Apple Releases iTunes 12.7 With Major Changes, Including No Built-In App Store

[Ethosik]

So now I'm forced to throw hundred of megabytes of mobile data plan every month if I want to keep my apps updated?

So excited \o/

Don't you have wireless at home and use your internet connection instead of your mobile connection?

 

[Chupa Chupa]

What has changed is browsing and purchasing apps, installing, deleting and arranging apps, all of which are gone from iTunes. All of this now can only be done on the device itself (though some limited browsing capabilities are still there but probably mostly by mistake).

Yes, but this is what I mean. It appears to be kind of a drawn out bifurcated process now. Once you have restored your iDevice the device has to download and install the apps over the air vs. the apps are already downloaded on my Mac and ready to be installed. But again the whole change is still a bit confusing to me because I've been use to one way of doing it for so long. That is why I keep saying Apple could have done a better job explaining the changes before making them so everyone was comfortable with what was about to happen.

 

[JamesPDX]

<rant>

The way Apple has covertly gone about this change is really slimy given how long iTunes has been the heart of everything media for everything Apple and how many millions of people DO still use iTunes to curate their apps and manage devices. Apple could have given users a heads up rather than craming the upgrade down user's throats before they were prepared. Clearly they were too busy leaking info about the new ATV 4K. Fortunately I'm a bit lazy about updating so I read about the change before I had a chance.

Even in the wake of this rug pulled from under us, Apple doesn't even bother to post any kind of support note that I can easily find on whether or not or how to sync devices with a Mac (or Windows for that matter since we are talking about iTunes). The only "sync" support note I see is one dated from last July and pictures the previous version of iTunes.

So at least on the face of it it seems this is Apple's passive aggressive way of telling people:

1. We are depreciating Macs usefulness as a hub
2. Go buy a damn iCloud subscription
3. Stop loading your devices with content you didn't buy from us

Is the "walled garden" is being converted into a prison where we'll all be wearing Apple striped garb soon? I love my Apple products but iTunes has been the nerve center for media content for over a decade. And while we are all focused on Apple's shiny new toys it sends its gendarmes in to clear out out stuff from our house and when we return told to leave with no help from Apple on where to go from here. Zero on the style scale. If Apple wants to slim down iTunes fine but even when Aperture and Photos were going the way of the dodo bird Apple gave us ample time to prepare. To paraphrase Schiller: great customer service my ass.


</rant>

You may want to change that one symbol in your signature line.

 

[hallrac]

I guess Apple would rather 100% of people get better performance at the expense of 1% of total users who used that outdated functionality.

Yea because I totally want to pay the extra money for ****** iCloud to back my data and apps up.... NOT! A lot of people still use this "outdated functionality".

 

[F1Turbo]

Sorry if this has been brought up already, don't have time to read 23 pages of comments, but would third party syncing apps like iMazing benefit from this, allowing people to sync from Mac to iPhone? Any other syncing apps that people have used?

 

[Ethosik]

The removal of app managing ignores some HUGE things that apple and even many user defending decision have seriously overlooked.

I love apple devices, and own many of them. 3 iphones, 1 ipad. many macs. I also live in a rural area where internet speeds as slow as 1.5Mbit DOWNLOAD is till a very real problem. In fact recent data from speedtest.net and other sources have indicated there is still a large percentage of USA (rural areas) who doesn't even have access to 10Mbit or faster internet. I'm sure this is true in other countries as well.

So what's this mean for app management? I have always downloaded updates on mac via itunes ONCE then synced them to 4 different devices manually. Garage band update alone can run1-2Gig download. There can also be up to 10-15 app updates PER DAY that can easily run over a gig too. You may think this small but imagine if updating your apps means letting itunes download said updates OVER NIGHT while you sleep because that's how long it takes. PER DAY sometimes.

You know what that download is now? 4x that with 4 device. No way to download on a single source then sync to all devices is a HUGE impact. Just because you are on a wifi connection doesn't mean you don't have slow speeds, or data caps like many ISPs still have. This removal from itunes is a big way to really screw over a lot of users and maybe even turn users away from apple products who NEED a way to manage multiple devices for multiple users via a single location like itunes.

Apples whole "wireless is future" ignores the fact that many people cannot embrace that future yet. I never over air update even on wifi because of slow internet. I even disable any and all automatic syncing features too like photos, back to mac, icloud, etc etc because again bandwidth issues. I literally RELY on itunes as the one source to backup, sync, update all devices on the regular.

So what does this mean to for me? no iOS 11, no future apple devices, just so I can stay on an older version of itunes that isn't broken, because yes, 12.7 is broken for a lot of users and I hope apple hears our voice on this and fixes this mistake. I they don't want it in itunes anymore than they need to release a separate app for it.

It is a shame you have slow internet . We need better internet in our country. And people wonder why 4K streaming and 4K Apple TV is slow to roll out. And it is not much better if you had 100/200/300 Mbps plans.

I have Spectrum internet. Even with 300mbps speeds (sorry plan), I have issues streaming 4K because I rarely hit the speeds they advertise. They always like to mask the issue saying "It is only up to 300". Okay, but when I only get 10mbps download, don't you think that is an issue?!

They get it fixed, then a month or two goes by and the same thing happens. Having the 300mbps plan, I only get on average 100mbps if I am lucky. Every month or two they seem to have "issues on their side" that makes me only get 10mbps.

 

[IDMah]

Hate this! How am I suppose to manage all the apps I have bought but aren't installed?
APPLE MAKE AN iOS appStore NOW! I'm sure it will Be "just beautiful!" Hahahah!

 

[Mactendo]

May I ask how you get those bigger apps onto the Mac in such locations without WiFi?

I already answered it here twice You turn on WiFi hotspot on your iPhone, connect your Mac to it, then download any apps of any size into iTunes and sync back to iPhone.
But with the latest iTunes it's not possible anymore.

 

[manu chao]

Yes, but this is what I mean. It appears to be kind of a drawn out bifurcated process now. Once you have restored your iDevice the device has to download and install the apps over the air vs. the apps are already downloaded on my Mac and ready to be installed.

Yes, but that doesn't mean they force you or even entice you to switch to using iCloud. There is no advantage to using iCloud, on a slow network, switching to iCloud will make things even slower.

 

[lironl]

Once upon a time I restored my iPhone and I decided to restore it from iCloud rather than from the iTunes store for some reason. While many apps that were no longer available on the iTunes store were restored, many other apps had placeholders, but weren't restored. Fortunately I found backups on my PC and was able to re-install them. Not having backups of apps is going to be a problem if people find that certain apps are unrestoreable.

 

[manu chao]

I already answered it here twice You turn on WiFi hotspot on your iPhone, connect your Mac to it, then download any apps of any size into iTunes and sync back to iPhone.

But that isn't any different to as it was before.

 

[CodyPennant]

This is huge for me. I manage 6 iphones and 8 iPads (not to mention all the macs and watches). No, I don't want my children's iPads getting auto updates of everything I purchase. No, they cannot manage their devices themselves. Some apps are not appropriate for everyone at every time. The iPads are primarily used for schoolwork, so we heavily restrict what can be on each one. But if we go on a vacation or take a summer break, we might let them have a few frivolous apps temporarily. We are constantly changing them. They have to be managed from the Mac, or I simply will not do it anymore.

I also have 2 older iPhones that no longer have functioning wifi but worked perfectly well as app devices. So this iTunes update just bricked them completely.

I don't think I'm only in the 1%. I think there are many families and small businesses that need to manage multiple devices from a desktop computer. And Apple Configurator doesn't really work on a small scale, so that isn't the answer.

I honestly was planning to order 2 new phones and 2 new iPads tomorrow, along with a new Apple TV and 2 watches, but I honestly don't think I will now. This change makes me rethink everything, and I don't have time for that.

 

[Mactendo]

But that isn't any different to as it was before.

You can't do it now with the latest iTunes. There's no App Store anymore. And you can't download bigger apps over cellular directly on iPhone due to size limit.

 

[Eternal Bliss]

This is outrageous. I dislike this strongly. Had I been warned about the change before iTunes updated itself I might have forgone the update. First Apple gives succor and financial support to a hate group, then it kills iTunes.

I use(d) iTunes to check for and download updates to apps. I did so because it is faster than doing it directly on my iPads. And it ensures that there is minimal disruption to the operation of such apps on my iPads. If the download is slow or there is any disruption (both of which have happened), I can continue to use the old version of the app on my iPads while waiting for the app to download onto my iMac. Once the app has been downloaded I know that I can quickly, easily and safely transfer it to my iPads. Apple killed all of that.

iTunes is now useless software except for being able to backup my iPads. I do not buy or download music, movies, podcasts or audiobooks, so I do not care about those functions. Apple has done to iTunes what Coca Cola did to Coke with New Coke: New iTunes is not as good as Old iTunes.

Attention Apple: Bring back Old iTunes, or at least give users the option having the app functions of Old iTunes available in New iTunes.

 

[manu chao]

You can't do it now with the latest iTunes. There's no App Store anymore. And you can't download bigger apps over cellular directly on iPhone due to size limit.

You're right, you need a second smartphone to create a WiFi hotspot. But I think, if a phone plan allows tethering, imposing the 100 MB/app limit is silly.

 

[fmccull]

You can create multiple Photos libraries with only the 'system' one being synched to iCloud and iOS devices.
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May I ask how you get those bigger apps onto the Mac in such locations without WiFi?

Creating a hotspot on my phone that my computer connects to is the only workaround that works for me.

 

[Mactendo]

You're right, you need a second smartphone to create a WiFi hotspot. But I think, if a phone plan allows tethering, imposing the 100 MB/app limit is silly.

It was silly for years. People begged to remove this limit since iOS 7. If someone have an unlimited data plan what's the point in such limit? Especially now, because with this update there's no way to fully use and update your device without WiFi. It's dumb.
In iOS 11 GM the limit is still there.

 

[JackieInCo]

Great decision Apple. Who downloads iOS apps on their Mac anyway?

Anything that removes bloat from iTunes is good for me.

Actually, I still prefer it the old way. I have a few older versions of apps such as Adguard Pro. Apple has told apps such as Adguard Pro that they can not include adblocking via VPNs in apps anymore so the app has been updated without that capability. I downloaded the older version before it was updated so that I can still sync that app to all of my iPhones/iPads.

 

[Shirasaki]

Wont let me restore iTunes to an earlier version.....

Previously in iTunes 12.6 era, I replaced iTunes itself under recovery system with a few restarts plus disable SIP, then I downgraded to iTunes 12.5.4.
This time, I just time machine straight back to Sierra (I was in high Sierra a while ago) which comes with iTunes 12.6.2.

 

[JackieInCo]

It was silly for years. People begged to remove this limit since iOS 7. If someone have an unlimited data plan what's the point in such limit? Especially now, because with this update there's no way to fully use and update your device without WiFi. It's dumb.
In iOS 11 GM the limit is still there.

This limit has never existed on Android. They occasionally give a warning about data usage but that's it. You click past it and your apps download.

 

[prsammy]

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201593

Covered in the last section.

This article only explains how to manually ADD custom ringtones... However, it does not explain how to REMOVE existing custom ringtones on your phone.

 

[sbailey4]

I have a 2mbit connection downloading apps on iTunes at 238kb/s. I do it overnight and then I sync all my 3 devices in the morning because when my son watches Netflix or Youtube, there is no way I can download a single 100mb file in under 1h or so. After this update I'll have to download each of the app I am using 3 times and do it overnight, one device per night. GREAT.

And BTW, compressed app downloaded on iTunes for mac is around 200mb, if you were to download that app on iOS, it would be downloaded uncompressed, around 600mb.

Not sure that last statement is correct. Seems Apple changed to app slices some time back so for example an app update only gets a delta update for that device. iPad versions of the app and iPhone only gets its "slice". iTunes, from what I understand, downloads the full app and applies the slimmed down slice to whatever device you were syncing to. So that would indicate iTunes version would be larger because it contained everything it needed for full install for both iPad and iPhone for common apps.

What is the above supposed to show? The "Applications" section isn't clickable for me, using iOS 10.2.1. Thanks.
[doublepost=1505289248][/doublepost]

Curious about this as well.

If its not clickable, then you don't have any 32 bit apps. Otherwise when you click it the list of 32 bit apps would be there.

Even with iTunes 12.6.x you'll no longer be able to download new or updated apps.

For me this stopped last week - but I didn't take any action on it, because I also running the new macOS 10.13 DP, so I just thought that the App Store was temporary 'down'.

Not true. I am downloading 80 updates right now to prepare for an update to this debacle. So its working right now at least.

 

[manu chao]

It was silly for years. People begged to remove this limit since iOS 7. If someone have an unlimited data plan what's the point in such limit? Especially now, because with this update there's no way to fully use and update your device without WiFi. It's dumb.
In iOS 11 GM the limit is still there.

The limit is there because the carriers want it.

 

[yansun]

So how do you sync books now in 12.7? I can add them via drag and drop to my iPad? But how can I then keep iBooks on my Mac and on iPad up to date if I don't want to use iCloud? Do I have to add the book manually to both iBooks on my Mac and my iPad?

 

[Mactendo]

The limit is there because the carriers want it.

As @JackieInCo said above Android doesn't have it.