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There is nothing wrong with "bloat" per se, if you don't need a feature then don't use it. iTunes has a huge user base. If Apple remove anything from iTunes, they are understandably going to get pushback from those who are using that feature, particularly if they don't provide that functionality elsewhere.
 
For years people have been complaining about iTunes being bloated. They slowly start removing features that are rarely used or needed. Yet as soon as they do people complain that something is being removed. They're not going to win.

The solution is not to remove functionality, but to split it.

There really ought to be a "boring" application that can do things like installing apps, backing up devices, restoring them etc. without iTunes.
 
Well, I think it's a good think to have the AppStore back in iTunes. At least we can perform a better search and especially sort the reviews in some ways.

Can somebody tell me how in iOS11 can I:

- sort the reviews by date
- sort the reviews by Most Helpful and Most Critical
- search for apps by their Release Date in particular categories

I still don't get why a 3-year old reviews would be relevant to any app - which by the way has received about twenty updates meanwhile. iOS11 AppStore is a total mess to me.
 
That's odd, I am not seeing the "purchased" ("comprado") link in this article.

This is what my iTunes 12.6.2.20 looks like:

6nwsz5d.png


Apparently the Apple-Store is back, but we can't download the IPAs and upload them to our devices... is that it? If so I'll continue using 12.6.2.20.

Compras dentro do app = in-app purchases.

Can someone post a picture from this iTunes version and confirm we are still able to download the IPAs and upload them?

If you don't know how to backup your apps just read my post explaining that:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/how-do-i-backup-my-apps.1986712/#post-23222387
 
Why do consumers need the iOS AppStore on their PC? I was hoping this was a sign Apple was taking the bloat out of iTunes. Apparently not. Did they not do any sort of impact analysis before they removed it?
I don't mind the App Store not being a part of iTunes anymore, but taking the ability to donwload apps on your system, means that you're forcing iOS device owners to re-download every apps every single time for each of their iOS device, which is ridiculous.
Something like moving all the apps from my old iPhone to the new one that used to take only a few minutes would take several hours, and god forbid that we buy mutliple iPhones for all the family at the same time...
And this is not even taking into account people who have user accounts from different App Stores; no App Store on Mac means having to log in and log out into each App Store on our iPhone to re-download or update each store specific app.
 
There is nothing wrong with "bloat" per se, if you don't need a feature then don't use it. iTunes has a huge user base. If Apple remove anything from iTunes, they are understandably going to get pushback from those who are using that feature, particularly if they don't provide that functionality elsewhere.
And you can 'remove' features from iTunes by removing them from the dropdown menu. If you only want to see Music, Films and Podcasts in iTunes, you can make that so. If you don't want to sync iOS devices with iTunes, you don't have to.
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I still don't get why a 3-year old reviews would be relevant to any app - which by the way has received about twenty updates meanwhile.
It's relevant if the app hasn't received any updates in three years.
 
Why do consumers need the iOS AppStore on their PC? I was hoping this was a sign Apple was taking the bloat out of iTunes. Apparently not. Did they not do any sort of impact analysis before they removed it?
It is "needed" for people who own multiple iOS devices. It is wasteful for each device to download the same copy of an app. Apps are growing in size, many of them in the 200-300MB range (at least the ones that I have on multiple devices). To download each app on each iOS device not only eats up data download capacity, but takes much longer than simply downloading once and syncing each device.


For years people have been complaining about iTunes being bloated. They slowly start removing features that are rarely used or needed. Yet as soon as they do people complain that something is being removed. They're not going to win.
Rarely used or needed? Have you surveyed iTunes users to determine what features are rarely used or needed?
 
The file “iTunes Library.itl” cannot be read because it was created by a newer version of iTunes. Would you like to download iTunes now?

Now I need to rebuild library? How fun. I may just save the file for later and only do this when absolutely necessary as the app features are more a want than a need.
 
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I'll give this a try tonight. Have been avoiding 12.7 because I like managing apps on my MBP once, rather than on every single device. Was getting tired of dismissing the update request every single day.

Now if I could only find a shortcut to quickly turn on/off Airdrop on iOS11...
 
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For those people who are in favor of iTunes removing support for downloading iOS apps:

How much space do you think is saved by removing that functionality? Downloading apps is OPTIONAL. Don't want those apps taking up space on your desktop system? Simply don't download them on your desktop and do it on your iOS devices... problem solved. But there is this sentiment that is growing ever larger in the Apple community of, "if I don't need it, then no one needs it and shouldn't have access to it."
 
Removing the feature in the first place was Apple's way of 'fixing' the "I can't connect my iPhone out of the box with my 2016> MBP" problem.
 
The library won't be compatible. You need to hold Option while opening iTunes and create a new library. Maybe there is someone who can try editing the iTunes library as it is probably the version number in the library file has been updated and prevents it opening.

Look in the Previous iTunes library directory for the one compatible with 12.6.x
 
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Business is dragging everything behind as usual.

iTunes is too bloated and kicking non-core functions out of the app is long overdue. iTunes should only focus on music.
 
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Does it restore other features like ringtones, photos and iBooks?
If I’m not mistaken ibooks was removed when MacOS Yosemite was introduced. That would be iTunes 10.7
There is a hack to bring back ibooks but it does not work with iTunes 12.7. Only with 12.6.2 or older. Maybe it will work with 12.6.3 but I´m not willing to test it.
 
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iTunes is one of the only ways to install older software I have from iTunes backups on older devices. Some Applications (or older versions) are no longer on their servers, or, accessible because a newer “older version” (hopefully that makes sense) lacks features or doesn’t work correctly.

Yes, but even in iTunes 12.7 you can install apps that are on your machine. You just drag them from Finder into the On My Device column. See here (I know this says ringtones, but you can install apps this way as well).

I agree it's bloated, but don't remove one of the core things without a replacement. iOS Apps are essential and you don't just remove it without a replacement.

No, the app store in iTunes is not essential. Bolding the word doesn't magically turn your opinion into fact. A tiny fraction of iOS users manage their apps via iTunes. Meanwhile, the vast majority use the app store on the device itself.

There is nothing wrong with "bloat" per se, if you don't need a feature then don't use it.

That has never been apples ethos, ever. The driving force behind Apple products has always been simplicity; instead of having a billion options for every possible edge case, there's just one way - the Apple way.
 
No, the app store in iTunes is not essential. Bolding the word doesn't magically turn your opinion into fact. A tiny fraction of iOS users manage their apps via iTunes. Meanwhile, the vast majority use the app store on the device itself.

LOL. Might as well get rid of the Music part of iTunes since the same applies. A tiny fraction of iOS users use Mac/PC iTunes to manage their music. The majority now use iTunes Store/Music app or Apple Music.

Oh, and before you go all "You're just pulling that out of your ass!" What about you and your claim about the App Store???
 
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i remember when apple used to Dictate the pace to everyone,

apple need to stop fold like a piece of paper to the industry standards and design the future in their own unique way, just like they did for the last 20 years,

the iPad keyboard, transform the tablet into a laptop, a thing apple didn't want to do from the beginning but they fold in order to "fight" the surface line, the iPad files app, the vision was a modern world where the files are in the apps and the interface is a well designed UI that shows a photo instead of a file with extension, but again, apple fold, QI Wireless Charging, NFC, now restoring features that should have been killed years ago...
 
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