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Any way to recover an app from iPhone that was deleted from library

G

g35

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Dec 13, 2007
669
154
I have the VLC app which has since been removed from the App store. I wiped my computer and backed up the important stuff but stupidly forgot the VLC app. Now it exists on my phone and nowhere else. I haven't synced to new computer yet because I do this infrequently anyway, so it's still on the phone but if I try to sync it will delete all apps+media from the phone first. Is there any way to recover it with some read-only program from my phone (without jailbreaking) or is my only recourse to jailbreak and copy it over?
 
Did you try transferring purchases? I'm not sure if it will work, but it's worth a shot. Right/two-finger/ctrl click on your iPhone in iTunes, and select transfer purchases. I make a habit of doing that before syncing, whether I have a new app or not.
 
g35 said:
I have the VLC app which has since been removed from the App store. I wiped my computer and backed up the important stuff but stupidly forgot the VLC app. Now it exists on my phone and nowhere else. I haven't synced to new computer yet because I do this infrequently anyway, so it's still on the phone but if I try to sync it will delete all apps+media from the phone first. Is there any way to recover it with some read-only program from my phone (without jailbreaking) or is my only recourse to jailbreak and copy it over?
Click to expand...

It doesn't show up on the "purchased" tab? Weird. Try doing what the user above said, it's worth a shot, but the VLC app is free so you should be able to re-download ;)
 
g35 said:
I have the VLC app which has since been removed from the App store. I wiped my computer and backed up the important stuff but stupidly forgot the VLC app. Now it exists on my phone and nowhere else. I haven't synced to new computer yet because I do this infrequently anyway, so it's still on the phone but if I try to sync it will delete all apps+media from the phone first. Is there any way to recover it with some read-only program from my phone (without jailbreaking) or is my only recourse to jailbreak and copy it over?
Click to expand...

I've updated to iOS 5 so I can't remember if it is available in iOS 4 or not, but if you goto the App Store on your phone, goto Updates, there should be a "Purchased" option. From there you can redownload any apps you have previously purchased, even apps no longer in the app store.
 
Shawnpk said:
What isn't true for eWiFi?
Click to expand...

You can't re-download it since it's been removed. The distinction seems to be whether the app developer pulled the app because they no longer wished to sell it, or if Apple pulled it because it violated some law or App Store policy.

To answer the OP, if your iPhone is jailbroken you can do this:
http://www.iphonedownloadblog.com/2008/08/04/how-to-add-ipa-apps-to-your-iphone/

The guide is for installing cracked apps, but it tells you where installed apps should be, so you should be able to recover VLC through that method. I've never tried this myself, but I can't see any reason why it wouldn't work. Good luck!
 
thanks for the replies. I'lll look through the purchased list but I suspect I'll have to jailbreak it.
 
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