It can happen to everyone to delete a useful app from their phone with Android and with iPhone or on their PC with Windows 10 and to no longer be able to find it, especially if the app has a name so common that it is lost among the hundreds of clones that can be found on Interne and their respective stores.To avoid installing the wrong app or installing a completely different app from what we used to, in this guide we will show you how to restore applications removed from Android, iPhone and Windows 10, taking advantage of both the logs in the stores and the backup tools available for the installed apps, so that we can always recover the deleted apps or restore the apps that we want to try again on the device after uninstalling them some time ago.
Obviously, the restores only concern the device on which we had tried the app at least once, particularly when we try to restore from backup.
READ ALSO: Remove pre-installed Windows 10 apps and system components
Restore removed apps on Android
To restore apps removed from a smartphone or tablet running Android, we open the app Google Play Store, scroll side by side to open the side menu or press the icon with the three lines at the top right, open the menu My apps and games then scroll on the card Collection.
We will find all the apps currently not present on the device but which we have installed at least once on our Android devices. Basically, the apps are sorted in alphabetical order, but we can use the filter system at the top to see the recently uninstalled apps and immediately restore the one that we have deleted by mistake, by pressing the Install button next to the name of the app.
If, on the other hand, we want the app to no longer appear in the list, simply press the X-shaped symbol next to the button Install, so as to permanently remove it (it will no longer be possible to restore it unless we remember the name precisely).
Restore removed apps on iPhone
If instead we want to restore an app removed by mistake from an iPhone we open theApp Store, press on the top right of the profile image, press on Shopping and finally we open the tab Not on the iPhone.
In spite of the name we will find in this session all the apps installed in the past and uninstalled, not only the apps that we have actually purchased (this is because Apple also evaluates how free apps are purchased). To restore an app deleted by mistake, just tap on the cloud and arrow icon, confirm the Face ID or Touch ID and wait for the end of the upload. If instead we wanted to hide an app from the list forever we just have to scroll on the name of the app from left to right then press on the item Hide.
Restore removed apps on Windows 10
Windows 10 also has a personal store from which to download most of the apps compatible with the operating system, without having to search for them on the Internet. If we have deleted an app that we had downloaded from the integrated store, we can restore it by opening the Start menu at the bottom left, opening the app Microsoft Storeby clicking on the icon with the three dots at the top right and selecting the menu My collection.
In the window that will open we will have all the apps that we have installed on this computer and on the others associated with the Microsoft account used, we will only have to press the button Install next to the app to restore.
As for the Apple store, we will find in this screen both the free apps and those purchased in the past on the Microsoft Store, without any distinction.
To learn more about the apps available on the Microsoft Store, we invite you to read our guide Best applications for Windows 10 to download for free from the Microsoft Store.
Restore apps from a backup
If the app is not present in the collections of the stores seen a little while ago, we can try to recover from the backup of the apps that may have been created before the cancellation. If we have not yet installed any backup app on Android, we can remedy immediately downloaded the App Backup Restore Transfer app.
After installing it on the smartphone, start it and choose where to save the backup of the apps on the device (for example on Google Drive); as soon as the time comes to restore an app deleted by mistake we reopen the app and check one of the backups present, so as to reinstall the lost app on the fly.
The app allows you to set up automatic backups, to create multiple versions of the same app and, in case of formatting or restoring the device, to restore all the apps after recovering the backup files (even better if we had saved it on Google Drive, since you just need to log in with your Google account).
If instead we want to restore a backup from an iPhone, we can proceed using the iTunes app on the PC for backup, as seen in our guide How to backup iPhone.
Do we want to backup the apps and programs on Windows 10? In this case we can both use the advice contained in our guide Back up installed programs and settings on Windows both apply the full backup tools seen in the guide How to backup and restore your computer simple, fast and complete.
Conclusions
An app is never really deleted as long as it is possible to access the device store, since there are collections of all the apps that we have tried in all these years, just search and restore the one that we have deleted by mistake or that we want to try again on our device. If the stores don't help, we can always try with the backup files, but only if we had the foresight to act before the need arose.
To discover new backup tools for Android devices, we recommend that you also read our guide Best Backup Apps for Android.
If instead we look for effective tools to recover files or portable programs thrown in the trash and deleted by mistake, we can continue reading on our articles How to recover deleted files on PC from hard disk or SSD is Programs to recover deleted files from recycle bin (Windows).