Have you ever removed a Windows Phone app, only to wish you hadn't? You can navigate through the Windows Phone Store to find it again, or use a third-party reinstalling app, which will only take you to the app's page on the Store. Or, you can use WindowsPhone.com to reinstall any app that you've ever downloaded from the Store. It is easy and this tutorial will show you how it works.

NOTE: This procedure was tested on Windows Phone 7.5, 7.8 and 8 and it works on all three versions.

Sign In to WindowsPhone.com

Being a Windows Phone user, you should already have a Microsoft account. Go to the Windows Phone website and click Sign in, under Explore My Phone.

Sign in with your Microsoft account.

Select Your Phone

Once logged in, hover the cursor over your Windows Phone, on the top right of the window and click on Purchase history from the drop-down menu.

Reinstalling the App

NOTE: Before being able to reinstall the app directly to your device, you must have an active data connection on your device. Our previous article How to Connect to Data Networks & Wireless Networks On Windows Phone will help you ensure you have that required data connection. Also, keep in mind that for apps larger than 50 MB, a Wi-Fi network connection is required.

This screen shows all the apps that you've downloaded and installed on your Windows Phone. Find the app you'd like to reinstall and click on Reinstall. Also, if you first want to see some details about the app, you can click on its name and a new page will open and display them.

Upon clicking on Reinstall, WindowsPhone.com will try to contact your smartphone.

If successful, you will see a message saying that This app should appear on your phone's App list soon. Depending on the app’s size and your Windows Phone data connection speed, it may take a while or just a few moments before your app is sent to your smartphone.

Reinstalled to Your Windows Phone

On your Windows Phone device, go to the App screen and you will see that the app has been downloaded and installed.

Easy Reinstalling

As you can see, because WindowsPhone.com keeps track of every app you've installed on your smartphone, you can easily reinstall any app back to the device directly from the website. It's much easier than navigating through the Store again, or using other third-party reinstalling apps.
However, there is one downside. You cannot use this procedure for multiple phones. For example, if you have a Windows Phone 7.5 or 7.8 device and you bought a newer Windows Phone 8 device, you cannot reinstall on the new phone the apps you had on the old phone, even if they are compatible with Windows Phone 8. Your only solution is to use the list of purchased apps, decide which you want to use on your new phone and install them manually, using the Store.