Get a refund from the App Store
Sometimes apps don’t work the way they should. Lewis Painter shows how to get a refund when an app is broken or faulty
Sometimes iPhone and iPad apps don’t work the way they are supposed to (or the way they were advertised); other times they’re just plain broken, or they vanish from the App Store and cannot be downloaded from the Purchased tab. In situations like these, frustrated consumers can ask for their money back, but how is this done? And will they succeed in getting a refund?
Here we explain how to apply for a refund from the App Store, and the rules governing this procedure.
Apps that vanish from the Purchased tab
Fans of EA games such as Bejeweled 2, Dead Space and Need for Speed Shift got a nasty surprise back in 2015 when they disappeared from the App Store. Games had dropped off the store before, but this was different.
Previously, developers could remove their app from the App Store for whatever reason, while still making it available for download to anyone who had already bought it – via the Purchased tab on the App Store app on their iPhone or iPad. However, a change to the way the store works meant that now, when a developer completely removed their app from the App Store, it was also removed from the Purchased tab.
Tweetbot 4 developer Paul Haddad had this issue when he released Tweetbot 4 soon after the launch of iOS 9. To avoid confusion, he decided to remove Tweetbot 3 from the App Store. He assumed that paid users of Tweetbot 3 would still be able to access it via the Purchased tab, but this wasn’t the case – and he got lots of complaints.
After some research, Haddad realized there was a way around this ridiculous new rule. To make an app downloadable via the Purchased tab, it has to still be available to buy in at least one region in the world; so he kept it for sale in the west African nation of Burkina Faso.
But what if a developer doesn’t want to do what Haddad did? What if they remove the app and that’s that? Don’t worry, you can always apply for a refund from Apple, for both App Store and iTunes purchases.
Can you get a refund from Apple?
Yes, almost certainly. That is especially true for those of us in Europe, as the law requires Apple to accept refund requests of digital content within 14 days of purchase, with no reason needed for the refund.
We’re not too sure how Apple will feel about refunding purchases from a single user on a regular basis, so it’s probably best to save it for an expensive app that doesn’t work on your device rather than a 99p app, for example. And you shouldn’t use refunds deliberately as a way of getting a ‘free trial’ of an app you fancy.
It’s worth noting that Apple has in the past refunded in‑app purchases made accidentally
(children playing with a parent’s iPad, for example), although the company only does this once per customer, so again use it sparingly.
So: how do you get a refund from the App Store or iTunes? Well, you have a couple of options.
Get a refund via iTunes
1. Open iTunes on your Mac or PC, and make sure you’re signed in with your Apple ID. You can check this by clicking Account from the top menu bar – if it displays your Apple ID email, you’re already logged in and you can move on to the next step. If not, select Sign In and enter your password. 2. Next, click View My Account.
3. Scroll down to Purchase History and click See all. From here, scour the list and find the app that’s causing a problem. To the right of the App’s icon you’ll see how much it cost and underneath ‘More’ highlighted in blue.
Click this and then the Report a problem link. Note that you can only report a problem on apps that have been purchased within the past 90 days. 4. You’ll be taken to Apple’s website. Select a problem, describe it in the provided space, then click Submit.
Get a refund via iPhone or iPad
Unfortunately, Apple hasn’t built any links to problem reporting into the App Store or iTunes apps for iOS, so if you’re stuck using an iPhone or an iPad, there’s a slightly different process to follow.
1. Launch the Mail app and find the invoice of the purchase you want refunded. The easiest way to do this is to search ‘Your receipt from Apple’ as this is always the subject of the invoice email.
2. Once you’ve found the invoice (this may take some time depending on how often you purchase items from the App Store/iTunes), simply tap ‘Report a problem’ next to the app.
3. Once you tap ‘Report a problem’ you‘ll be taken to Apple’s Report a Problem page in Safari. From here, simply follow Step 4.