the one time I rely on the cloud to store my data...

I had an app installed on my phone which was quite useful during a trip last year. After the trip I uninstalled it, as it kept throwing an error message whenever I turned on the phone (but the app itself still worked).

I figured I could always reinstall it again later when I did need it, as I had bought it on Google Play, and Google Play keeps copies of your stuff for you, right?.

So today I was going to reinstall it, but the version of the app now on Google Play is no longer compatible with my phone. So I'm not even given the option of reinstalling it. Furthermore, it says "Installed" even though I had uninstalled it.

Does Google Play really not store a copy for you, of the version of the app that you originally purchased?