App is not compatible with this iPad

The how to fix it seems to be answered by the earlier posters. Here to the why:

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When writing a program, one can choose pretty freely how compatible it is with prior versions of iOS. However, the more compatible it is, the less it can make use of newer versions and with that new features and new devices. In some cases, tone can only make it work with an older or a newer iOS, not both. So programmers have to move forward and exclude older versions of the OS.

When an app has been in the app store for longer, several versions of the app are often stored. So installation of the app on older devices works in some cases, but not necessarily always. If only your phone doesn't allow it, while others with the same phone and iOS version have no problems, there is something with your phone or your account - maybe also with your purchases. If others have the same issue, an older version may not be available out of security reasons, for lack of compatibility with newer online features or such.

written by Alex Decker.

Recently this site has been getting more traffic, which means people are looking for new solutions and stumbling on my rambling guide. I have decided to improve and amend my guide in this revision and have also gotten hosting of a new website which I will keep updating guide from there now. Thanks to feedback from many visitors I have been to improve a few things.

Why I made this site in the first place.

There are other articles on this topic with tutorials, but I found many outdated solutions that no longer applied or worked. With the help of multiple sites, some troubleshooting and /r/jailbreak’s advice, I was able to finally install some apps on my Ipad Mini Gen 1. It was infuriating having a functioning device that would not allow me to install apps that I knew could work. I tried a lot of stuff which didn’t work. I thought this guide could help others and maybe myself in future when I need it again.

What this guide will accomplish.

If you are having trouble installing apps on your dated apple device because the new version of the app is no longer compatible, this is the guide for you. In a nutshell, we are installing an older version of the app since apps like Netflix, Amazon Music will not install on an older (ios 9.3.5 or older) devices anymore.

SOME DISCLAIMERS before we start:

This does NOT require a jailbreak of your device and if you follow my instructions anyone can do this! Do not Apple intimidate you into buying a new device or just giving up.
This will not work for all apps. Some apps really aren’t compatible with your device anymore. We are installing older versions of apps which still work with older devices. The hardware sometimes really can’t keep up anymore or the older versions may not be available anymore.
Your device is possibly too old to smoothly run some apps and you may have to accept that.
I am in no way responsible for broken devices, broken itunes installations or lost data. This is all at your own risk, but honestly guys… it’s pretty hard to mess this up or break anything since we are not jailbreaking.
My spelling is bad…you will have to accept that. 😉

So Apple likes to update their iOS sometimes, which is fine and good practice. Annoying is that this sometimes slows down old devices, but that’s a subject for another day (or perhaps another ranting article?) The problem, however, is that at some point it becomes impossible to install newer operating systems on older devices. I get this too! But with Apple it happens a little too fast for my liking. My 2012 iPad mini is very slow and I am sure a newer(more resource intensive) OS would just make it get slower and slower. I just believe that if apps had older versions that worked then you should be able to install them! It is possible! I’ve done it with a few apps now.

Here is what you will encounter when this happens: (don’t focus too much on this example)

GRrrrr.. annoying right. We want to change this error to this alternative option.

1. If you have installed/purchased this app on another device before you may be able to skip the rest of the steps

This only works in cases where apps are already registered to your iTunes account, so skip this step(but I would try it just in case) if you have never had the app installed on one of your devices before. Alternatively, you could borrow a family or friend’s device to add the app to your iTunes account, but that might involve logging them out.

Here is how. Go into the App Store on your iDevice. On the bottom, go to the “Purchased Tab” as shown below.

Here you will see all the apps that you have purchased or ever installed on your previous devices. Click on “All” (1) to display all the apps. Find the app you want and click on the little cloud with an arrow next to app (2) (as seen with Netflix here).

If your app is listed here you should get the following prompt that the latest version isn’t compatible with your device, but now it gives you the alternative option of installing the lastest compatible version. Click on “download”.

I hope this is enough to help you and you don’t have to use the rest of the steps. Please let me know if this didn’t work or even if you found a better way of doing it. Maybe even let me know if it works for you through the contact button.

If you don’t see your app on this list then you need the rest of this guide, which explains how to get your app on this list.

2. How to register apps to your apple account to make them appear in the purchased tab.

If you own another Apple device (perhaps a newer iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch) you could download the app to that device so that it is registered to your account and then check if it also appears in your “purchased” tab. This should theoretically work, but I am not 100% sure since this wasn’t the case with me. It may be that Ipad has a different app than iPhone making it incompatible.

If you don’t have another device to register the app to, you will have to use iTunes to register and install the app.

3. Installing (“purchasing”) apps through iTunes.

All right. So many articles will tell you (correctly) that you have to download the app file on your iTunes desktop store. This is no longer possible since the newest iTunes removed the app store feature (because iNoVaTiOn).

There is a workaround for this problem. You have to install the enterprise version of Itunes which still has “App Store” feature. Namely Itunes 12.6.5 (thanks to reddit user /u/Entertainnosis for the tip) . You can download the installer from the official Apple site (woo hoo; no sketchy websites!) Downside is that you may have to uninstall your current iTunes version first. Remember to unauthorize your client before uninstalling your old iTunes. This is a fully-functional version of iTunes that is left available for businesses. If you don’t want to uninstall your old itunes, then I recommend simply doing this on another computer.

Download Itunes 12.6.5 here: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208079

or use these direct links below (I suggest using the link above instead, because there are minor updates made sometimes) :

Mac: https://secure-appldnld.apple.com/itunes12/091-87821-20180912-69177170-B085-11E8-B6AB-C1D03409AD2A/iTunes12.6.5.dmg

PC (32 Bit): https://secure-appldnld.apple.com/itunes12/091-87820-20180912-69177170-B085-11E8-B6AB-C1D03409AD2A5/iTunesSetup.exe

PC (64-bit): https://secure-appldnld.apple.com/itunes12/091-87819-20180912-69177170-B085-11E8-B6AB-C1D03409AD2A6/iTunes64Setup.exe

The site should look like this.

I’m doing this on a PC, but this should be same procedure on a Mac. Do yourself a favour and uncheck the auto-updates and making apple as your standard audioplayer (also later disable autostart if you don’t want to make startup very slow and annoying).

I know its in German on my screenshot, but it’ll be in same position.

Note : if you tinkered with you idevice with jailbreak methods before you may have to reset your device for this whole fix to work (I had to at least, but I really fudged it up my first attempt).

2. Log into your new iTunes client and authorize that computer. I am freshly installing this disease of a software on my main PC to show this to you people. Jeeeez and did it take long to install… really killing my momentum.

okay, on we go! (if you don’t have all 5 of your allowed computers authorized you may have to remove them all.)

3. After that you need to make the “apps” option visible. In itunes press on the “Music” tab on the top left to show other types of media.

Then press “edit menu…”

Select “apps” with a check mark. Then press “Done”.

Now you should have the option of “Apps” in itunes when you select “music” again. Press on “Apps”.

In the App Tab, click on “App Store” on top center.

then search for the app you want in the search field (Labeled 1 in picture). Then press the download button (Labelled 2 in picture).

Okay. Now it will download the app file to your pc or mac.

4. Now when it is finished downloading, go to library (top middle-left option in apps page) in itunes and you should find your freshly downloaded app there as shown below.

This means you successfully purchased the app/registered it to your account. See that you have the right version for you device (whether it be Ipad, Ipod, Iphone, ect).

5. Connect your device to you computer via usb and unlock device. On device press trust computer and on computer also press continue.

coo coo cool. We are getting there people!

note: you dont have to install icloud on your pc, incase you are unsure 😉 You can if you want, but not nessisary for this tuturial.

6. Now your device should be shown on the left side under “Devices”. If not try retrusting your computer.

7. Now with your i device unlocked and still connected, (with itunes on) , navigate to app store on your idevice. on the bottom select “purchased” as circled below.

now yours might not be as full as mine, but look in “all” tab(1) and press little cloud with arrow.

Now with a little luck and if you did it right it should pop up with this glorious message.

press download…duh.

8. Enjoy your app!

If you have any questions, send me message over the contact page or in the comment section below. Feel free to tell me if it worked for you or if you have ideas of improvement.