That Coding Guy

Tech Tips and Tales, and Lessons Learned

How to Restore a Single iOS App from a Backup

By

As an iOS app developer, there are times when you need to restore an old version of an iOS app from a backup. Or perhaps the vendor of your favorite app released a particularly bad or buggy update, and you’d like to go back to the previous version until they fix their app.  This post gives the step-by-step instructions on how to restore the old app version.
 
Update: This technique only works up through iOS 8. As of iOS 9, iTunes no longer backs up the .IPA files to the local computer so for iOS 9 and later, this technique is no longer usable.
 
Preliminary Notes:
  • I am using iTunes 12.2 on Windows with iOS 8.4.1 for the directions below although this should work in iTunes on Mac OS X as well.
  • The directions assume you’ve made a backup onto your laptop or desktop computer. Backups to iCloud won’t work.
  • If successful, this will restore both the old version of the app plus any data that had been backed up for that app.
 
Steps to Restore an Old iOS App Version:
 
  1. In iTunes, TURN OFF automatic syncing of devices.
    • In Windows, this is in “Edit -> Preferences -> Devices”
    • On Macintosh, this is in “iTunes -> Preferences -> Devices”
  2. Do NOT update your apps in iTunes.
  3. On the iPhone, delete the existing app from the phone.
    • If you don’t delete the existing app from your phone before doing the backup below, the backup will overwrite the old app version in your backup with the new version from the phone.
    • If you do accidentally do this, see “How to Import an Older App Version”  below for how to fix this.
  4. Connect your phone to your computer. Wait for it to appear in iTunes.
  5. Select your phone in the iTunes left panel under “Devices” or via the “Device” toolbar button.
  6. Back up the existing apps from your phone to your computer via “Transfer Purchases” in iTunes.
    • This is done either by right-clicking on the “Devices -> Apps” menu for your phone or selecting “File -> Devices -> Transfer purchases from [your phone name]“.
    • On Windows, you may need to press F10 to see the File menu.
  7. In iTunes, click the “Apps” button at the top of the Summary page for your phone.
  8. Scroll down through the list of your apps until you find the app you want to restore. The button next to the app should read “Install”.  Click this button.
  9. Click the “Apply” button down towards the bottom right of the iTunes window.  This will start the normal syncing process, and it will also reinstall the app onto your phone.
    • The status bar at the bottom of the iTunes window might make it look like all your apps will be removed. Don’t panic — they won’t be.
  10. The replacement app — the old version that you just restored — will appear in the first available icon position on the iPhone. If you previously had the app in a folder, you will need to manually put it back into the folder.
  11. If everything worked, cheer wildly.
 
How To Import an Older App Version into iTunes:
 
If you did accidentally overwrite the old app version in your backup with the new version, using iTunes 11.0 or later the following steps will let you replace the new version of an app in your iTunes library with an older version. Once you have “downgraded” the app in your iTunes library, you can resume the “Steps to Restore an Old App Version” process above.
 
  1. Open the recycling bin, or wherever you stored the old IPA files.
  2. Find the IPA file for the old version of the app.
  3. Open iTunes.
  4. Drag the .IPA file into the “Library” section of iTunes.
  5. Click “Replace” when iTunes warns you that you are about to replace a new version of that app with an old version.
  6. Resume the process above.