If you’ve made purchases on the App Store using your Apple ID, you may want to delete your purchase history for privacy reasons. Fortunately, Apple makes it easy to delete your App Store purchase history right from your iPhone.
Why Would You Want to Delete Your Purchase History?
Here are some common reasons you may want to delete your App Store purchase history:
- Privacy – To prevent others from seeing what apps and in-app purchases you’ve downloaded if they access your Apple ID
- Security – Deleting your history makes it harder for someone else to reconstruct your purchase patterns if your Apple ID is compromised
- Free up storage space – The App Store keeps a cached copy of your purchase history which can take up storage space on your device
- Reduce clutter – If you have years of purchase history, deleting it can tidy up your account
Will Deleting My Purchase History Also Delete the Apps?
No, deleting your purchase history will not delete any apps you’ve installed from the App Store. Your apps are stored separately from your purchase history. Deleting your history only removes the record of transactions – your apps will remain installed on your device.
How to View Your Purchase History
Before deleting your history, you may want to view it to see what purchases are on record. To view your purchase history:
- Open the App Store app on your iPhone
- Tap on your Apple ID at the top right (your initials or profile icon)
- Select ‘Purchase History’
This will display a list of all your App Store purchases, including apps, in-app purchases, and Apple services.
How to Delete Your Entire Purchase History
To delete your entire App Store purchase history on iPhone:
- Open the App Store app
- Tap on your Apple ID at the top right
- Scroll down and select ‘Purchase History’
- Tap the ‘Delete All’ button at the top left
- Confirm the deletion when prompted
This will permanently erase your entire App Store purchase history. Be certain before deleting as this cannot be undone!
How to Delete a Single App From Your Purchase History
If you only want to delete a single app purchase from your history, you can do that too:
- View your Purchase History in the App Store
- Swipe left on the app you want to delete
- Tap ‘Hide’ to remove that purchase from your history
This will delete the individual app without affecting the rest of your purchase history.
Does Deleting Purchase History Also Cancel Subscriptions?
No, deleting your purchase history does not cancel any active subscriptions or automatically stop you from being billed for them. Your subscriptions are separate from your purchase history log. To cancel a subscription:
- Go to Settings > [Your Name] > Subscriptions
- Tap on the subscription you want to cancel
- Tap ‘Cancel Subscription’ and confirm
This will stop future billing for that subscription. You also need to go back and delete the subscription purchase from your history separately.
Can I Recover My Purchase History If I Deleted It?
Unfortunately there is no way to recover or undo deleting your App Store purchase history on the iPhone. Once you delete it, the data is permanently erased. Your only option is to slowly rebuild your purchase history by redownloading apps and making new purchases.
Will This Delete My Purchase History on Other Devices?
No, deleting your App Store purchase history on iPhone will only affect the purchase history on that device. It does not delete the history on any other iPhones, iPads, or Macs linked to your Apple ID. You would need to repeat the deletion process on each device that you want to erase the history for.
However, keep in mind that new purchases you make in the future will appear again in the purchase history on all your devices.
Is There a Way to Disable Purchase History?
Unfortunately there is no setting in iOS to disable saving purchase history for your Apple ID altogether. Apple does not provide a way to turn off purchase history.
Your only options are to periodically manually delete your purchase history, or set up a separate Apple ID just for purchasing apps that you don’t want linked to your main account.
How Can I Prevent Family Members From Seeing My Purchase History?
If you share your Apple ID with family members through Family Sharing, they may be able to view your purchase history. To prevent this:
- Set up your own unique Apple ID just for purchasing apps
- Do not add this app-purchasing Apple ID to Family Sharing
- Use your personal Apple ID for app purchases
- Use your primary Apple ID for iCloud, Family Sharing, etc.
This will keep apps you download for yourself private while still letting you share other content with family members.
Is My Purchase History Stored on My iPhone?
Your App Store purchase history is primarily stored on Apple’s servers. However, a cached copy of your purchase history also gets saved locally on your iPhone. This allows you to view your history when not connected to the internet.
When you delete your purchase history, it erases this local cached copy on your iPhone. The data is also deleted from Apple’s servers and cannot be recovered.
Does Deleting Purchase History Improve Performance?
Deleting your App Store purchase history can slightly improve storage space and performance speed on your iPhone. Here’s why:
- The cached purchase history data takes up a small amount of storage, so deleting it frees up space.
- Less storage used means slightly faster performance when loading apps.
- A long history takes longer for the App Store to load each time it’s accessed.
That said, for most users the performance improvement will generally be minor unless your purchase history is extremely long.
Should I Delete My Purchase History Before Selling or Giving Away My iPhone?
Yes, it’s a smart idea to delete your App Store purchase history before selling, trading in, or giving away your used iPhone. Here’s why:
- It protects your privacy by preventing the next owner from seeing what apps you bought.
- It removes any personal data from the device before transferring ownership.
- It frees up more storage space for the next owner.
Make sure to sign out of your Apple ID as well. When wiping a phone before selling/giving away, deleting purchase history is a key step.
Can Apps I’ve Deleted Be Reinstalled Without Purchase History?
Even without your purchase history, you can usually redownload and install apps you previously purchased, as long as they are still available in the App Store. Here’s how:
- Open the App Store and search for the app
- If you purchased it previously, you should see the download button instead of a price
- Tap ‘Get’ or ‘Download’ to reinstall the app for free
This works even if you’ve deleted the app’s purchase history, as Apple’s servers still recognize that you bought it previously.
What Are Some Good Alternatives to Deleting Purchase History?
If you want to keep your purchase history, here are a few alternatives to try:
- Turn off cellular data for the App Store – This stops it syncing purchase data when not on WiFi.
- Use Restrictions to disable App Store access.
- Turn on Face ID/Touch ID for purchases.
- Create a separate Apple ID just for app purchases.
- Buy iTunes gift cards instead of using your Apple ID credit card.
These make it harder to view your history without deleting it entirely.
Should I Periodically Delete My Purchase History?
There’s no right or wrong answer – it depends on your preferences! Here are some things to consider:
- Periodic deletion improves privacy and security if your phone is lost/stolen.
- It keeps your purchase list from becoming overly long and cluttered.
- It forces you to manually reinstall apps you still use.
- You’ll lose access to your full history of purchases and downloads.
- It takes extra time and effort to continually re-delete the history.
I recommend most users delete their purchase history occasionally, such as every 6-12 months. But choose the frequency based on your own needs.
Conclusion
Deleting your App Store purchase history on iPhone is easy – just tap to delete within your Apple ID account settings. This permanently erases your record of app and in-app purchases from that device.
Keep in mind purchase history deletion does not cancel subscriptions or delete apps from your phone. For privacy and before selling your phone, clearing your App Store history is recommended. But be certain before deleting as there is no way to recover the data!
