How many times have you updated your Apps and found that the latest build just doesn't work? It crashes, it has bugs, or it doesn't even work on your old iPhone anymore. It happens. Luckily, there's a way to go back to past Apps if needed. The best part? It's not very hard at all.
Every time you update your Apps, OS X throws the old .ipa files in the Trash. As long as you still have those files, you are set. Let's take a quick look at how you can get your old Apps back.
After an update, your Trash bin will look something like this:
Let's assume our NPR update didn't work for some reason.
1) We would open the Trash
2) Launch iTunes
- Delete the App you don't want anymore (Our broken NPR App) and tell iTunes to delete it completely.
- Remove the App from your iDevices as well to make sure that they don't sync to iTunes and reinstall the App.
3) Grab the NPR 1.5.ipa file and drop it in the Library section of your iTunes window. This will give you back your old working App.
It may also be a good idea to keep some of your old .ipa files in case you later discover a problem with one of the features in an updated App.
If you have more than one iDevice, you may simply be able to delete the old App from iTunes and sync the other device to put the working App back in iTunes.
Commenter NormM Adds A Time Machine Solution (Thanks!):
NormM said…If you use Time Machine on a Mac you have access to old versions of apps. After you've deleted the bad version of an app from iTunes and from your devices, go to the apps tab in iTunes and right click on any app to show the apps folder in the Finder. Then enter Time Machine to get an old version of the deleted app. I haven't tried it lately, but I think double-clicking on the restored app in the Finder is enough to add it back into iTunes.
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What a dumb article. How is this going to help someone. Write a worthy to follow article.
If you can’t follow this article, you probably have no business using any device that can utilize apps to begin with.
Your post reminds me of the old saying, “those who can’t, critique.”
Dunno, Dee, I kinda think the VERY FIRST SENTENCE tells ya how it will help someone:
“How many times have you updated your Apps and found that the latest build just doesn’t work? It crashes, it has bugs, or it doesn’t even work on your old iPhone anymore.”
Hooray for reading.
what if you synced your iPhone to iTunes on Windows? Apple should just quit being retarded and support redownloading older versions of apps. And they should put an update feature in Xcode to enable easy downloading of the newer iphone sdk for developers instead of forcing them to redownload Xcode itself every time they update the sdk (the download is up to 3.65 gb now!) Apple is so stupid.
If you use Time Machine on a Mac you have access to old versions of apps. After you’ve deleted the bad version of an app from iTunes and from your devices, go to the apps tab in iTunes and right click on any app to show the apps folder in the Finder. Then enter Time Machine to get an old version of the deleted app. I haven’t tried it lately, but I think double-clicking on the restored app in the Finder is enough to add it back into iTunes.
Thanks for this article, dude! I couldn’t login to my billpay website and had to dl another browser app to sub for Safari. Anyhow, the app maker issued an update and I could no longer login to the bank’s website. This helps me a lot. Thanks again & keep up the great articles!!
NormM, Thanks! Your instructions were right on the $$! I found it in time machine and it works like magic now. I appreciate ya!!
I have an IPhone 3 and cannot find the Trash. Could you help?
Sorry. to clarify, it should be the trash on your actual computer (whichever computer you have your iPhone synced to.) At least that’s how it works with OS X.
This was HUGELY helpful, thank you!
Worked a treat. Thanks!
I no longer have the old .ipa files in the trash anymore.
where on the internet can I find the lost, old versions of the upgraded apps?
Worked, somewhat. For some reason it’s still crashing a bit even with the older version. I’m wondering if there are some other “new version” files that remained on the phone (I deleted the new app in itunes and the phone before putting the old one back.) Also, all my settings/info for the app were deleted so I’m back to square one with it. Which is ok if it gets stable again. Will have to use it a bit more to see. Might try the Time Machine fix next (instead of the drag from the trash fix) if the crashing doesn’t resolve.
Thanks for the article!
I have a older version of ipa file for an app saved in a different folder. I have copied this old ipa file to mobile app folder , added to itunes library.
Now the app library shows the older version but when i go to sync the device I see the newer version listed under my phone even though the phone itself does not have the app. Is there a way to fix this?
try deleting it from everywhere (itunes, devices) sync, then put old version and sync.
Thanks so much and thank goodness for time machine!
I love you for this.
This was awesome! When Bump updated and removed its calendar sharing feature it became next to useless. The older version was still in the trash! Now my wife and I can resume easily sharing select events from phone to phone.
Only thing I can’t understand is why the app files have the ipa designation. What’s a good India Pale Ale got to do with it?
After transferring my iTunes library to an attached external drive (HP MediaVault)I no longer have the old .ipa files in the trash.
I used to religiously back the old files up for later use if necessary.
Suggestions?
9/6/2012 Put on Ver 2.0 TiVo over the air . Wouldn’t run on jail broken 4s running 5.1.1. Just deleted program on phone, connected to iTunes, did backup, then clicked on apps tab and saw TiVo app unchecked, checked and did a sync and Ver 1.9 back on phone and loads, works fine. Guess it worked better for me because i did the ota download.
I used to retrieve the old files from the trash and save for similar situations. However, now whenever I upgrade, I no longer see the old .ipa files in the trash. I use WIN7. My iTunes files are stored on an HP external drive. Suggestions?
@Andrew, I haven’t tried this yet (and I am away from my main computer). It’s just a guess. Have you tried checking the folder that stores all your synced .ipa files in the computer that’s synced to your device? (off the top of my head, I don’t know where iTunes puts synced apps) Maybe you can copy those onto your external drive for safe keeping. (we will have to test this out)
Very helpful. However, I have a situation similar to an earlier comment on this thread– I don’t have the old .ipa files.
Is anyone running a version of NYT for iPad, pre-newsstand? It would be something like version 2.1.~ or basically anything before version 2.2. NOTE I am NOT looking for a cracked version or a anything illegal.
I’m looking for the .ipa file to reinstall on my iPad. I utterly can’t stand the newsstand version. It’s the only lame thing I have in the newsstand, which I would love to just get rid of (newsstand).
PS I tried the NYT support and their “standing policy” is “not to release older versions”. Ironic and aggravating, given (a) their horrendous history of buggy releases (b) their new HTML5 app which is clearly an attempt to get around Apple’s newsstand (you think it has something to do with the fees that Apple charges?)