I'm in the UK and have noticed that if a game is no longer available you can't even download it from your purchased list. They are still there in my list of purchased apps. I tried downloading some games from my purchased list on my new iPad and the few that are not on the App Store anymore can't be downloaded. It just says that the game is no longer available.
Where are the apps saved to ? Have you got the actual ipa's backed up from itunes ? Sounds like its just showing a list of apps you've purchased in the past. I mean i've got all my apps saved to Dropbox, so when i get a new device i can still install Gridlee (MAME) and other banned apps You should always backup your phone to not only keep any apps (in case they cant be downloaded again) but simply for photos/personal stuff etc.
I was under the impression that if a game is in your purchased list then it's available for download regardless of whether it's they on the App Store or not. Is it because of iOS 7 compatability issues?
Don't think it has anything to do iOS 7, I think it's always been the case that if the app isn't backed up somewhere like Dropbox then it won't be possible to redownload if it gets pulled from the App Store. I have everything backed up in tunes on my laptop. I could be wrong though.
Huh that's weird near as I can tell I have the ability to download apps that are no longer available from my purchased history.
This is why I'll never use icloud backups. If you back up to iTunes (and don't delete the local copies of the apps) then you'll always be able to install these apps.
using Dropbox for that purpose seems like a very great idea. it happened to me once with a game called cubic match. for some reason iTunes couldn't "find" my backed up IPA and it was removed from the App Store. Thankfully, puzzle quest 1 still downloads from my purchased tab but it might not be the case later down the line. I'd usually use Dropbox for jailbreak stuff for iFile, but the idea of backing up my IPAs never occurred to me. go figure #
If a game is truly pulled from the AppStore, it will not appear in your purchase history. Games that are in your purchase history but not available for new purchasers can still be downloaded if they are compatible with your device and iOS version. So it is either a device or iOS incompatibility.
Downloading the game from your purchase history works for me (iTunes) I just downloaded Minecraft PE Lite even though it's pulled out
Is the IPA the actual app file? I'm thinking of backing my apps up somewhere else and have no idea what file is what lol.