Apple Pulls Older Software From 'Purchased' Tab in Mac App Store

mavericks.pngApple recently removed older versions of OS X and other discontinued software from the Purchased tab of users who had previously purchased or downloaded them. With the change, it is no longer possible for users to download Aperture, iPhoto, OS X Lion, OS X Mountain Lion, and OS X Mavericks from the Mac App Store.

The decision to disallow users from downloading the older software is not going over well on reddit, where commenters are calling Apple's decision "user-hostile."

That's really unfortunate and hostile by Apple. What about people who use older operating systems due to compatibility problems with specific software?

I recently had to re-install Mavericks, but didn't keep the "Install OS X Mavericks" app. Now my only chance of getting it again is to download it from another location, and I don't know whether that image has been compromised.

It is not clear if Apple's decision to prevent users from downloading older software from the Mac App Store is a temporary bug or a permanent change. The software has, however, been unavailable for several days now.

It's possible Apple is aiming to prevent people from downloading software that is outdated and unsupported, but at least one of the now-inaccessible apps, Aperture, continues to work on OS X El Capitan.

Popular Stories

Generic iOS 19 Feature Mock Light

iOS 19 Leak Reveals All-New Design

Friday January 17, 2025 2:42 pm PST by
iOS 19 is still around six months away from being announced, but a new leak has allegedly revealed a completely redesigned Camera app. Based on footage it obtained, YouTube channel Front Page Tech shared a video showing what the new Camera app will apparently look like, with the key change being translucent menus for camera controls. Overall, the design of these menus looks similar to...
2024 iPhone Boxes Feature

Apple Changes Trade-In Values for iPhones, iPads, Macs, and More

Thursday January 16, 2025 6:45 am PST by
Apple today adjusted estimated trade-in values for select iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Watch models in the U.S., according to its website. Some values increased, while others decreased. The changes were not too significant, with most values rising or dropping by $5 to $50. We have outlined some examples below: Device New Value Old Value iPhone 15 Pro Max Up to $630 U ...
2024 App Store Awards

Apple Explains Why It Removed TikTok From the App Store in the U.S.

Sunday January 19, 2025 6:58 am PST by
Apple on late Saturday removed TikTok from the App Store in the U.S., and it has now explained why it was required to take this action. Last year, the U.S. passed a law that required Chinese company ByteDance to divest its ownership of TikTok due to potential national security risks, or else the platform would be banned. That law went into effect today, and companies like Apple and Google...
Generic iOS 18

Everything New in iOS 18.3 Beta 3

Thursday January 16, 2025 12:39 pm PST by
Apple provided the third beta of iOS 18.3 to developers today, and while the betas have so far been light on new features, the third beta makes some major changes to Notification Summaries and also tweaks a few other features. Notification Summary Changes Apple made multiple changes to Notification Summaries in response to complaints about inaccurate summaries of news headlines. For...
iOS 19 Roundup Feature

iOS 19 Rumored to Be Compatible With These iPhones

Saturday January 18, 2025 10:28 am PST by
iOS 19 will not drop support for any iPhone models, according to French website iPhoneSoft.fr. The report cited a source who said iOS 19 will be compatible with any iPhone that can run iOS 18, which would mean the following models: iPhone 16 iPhone 16 Plus iPhone 16 Pro iPhone 16 Pro Max iPhone 15 iPhone 15 Plus iPhone 15 Pro iPhone 15 Pro Max iPhone 14 iPhon...
iPad Pro vs iPhone 17 Air Feature

Here's How Thin the iPhone 17 Air Might Be

Friday January 17, 2025 3:38 pm PST by
For the last several months, we've been hearing rumors about a redesigned version of the iPhone 17 that Apple might call the iPhone 17 "Air," or something along those lines. It's going to replace the iPhone 17 Plus as Apple's fourth iPhone option, and it will be offered alongside the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max. We know the iPhone 17 Air is going to be super slim, but...
mail categories macos

Apple's Redesigned Mail App is Expanding to the Mac — Here's When

Sunday January 19, 2025 6:02 am PST by
Apple plans to expand the iPhone's redesigned Mail app to the Mac starting with macOS 15.4, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. The first macOS 15.4 beta should be made available in the coming weeks, and Apple has previously suggested that the iOS 18.4, iPadOS 18.4, and macOS 15.4 series of software updates will be released to the public in April. The revamped Mail app debuted on all...
apple power beats pro 2

Powerbeats Pro 2 Coming Soon: Apple to Announce Them 'Imminently'

Sunday January 19, 2025 8:25 am PST by
In September, Apple said that it would be launching Powerbeats Pro 2 in 2025, and it appears the wireless earbuds are coming very soon. Powerbeats Pro 2 images found in iOS 18 code In his Power On newsletter today, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said the Powerbeats Pro 2 are "due imminently." In addition to Apple filing the Powerbeats Pro 2 in regulatory databases last month, Gurman said Apple is...

Top Rated Comments

apple_iBoy Avatar
122 months ago
This breaks the implicit trust about purchased apps. When I started buying from the app store, it was to replace the experience of "having box with disc inside sitting on my shelf." In the original app store model, I always had access through the App Store to that box with the disc, even after bigger and better things came along.

Now it seems that perhaps Apple doesn't share that same understanding. That's a real shame, but I guess it's their prerogative.

But I would have thought they would have had to explicitly let everyone know. People paid money for this stuff (at least, Aperture). People have machines that aren't supported by the latest versions of OS X. Apple is being foolish to rip away access without giving fair warning about downloading and making a personal backup (which, in my mind, is a wrong-headed expectation anyway, but whatever).
Score: 65 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Razeus Avatar
122 months ago
Dick move Apple.
Score: 43 Votes (Like | Disagree)
samcraig Avatar
122 months ago
This is extremely unfortunate if permanent.
Score: 33 Votes (Like | Disagree)
KALLT Avatar
122 months ago
not to be harsh, but people need to move on and not use outdated software anymore, especially if there is no more support for them and further development (patches and updates), i understand if they may have an older mac that is sluggish from the new software, its just telling them that its time for an upgrade
What about people who can’t update beyond Lion or Mountain Lion? Not every Mac is supported anymore. Apple insisted on using the App Store for distribution, removing them now is a very dickish move. Let people use whatever they like, there’s plenty of expensive software out there that just breaks with Apple’s system updates.

Do you really plan on installing Lion & Mountain Lion on your computers? It's old. Let it go.
So what? Apple is generally thought to be poor with supporting older programs. I still use Snow Leopard to play a particular game due to Rosetta and I still use Mountain Lion because that’s the last version that an online-gaming client called GameRanger supports. That’s the only reason I use them and I have them installed on a secondary drive. It’s not causing any problems.
Score: 21 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Daku93 Avatar
122 months ago
So, they didn't learn from the Xcode debacle and want something similar to happen with those downloads? People who need these apps are now forced to download them from dubious websites with no guaranty that they are unmodified downloads...
Score: 20 Votes (Like | Disagree)
tywebb13 Avatar
122 months ago
Apple must actually WANT people to get their software via torrents!
Score: 19 Votes (Like | Disagree)