Almost a year ago, with the iOS 17.5 update, iPhone users saw old photos in their smartphone galleries. This year, a similar story happened, which returned deleted apps and games to some users after installing the iOS 18.4 update. This is reported by MacRumors.
This situation has also been covered by both Apple's Community Support and Reddit users (1, 2, 3). Even our editorial team has a case of restoring the game Assassin's Creed Mirage, which was removed several months ago.
This behavior is not related to the Automatic Downloads feature, which allows you to synchronize downloads across devices, as many users noted that they do not have other gadgets. At this time, the smartphones did not use Jailbreak or alternative App Stores.
There is currently no clear answer as to what exactly is causing the error, as the deleted apps appear on different models and are not tied to a specific location, for example. Fortunately, the "zombie app" can be deleted.