A new phone is the easiest time to mix the two bills again. The new iPhone finishes restoring from iCloud, and Shadowrocket isn’t on the Home Screen; or the app is there, the list is empty, and the VPN switch is refused. That isn’t “the official app can’t move.” Restore purchase, import the subscription, and re-authorize got treated as one step.
Deleting the app may wipe the local list. The subscription URL is still in your email or the provider’s dashboard—add it again after reinstalling. On a new device, an iCloud backup alone may not bring back the VPN configuration and node list in full. The system treats VPN configuration as a sensitive permission; it doesn’t quietly migrate like photos. You have to allow it again yourself.
Find the account that actually paid
A store purchase follows the Apple ID that paid, which may not be the one signed into iCloud now. Plenty of people use account A for photos, bought Shadowrocket with account B in a listed region, then switched daily use back to A. On a new phone, signing in with only A makes the store say “Not Purchased.” The app didn’t vanish. You’re standing at a different counter.
Restore Shadowrocket in the App Store with the Apple ID that paid. Open the listing and check ID 932747118. Similar name, wrong ID—don’t install. After restore, the app appears on the Home Screen. You can switch back to your everyday account after that. When the store later asks to update, you’ll often need to sign back into the paying account temporarily.
Write down which region and which email you used at the time, somewhere you can find. This site does not handle accounts or keep your purchase history.
Allow VPN again, then import your own subscription
Open the app and flip the connect switch once. The system will ask again to add a VPN configuration. Tap Allow and confirm with Face ID or a passcode. You’re done when Settings → General → VPN & Device Management shows Shadowrocket. If you tapped Don’t Allow, delete the leftover entry in Settings and try again from the app.
Then import your own subscription or parameters. Don’t treat a link you just copied from a forum as a “new-phone gift.” Whoever controls that URL can change your exit. The same subscription on multiple devices follows the provider’s device limit. Over the limit looks like a blank update or everyone timing out—like a failed move, when the remote side is refusing device N.
After import: update the subscription, pick a node that can handshake, set the mode to Config, then flip the switch. Don’t expect a widget or iCloud to finish picking the node and the mode for you.
Don’t use a side-door “config backup”
Some people drop a config file on a mystery site and restore it on the new phone. That’s handing your exit to someone else. The official app can be installed again; the line lives on your own subscription. Keep the two apart and a new phone isn’t scary.
Whether Family Sharing can pass the app to family members follows Apple’s current rules and whether this app supports it. Whether the line travels too depends on the provider, not the store. If family only gets the icon, they still import and authorize themselves.
What to prepare while the old phone is still around
On the old device, confirm: the Apple ID that paid, the full subscription URL text, and whether the provider dashboard still shows the device count. Save the URL in a note of your own, not a screenshot that’s easy to crop. You don’t need to delete the VPN configuration before wiping the old phone; the new one will ask you to allow it again.
If the old phone is already gone, still follow restore purchase → authorize → import. No paying account, and the store cannot invent this app for you. No subscription, and the client cannot invent nodes. If you lost both, look up the purchase with Apple and the account with the provider—separately. Don’t go download an IPA.
Finer steps are in the tutorial, section 09. Purchases and switching accounts are on the download page. Words are in the glossary.
Two things people miss on move day
First, the device count. If the old phone still has the same subscription and was never signed out in the provider dashboard, the new phone can hit the cap on first update. It looks like “import failed”; the remote side is refusing. If the old device still boots, disable it there or ask the provider to drop it, then update on the new phone.
Second, dismissing the permission prompt. New-phone setup throws a lot of dialogs. Once you tap Don’t Allow, the app keeps failing to connect and it looks like the move failed. Deleting the leftover VPN entry in Settings and allowing again from the app is faster than reinstalling. Reinstalling doesn’t fix a refused configuration in the system; it only sends you through store restore again.