One of the nice features of the App Store and the Family Sharing feature is that any app that you purchase can also be used, at no additional charge, by other family members. It won't surprise you to learn that I purchase more apps than the other members of my family, but I don't purchase every app. For example, my wife is very organized and has made good use of apps that help you to stay organized. Her current app is choice is the Things app, and after watching her use the app, I decided to start using it to keep track of my own tasks.
This past Monday morning, I arrived at the office and tapped the Things app, expecting it to launch so that I could select a task to work on first. Instead, I saw an error message: "This app is no longer shared with you. To use it you must buy it from the App Store." After a split second of wondering if I had done something wrong to cause my wife to stop sharing an app with me, I decided that this must be some sort of error and researched how to fix it. I found a solution, and I also picked up some additional knowledge that might be useful in other situations.
[UPDATE 5/24/20: It looks like recent updates to a number of apps, such as WhatsApp and Facebook, have triggered this problem. Fortunately, this solution still works.]
Here is the fix that worked for me. Open the Settings app, tap General and then tap iPhone Storage. You will see all of your apps listed, sorted by how much space each app takes. Tap on the app at issue and then select Offload App. This allows you to remove the app from your iPhone but it retains all of your documents and data associated with the app.
After the app was gone, I could download a fresh copy from the App Store, and this time the app realized that I was part of a family in which one member had previously purchased the app. I launched the app successfully, all of my data was there, and I could get about my work.
[UPDATE 10/1/2019: I got the same error after installing iOS 13 on my iPhone, and this same fix still works. Note that you don't have to go to the App Store to look for a fresh copy of the app. I found that the app icon was still on my iPhone home screen even after I unloaded it, but it had a symbol next to it indicating that I needed to download a copy from the App Store. All that I had to do was tap the app icon on the home screen and my iPhone automatically downloaded a fresh copy for me, and in the process realized that i was entitled to use the app. It was all very simple.]
I've had times in the past when an app has caused me problems, and as a fix I have deleted the app and downloaded a new copy. But I've never really focused before on this Offload App feature, which is a better way to remove an app because you retain your user data. Hopefully it will be a while before I next need to remove an app causing problems, but when I do, I'll certainly take advantage of the Offload App feature.
And finally, if your iPhone or iPad is running short on space, you can always use the Offload App feature for its intended purpose — freeing some space while retaining the ability to restore a deleted app in the future.
