then don’t say I didn’t warn you!