How to find purchased apps on the Google Play Store

Keeping track of all our apps is almost impossible, especially when switching devices or performing a factory reset. Google makes it pretty painless to reinstall all your apps on a new or reset device, but things get a little complicated if you’re looking for a specific app that you may no longer remember the name of. Here’s how to find old purchased apps on the Google Play Store.

Read more: Everything you need to know about the Google Play Store

Finding old apps on the Google Play Store

Before looking at purchased apps specifically, let’s look at how Google keeps track of your old apps. However, this method for finding apps isn’t beneficial when finding purchased apps unless you already know what you’re looking for.

Open the Google Play Store and tap your profile picture at the top right corner. Select Manage apps and device and switch to the Manage tab to see all your apps. The apps currently installed on your phone are found under the Installed tab. Tap Installed and select Not installed to find apps you had installed before on this and older phones.

Finding your purchase history

Notably absent is any way to distinguish between free and purchased apps in both these sections. You’re also out of luck if you don’t know the name of what you’re looking for (and then you can search for it). Finding purchased apps, in particular, requires a few extra steps.

Open the Google Play Store and tap your profile picture at the top right corner. Tap Payments and subscriptions and go to Budget and history. You will find a list of all purchases via Google Play. This list also includes books, movies, TV shows, songs, albums, and any in-app purchases. Depending on your order history, it may take a lot of scrolling, but you will find all the apps you’ve bought here.

Try the web app to find old purchased apps

You can find out order history by using the web app as well. Go to play.google.com on a web browser on your PC or Android device, click Account in the left-hand menu, and switch to the Order History tab. Like the mobile app, you will find your entire purchase history in this section.

Use a third-party app to find purchased apps

If you are looking for old purchased apps, the Purchased Apps app from the Google Play Store does the trick. Download and install the app, tap your Google account, and your entire order history will show up. Opening the hamburger menu by tapping the three horizontal lines at the top left corner shows you the different categories of purchased apps, the total number of purchases, and the amount you’ve spent.

You can easily filter purchases as well. Tap the three vertical dots at the top right corner and tap Filter. You can sort your apps based on installation status and purchase type. Select No In-app to see a list of all your purchased apps.

Read more: Google Play Store not working? Here are some fixes to try

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