The App Store Redownload Bug
You’ve probably seen this before. You bought an app, then for some reason you deleted it. Later, when you tried to redownload it from the App Store, the button shows the price (like “$0.99”) instead of showing the redownload icon.
This bug has been around for at least 11 years. Usually it’s because you’ve hidden the purchase, or the app was shared through Family Sharing. If you click the price button anyway, you’ll see a dialog telling you that you’ve already purchased the app and can download it for free.
Some of us learned about this and just lived with it. Accepted it as another part of Apple’s declining software quality. But not everyone knows. So when users see that price button, they contact the developers. Like contacting a website’s owner because your internet is down.
As developers, we can’t do anything about it. We can explain the glitch to the users and say “trust us”, or we can tell them to contact Apple if they’d rather verify for themselves.
The funny thing is, Apple Support will often redirect the user back to us. “The developer will take care of it.” But we can’t take care of it. It’s something only Apple can do.
If you’re still reading and aren’t sure what to do, just make sure you’re using the same Apple ID and click the price button. You won’t be charged. If you want this fixed properly, report it to Apple at apple.com/feedback.