#PowerPlatformTip 191: 'Recover a Power App That Vanished After a Tenant Migration'

An app that worked fine last week is simply gone after a tenant or environment migration. Before spending hours rebuilding it from scratch, check whether it’s actually just soft-deleted and recoverable.

Quick answer: Install the Power Apps admin PowerShell module, run Get-AdminDeletedPowerAppsList -EnvironmentName <environment-id> to list soft-deleted apps in that environment, find the app by its display name and deletion date, then restore it with Restore-AdminPowerApp -AppName <app-guid> -EnvironmentName <environment-id>.

Why this happens

A tenant or environment migration can leave a Power App in a soft-deleted state rather than truly gone - removed from the normal maker portal view, but still sitting in the environment’s recycle bin for a limited retention window. This is easy to miss because the app simply doesn’t show up anymore in make.powerapps.com, which looks identical to “permanently deleted” from the maker’s point of view.

How it’s done

1. Connect to the Power Apps admin module.

🔸 Install it if you haven’t: Install-Module -Name Microsoft.PowerApps.Administration.PowerShell, then Add-PowerAppsAccount with an account that has admin rights on the environment.

2. List soft-deleted apps in the affected environment.

Get-AdminDeletedPowerAppsList -EnvironmentName <environment-id>

🔸 This returns each soft-deleted app’s internal AppName (a GUID, not the display name), its display name, and when it was deleted - use the display name and deletion date to find the right one.

3. Restore the app.

Restore-AdminPowerApp -AppName <app-guid> -EnvironmentName <environment-id>

🔸 Use the AppName GUID from step 2, not the human-readable title.

4. Verify in the maker portal.

🔸 Open make.powerapps.com for that environment and confirm the app is back in the normal apps list, with its previous version history intact.

Why this beats rebuilding

Rebuilding a non-trivial Power App from memory means re-creating every screen, every formula, every data source connection - and you’ll likely miss details that only show up when a user hits an edge case later. A restore is a few minutes of PowerShell versus potentially days of reconstruction.

🛠️ FAQ

Why would a Power App disappear after a tenant or IT migration?

A migration can leave an app in a soft-deleted state - removed from the normal app list but still recoverable within the environment’s retention window - rather than being permanently destroyed. This can happen alongside environment re-provisioning, ownership changes, or cleanup scripts run during the migration.

What does Get-AdminDeletedPowerAppsList actually return?

A list of soft-deleted Power Apps in a given environment, including each app’s internal AppName (a GUID), display name, and deletion date - enough to identify the right app before restoring it.

Is there a time limit on restoring a deleted Power App?

Yes. Soft-deleted apps are only recoverable for a limited retention window before they’re permanently purged, so check as soon as you notice an app is missing rather than assuming you can restore it later.

🔗 Related Tips

🔸 #PowerPlatformTip 20: ‘Change Flow Owner’ - another admin-level recovery task when ownership or access breaks after a change.

🔸 How to Restore and Create a Backup from a Flow - the equivalent backup/restore approach for flows instead of apps.