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I read news and reviews about apps frequently on my Mac. I use my Mac to search for apps with Google. So, how do I proceed now when I have found an article pointing to the iOS App Store in Safari on the Mac? Before, I just had to click on the link in the web browser and it would take me right to the App Store in iTunes. Now I have to grab my phone, open the App Store app, wait for the App store to load, click on the search box, wait for the search box to load, type in the name of the app and hit search.
Exactly. A lot of developers and app review sites rely on those links to get people to buy and download their apps. It was a major complaint with the Apple TV and it's lack of ability to link/download apps via desktop.
 
I bet the iOS App Store is now combined into the Mac App Store in High Seirra.
That looks like a good idea (well if the Mac App Store app would be brought up to the iTunes App Store section in terms of features, speed and reliability). But, how would this work? If apps aren't synched anymore from Mac/PC to iOS device, that App Store would just be a virtual one (ie, one that could equally be just a web version). And the feature of aggregating apps from multiple country-based App stores in one iTunes library would be gone. Now, I have to do the dance of switching between multiple app stores (at least in the form of entering the passwords of multiple app stores) to update apps on each iOS device separately instead of doing it once in iTunes (which is slower to navigate in iOS and slower to enter complex passwords).
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If you're set for automatic downloads any new app is installed on all devices.
But only for the app store of the country you are currently logged into. Or has that changed?
 
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The first good change to come to iTunes since iTunes 12 was released if it causes performance to be so much better.
The question is whether reducing the amount of code loaded with iTunes (resulting in less time spend reading everything into memory when iTunes is launched and needing less RAM) by this move really makes a noticeable difference. I would say the major problem with iTunes is old code not too much code. Just one example, the iTunes code is old enough that the preferences window is a modal dialogue, while it is open the rest of the app cannot be used. None of the more modern Mac apps have that limitation. And that is just one symptom of the old code in iTunes.
 
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I guess that is your view of how this serves Apple's customers. I'll let Apple know what I think. :p

It will be so thrilling to download the same app multiple times to multiple mobile devices, believe me. Over DSL, rated 3mpbs. Outdated functionality my a$$. I liked updating it once on my laptop and applying it five times on five mobile devices via iTunes.

Downloading it multiple times sounds really stupid. Is there eventually going to be an app manager app instead, and Apple just didn't realize how many people have data caps, multiple mobiles, slow net connections? Wow. "Elitist" is not a word I throw around a lot but I could probably retrain myself.
If you had multiple Macs, would you also run macOS Server to download apps only once and distribute them to all Macs locally? In principle, there are apps like Apple Configurator 2 that allow this setup of multiple iOS devices without iTunes (the same way macOS Server does for Mac apps).
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The Mac App Store app keeps stalling out trying to download the app.
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They need an FAQ. I'm not updating until I know that my backups will still work.
The Backup section still exists in all its functionality:

Screen Shot 2017-09-13 at 17.54.03.png
 
The Mac App Store app keeps stalling out trying to download the app.

doh! well it worked for me in China... keep trying. I actually prefer it to my previous itunes workflow that included a second user account on my mac and home sharing (i don't like switching itunes accounts on my main mac anymore because it used to delete all of my downloaded apple music files, forcing me to redownload them again when I sign back in)
 
And what if I want to check the App Store of another country ( to see comments, etc ) ? You can't do that from a iDevice, but it was very easy on iTunes to check the store of another country .
You can do this from an iOS device, just go to the 'iTunes & App Stores' section in the Settings app and log into a different AppleID.
 
If you had multiple Macs, would you also run macOS Server to download apps only once and distribute them to all Macs locally? In principle, there are apps like Apple Configurator 2 that allow this setup of multiple iOS devices without iTunes (the same way macOS Server does for Mac apps).
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The Mac App Store app keeps stalling out trying to download the app.
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The Backup section still exists in all its functionality:

View attachment 717406
But there is nothing to suggest app data is backed up. I could use ibackupbot to dig in after I update iTunes. But I’m holding off for now.
 
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It's stuff like this that really makes me consider migrating to Linux. When will Apple remember that the way they made their bones was by giving users/customers control over their own information and computers in the first place? I've grown up using Apple since the mid-90s, and it's hard to switch, but there comes a point when I have to say, "No. I'm doing things my way." If that means leaving the Apple ecosystem, well that's a philosophical choice some of us may feel compelled to make.
 
But there is nothing to suggest app data is backed up. I could use ibackupbot to dig in after I update iTunes. But I’m holding off for now.
Given that File Sharing still exists, I'd say there is a chance that user-specific app data is still backed up. Until now the backup only contained the user data anyway (as the actual apps where stored inside the iTunes library).
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I actually prefer it to my previous itunes workflow that included a second user account on my mac and home sharing (i don't like switching itunes accounts on my main mac anymore because it used to delete all of my downloaded apple music files, forcing me to redownload them again when I sign back in)
Which was one of the reasons I ditched Apple Music relatively quickly on my Mac (I've used it a bit longer on my iPad where it ran without affecting my iTunes library).
 
- You couldn’t do this for the last year. ITunes stopped backing up apps and just backed up their reference and settings
- AFAIK you can’t do this now
- this still works fine as confirmed by many people in the thread

I did post that before reading the 18 pages of replies, caught me.

I dispute your first point however, because I've done it on both a Mac and a PC in the last 3 months. My 128gb SE was "started" using the backup made that very day of my 256gb 7 Plus, including loading in 32bit apps no longer on the store, pulling said apps from my local copies that I just yesterday, kept up to date.
 
What??????? Does that mean I won't be able to save .IPA copies of any app?

If that's the case I will never update to this version and will use the last one that is still making that possible FOREVER. As I explained here:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/best-alternative-to-protube.2064954/#post-24985215

There is no other way (not that I am aware of) to download copies of free/paid apps and make sure they aren't gone once they are removed from the Apple-Store.

After storing the .IPA files I only need to upload them using iTunes, and they will be available again in any of my devices. The internet isn't required for this.

If there's no way to save the .IPA then I can only restore apps that are currently available in the Apple-Store.

If this is the case here then only a fool would update iTunes now.

I don't want to lose any good app once the nazis from Apple or some corrupt company like Google decide it shouldn't be there.

No one should applaud these sorts of changes because it can only enslave the customers more and more, and in my case this is another reason to never purchase anything from Apple. They want to make sure no one can create a backup of what really matters.

Can someone explain how is that any different from this?
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/18/technology/companies/18amazon.html?mcubz=3

P.S. Here's a link for 12.6.2.20 (the last before 12.7):
- REMOVED -

32 or 64 bit versions (PC only). Save in a safe place. I recommend uploading to Google Drive.
 
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Four more stupid questions:
  1. Where can I check which version of an app I have installed (if you run an older iOS version on older iOS devices, that might not be the latest version of the app)?
  2. More importantly, where can I check which of my apps have not received an update since a given date? The list view in iTunes made it easy to sort apps by last updated.
  3. Ditto for sorting apps by purchase date?
  4. Or sorting apps by size, or more generally quickly looking up the sizes of various apps?
 
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What??????? Does that mean I won't be able to save .IPA copies of any app?

If that's the case I will never update to this version and will use the last one that is still making that possible FOREVER. As I explained here:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/best-alternative-to-protube.2064954/#post-24985215

There is no other way (not that I am aware of) to download copies of free/paid apps and make sure they aren't gone once they are removed from the Apple-Store.

After storing the .IPA files I only need to upload them using iTunes, and they will be available again in any of my devices. The internet isn't required for this.

If there's no way to save the .IPA then I can only restore apps that are currently available in the Apple-Store.

If this is the case here then only a fool would update iTunes now.

I don't want to lose any good app once the nazis from Apple or some corrupt company like Google decide it shouldn't be there.

No one should applaud these sorts of changes because it can only enslave the customers more and more, and in my case this is another reason to never purchase anything from Apple. They want to make sure no one can create a backup of what really matters.

Can someone explain how is that any different from this?
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/18/technology/companies/18amazon.html?mcubz=3

Configurator 2. Configurator 2. Configurator 2. Configurator 2.
 
or use handoff.
Well, for the few occasions when handoff actually works.
Okay, so I've just opened this page in Safari on my Mac. I have seen handoff appearing in the lower left corner of the lockscreen. But much more often than not, nothing is appearing there. Is there a way to access handoff explicitly on iOS? Ok, I guess I can use Airdrop.
 
I copied the iTunes.app file out of my Applications directory on my Mac to a directory I keep for various backups and whatnot. Does anyone know if it's as simple as copying that over top of the 12.7 update to revert backwards?
 
You had 959 apps on your iPad?
While I can still see how many apps I have installed on every iOS device. I have no way of viewing the apps I have purchased/downloaded but not currently installed. The Account section in iTunes Store still lists all 'purchases' but only ten items at a time, only for one AppleID, iTunes Store and App Store purchased mixed together and not offering any sorting options or providing additional information like app version or last update date.
 
I appreciate the redeisgn. The App Store within iTunes seemed redundant, and I never once bought a custom ringtone. To each their own, however.
 
Skype for example has updated its software which is garbage it has 2 stars and many people are dissatisfied I use iTunes to sync an older version that is better than the current one so that functionality is gone.
I've used Siri a lot to make calls with Skype. With the new Skype app version that is no longer possible.
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How does it make iTunes easier to use to remove that functionality? It's not like anyone had to look at it if they didn't use it.
But just thinking about that functionality existing within iTunes was weighing people down.
 
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