How to Determine What Apps and Content You’ve Bought from Apple

Originally published at: How to Determine What Apps and Content You’ve Bought from Apple - TidBITS

This is embarrassing. When I wrote “AppBITS: Online Check Reports Internet Outages” (21 October 2024), I said Online Check was free. Imagine my dismay when readers immediately started reporting that the app costs $5. I didn’t remember paying for it when I first got it, nothing on the page indicated it was free, and when I looked at its page in the App Store app, I only saw an Open button because I had already downloaded it.

To reassure myself that my memory isn’t failing, I wanted confirmation that Online Check had been free when I downloaded it a couple of months ago. That proved somewhat more challenging than anticipated. Although Apple sends email receipts for purchased apps, it does not do so for free apps, so a search through my inbox turned up nothing.

Next, I clicked my name at the bottom of the sidebar in the App Store app to see all the apps I’ve purchased. The list shows Online Check and reveals that I got it on 28 August 2024, but it doesn’t list prices.

App Store purchased items

Happily, if you dig a little deeper, Apple does provide the information. You can do this on the Web, your Mac, or an iPhone or iPad.

View Apple Content Purchases on the Web

I slightly prefer this method because it provides a simple scrolling list of everything. It’s also how you can request a refund, report a quality issue, report a scam or fraud, or report offensive, illegal, or abusive content.

  1. Navigate to reportaproblem.apple.com and log in using your Apple Account. (Remember the name change I explained in “Apple ID to Be Renamed to Apple Account, Disrupting Independent Documentation,” 13 June 2024.)
  2. You can search by price (both “Free” and “0” will find free apps). All I had to do was scroll down to find the entry showing that Online Check was free when I downloaded it.
    Online Check receipt in reportaproblem.apple.com

Note that you can click the price for any paid item to see a full receipt, should you need that for an expense report or to show to a credit card company.

View Apple Content Purchases on the Mac

As I noted above, the App Store app doesn’t show you prices by default. However, there is a way to see the same information as on the reportaproblem.apple.com website.

  1. In the App Store app, click your name at the bottom of the sidebar, click Account Settings, and sign in to your Apple Account. (You can also get to this sign-in screen by navigating to System Settings > Your Name > Media & Purchases and clicking the Manage button next to Account.)
  2. Scroll down in the Account Information screen until you see Purchase History, then click See All.
    App Store Account Information
  3. The Purchase History screen shows only paid items purchased in the last 90 days by default. If you need to see free items or other date ranges, click the blue filter link at the top and adjust the filters appropriately. You can click the Total line for each purchase to see a receipt.
    App Store purchase history

View Apple Content Purchases on the iPhone or iPad

As you would expect, the interface is nearly identical on the iPhone and iPad.

  1. In the App Store app, tap your icon at the top right, and then tap Purchase History. (For an alternative route, navigate to Settings > Your Name > Media & Purchases > View Account > Purchase History.)
  2. As on the Mac, you may need to adjust the filters to show free apps or other date ranges. After that, it shows you the matching purchases. Tapping one shows its receipt.
    App Store purchase history

I’m not revealing any secrets here—Apple clearly documents all this information, and Web search engines have no trouble finding it. What’s more important is that now you know this can be done, so if you find yourself in a situation where you need to determine when you bought some app and how much you paid, you’ll know the information is readily available on any of your Apple devices.

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A post was merged into an existing topic: AppBITS: Online Check Reports Internet Outages

Thanks for highlighting this information. I was able to figure this out once for a purchase that wasn’t free but I don’t know if I would have figured out how to locate the free apps.
Thanks again for TidBITS!!

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