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Comment by jordan0day | Hacker News Reader

What if you buy a new device? Does the purchase live in your account into perpetuity, or are you out of luck when you upgrade to the "next" iDevice?

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If you use iCloud backup and don't ever sync to a local iTunes, then you're out of luck. If you sync with a local iTunes, the app will be in iTunes and will be installed to the device. Unless of course something on the new device prevents the app from running due to technical reasons, but that's the same with old games and new hardware/OSes

I'm not sure this is absolutely true. Years ago I installed an app on my iPhone (Now Playing, a movie times app). That app was removed from the store years ago by the author. Recently I bought an iPad and if I go to "purchased/not on this iPad" in the App Store on the iPad, the app still shows as available for download. You can't search and find it in the store though.

Maybe it still shows because all my devices are iCloud backed up and I never removed it from my iPhone.

I believe the key is that it was removed by the author. Apps that are pulled for violating the App Store rules don't show up in Purchased, to my knowledge. I know I have a couple IPAs floating around just in case I need an emergency tether or something.

Depends. If the developer indicates that the app was removed for 'legal issue', it will no longer be available for redownloading. Otherwise, you can download discontinued apps http://www.macrumors.com/2011/06/09/icloud-supports-re-downl...

After the full iCloud thing launched, I've had apps reappear that were much earlier pulled from the store, gone from my iTunes, and I've changed phones too. So it really does look like the purchase lives in the account forever.

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