ICloud Allows For Apps That Apple Removed From The AppStore To Be Re-Downloaded
The purchased apps section of the iPad and iPhone appstore allows for apps to be downloaded that Apple has already removed from the Appstore. For example, if you downloaded iDos before Apple removed it from the store …
Context & Ripple Effects
Apple's iCloud announcement included a quiet wrinkle in the purchased-apps section of the iPad and iPhone App Store: titles already bought stay downloadable even after Apple pulls them from sale, with the DOS-emulator iDos cited as a live example. That matters because removals are how Apple enforces its editorial line — as it did when it yanked a WikiLeaks app in December 2010, a decision that drew scrutiny over where curation ends and censorship begins.
First-order effects
- Buyers of apps like iDos keep permanent access through iCloud's purchase history even though the app is gone from storefront search and charts, so Apple's takedown no longer revokes what customers paid for.
- Apple retains full control over new distribution while its removal decisions become reversible-in-effect for existing owners — enforcement now only blocks future sales, not past ones.
Second-order effects
- Developers whose apps get pulled lose the store shelf but not their installed base or upgrade path, softening one of the biggest risks of building on iOS and potentially making Apple's review process less commercially fatal for borderline apps.
- Every high-profile removal — WikiLeaks-style political apps as much as emulators — will now be judged against whether Apple also scrubs purchase histories, raising the cost of takedowns that look punitive rather than technical.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, the App Store splits into two regimes: curated front door and uncurated back catalogue, with platform power concentrated at the point of sale while ownership persists independently — a structural limit on how far gatekeeping-by-delisting can go.
- Cloud-tied purchase records set up a durable question for regulators and courts about what 'buying' an app means once the vendor can withdraw distribution but not the license.
The trend: Cloud-synced purchase histories are decoupling app ownership from App Store availability, narrowing Apple's gatekeeping to new distribution while existing licenses persist.