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Jason Cipriani/CNET
Downloading apps, especially free apps, can be quite addictive. You see a random free app featured on a blog, linked to in a tweet or mentioned by a friend and you promptly download it. You soon realize the app adds no real value to your life, so you delete it from your device. Somewhere down the road you want to re-download an app from your Google Play Store history. You browse on over to your download history only to find a never-ending list of apps.
In the past you’d be stuck with this long list of apps; unable to delete that cracked screen app you pranked your friends with. But, thankfully, Google came to its senses and now allows you to delete apps from your download history using your Android device.
This feature was enabled in an update a while back, so if you’re having trouble following along, make sure you’re running the most current version of the Play Store app.
- Launch the Play Store app, tap on the menu button (upper-right corner) and select My Apps.
Screenshot by Jason Cipriani/CNET
- You’ll see a list of apps currently installed on your device, and you might even see some apps with an update available. For now, ignore those and swipe from right to left on the screen to reveal the All section.
Screenshot by Jason Cipriani/CNET
- To do that, long press on any of the apps until your device vibrates and the app is selected. You can then continue to long press on apps listed in your history and tap on the delete icon at the top of your screen when you’re done.
At this time I can’t find a way to delete the same download history located on the Google Play Store site, but the deletion does sync from your device to the site. If it doesn’t remove the app from the site right away, wait a few minutes and refresh the page.
Here’s a video of the process:
