Apps don't re-download to replacement Droid 4

[laconic]

Last year, when I upgraded my phone to a Droid 4, all my apps (free and paid for) reinstalled themselves automatically on the new phone. But when I just recently had to have Verizon send me a replacement phone because of a physical problem, on powering up the replacement Droid 4 and successfully logging into Gmail, none of my apps reappeared. Apparently Google Play no longer recognizes me as the same user, even though it's the exact same account as I originally downloaded the apps with.

Could it be because the old phone was updated to Jelly Bean and the replacement is still at Ice Cream Sandwich? Is my identity to Google Play somehow dependent on the highest OS I have had? Verizon tech support says I will have to reinstall all the apps manually, and that the ones I've already paid for will be recognized as paid for. The latter turned out not to be true (no surprise) [addendum: failed for that one app; other paid apps were recognized]. He was clueless; it's more of a Google/Android issue, anyway.

By the way, the Verizon tech support rep assured me that I would get the Jelly Bean OTA update again, but I'm not so sure. Too early to tell at this point. I'm inclined to wait and see if that happens and my apps reappear, too. If not, I may be screwed.

Comments?

 

[silverfang77]

Just go into the Play Store under your Google account and press Menu>My Apps. They should show up and you can download them.

 

[laconic]

Sorry, Silverfang, I already did that. None of my apps were there (only the pre-installed bloatware). It's like I had a different identity. Only thing I can think of is that your Android apps effectively get flagged as being installed on Jelly Bean, and if you go back to ICS, they're not visible anymore.

 

[laconic]

Just to follow up: the missing apps issue has nothing to do with the OS version. I went ahead and updated to Jelly Bean (4.1.2) on the new phone, and the apps are still missing.

I managed to talk to a Google support rep, and he said he could see only two of the original 16 or so apps associated with my account, yet I could not see them! The good new is I was able to search for them and re-download them as purchased apps without having to buy them again. But all my free apps are still missing unless I search for them in the store and reinstall them from scratch. So it looks like that's what I'm going to have to do.

In short: the disappearance of my apps is a total mystery, and so far no one, not even Google, has a clue what happened.

Addendum: After reinstalling a few apps, the other missing apps (along with many that I never installed) are now finally showing on the ALL panel in Google Play -> My Apps. Where were they before? Anyway, it's all moot at this point.