Apple's Special Version of iTunes That Still Has an App Store Currently Incompatible With macOS Mojave

[katbel]

Yeah, over 70 something apps all updated within one night when I started to use Configurator. OCD autopilot kicks in quicker as the night progresses.
@katbel
Deleting the full k36bk folder (even without clearing the trash bin) and restart Configurator 2 fixed the issue. That was a good call. Thank you.

Glad that worked! Nothing is easy lately.
You are probably aware that if you do not like one of the updates and have the old app instead, you just need to drop it over configurator and it will get you back as it was before

 

[BikeDude123]

FYI- In case you are unable to download older version Apple Configurator still in the AppStore because your OS doesn't meet the CURRENT minimum requirement AND don't have access to another Mac that is currently meets the min OS that you can use your AppleID on to get the application entitlement rights.

You can/I did use VMware Fusion to install a current (Catalina-10.15.5) VM on your old Mac and then go into the store from the VM to get the app. Once you have it, then you can (as others have stated) download in Sierra or whatever OS you are running.

Caveat: First VMware DOSEN'T technically support Sierra running VmWare Fusion 11.5.3 (15870345). You need to High Seirra or greater and then you can get all the way to current (Fusion 11.5.5). Seems they for some reason HAD allowed and or supported it at one point as mine upgraded normally to 11.5.3. If you are the same make sure not to upgrade Fusion BEYOND that version as Fusion will break and it's unlikely you will be able to install 11.5.3 going forward.

Now if only I could get handoff/Continuity to work reliably with iOS 13 (it USED to work reliably with iOS 12). And yes all the obvious things checked (handoff turned on all devices), iOS to iOS works, and tried logging in and out of iCloud on all devices. Given some testing think it's keychain related given some work/deleting done there and relevant sharingd messages- but I digress and this isn't the place. If you have thoughts feel free to DM. Thanks!

--Tom

 

[Be3G]

Have you tried to delete the full Library folder inside the k36bk folder and restart configurator? There was a similar issue sometime ago, Apple servers were the culprit and
sure enough Configurator is not the best Apple app....😖

Thank you for this!!

I'd been using Apple Configurator for a little while, knowing that it would get ever more difficult to jump through all the hoops necessary to use iTunes for app downloading. Then some time back in March, Configurator stopped showing me any new app updates whatsoever, nor would it let me add new apps either. I assumed it was connected to the switching off of iTunes downloads as the timing was similar… but I've just tried your tip and Configurator is magically working again!

In exchange, I'll offer another Configurator tip for the MR community: as is well documented, the difficulty with using Configurator for downloading apps is that it deletes them as soon as it's finished with them. Well, there's a simple method to stop it doing this before you can move/copy them: simply unplug your iDevice once Configurator has properly begun downloading the apps (i.e. once the progress meter has appeared and is functioning normally). The apps will continue to download, and when finished Configurator will throw up an error message but it won't delete anything until you dismiss that error, giving you as much time as you need to move/copy. This tip, by the way, works for both adding and updating apps.

 

[Hackintosh HD]

Reading @bogdanw 's post and seeing Squid mentioned somewhere in the last 20 pages, I wonder if we could use Charles Proxy to upgrade iTunes 12.6.5.3's requests to TLS version 1.2 by sending them trough the SSL Proxy? Did anybody try that already?

 

[Hackintosh HD]

Reading @bogdanw 's post and seeing Squid mentioned somewhere in the last 20 pages, I wonder if we could use Charles Proxy to upgrade iTunes 12.6.5.3's requests to TLS version 1.2 by sending them trough the SSL Proxy? Did anybody try that already?

I've tried that myself now and got to the point where iTunes 12.6.5.3 would accept my own Root CA certificate as legit for Apple servers and where I could read iTunes' communication with the server-side in plaintext. The outcome however was not different, iTunes would still fail downloading IPA files with the same console output it generates without the proxy. Charles Proxy however displays the TLS version as "1.2", so I assume the problem is not directly related to Apple removing deprecated SSL/TLS protocol versions from their servers.

 

[GH1852]

After many attempts, I’ve successfully installed the Windows 32-bit version of iTunes 12.6.5.3 using Wine in Mojave.
Steps:
1. Install XQuartz - XQuartz-2.7.11.dmg from https://www.xquartz.org
2. Install Wine Stable 5 winehq-stable-5.0.pkg from https://dl.winehq.org/wine-builds/macosx/download.html
3. Download Mono wine-mono-5.1.0-x86.msi from https://dl.winehq.org/wine/wine-mono/5.1.0/
and Gecko wine-gecko-2.47.1-x86.msi from https://wiki.winehq.org/Gecko
4. Launch /Applications/Wine Stable.app
5. In the Terminal window opened, install Mono & Gecko with
wine msiexec /i ~/Downloads/wine-gecko-2.47.1-x86.msi
wine msiexec /i ~/Downloads/wine-mono-5.1.0-x86.msi
6. Install iTunes 12.6.5.3 32-bit version for Windows from https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208079 with
wine ~/Downloads/iTunesSetup.exe
7. Start iTunes with
wine ~/.wine/drive_c/Program\ Files/iTunes/iTunes.exe
Enjoy iTunes with a functional App Store on macOS Mojave!
Notes: There is no confirmation on the successful installation of Mono & Gecko. After pressing Finish in the iTunesSetup.exe installation, enter ctrl+C in Terminal to stop it.
If wine crashes, use killall wineserver and killall wine-preloader, then launch again /Applications/Wine Stable.app
If you prefer Homebrew, XQuartz can be installed with brew cask install xquartz and Wine with brew cask install wine-stable.
I had no success with PlayOnMac on Mojave or Catalina. CrossOver 19.0.2 can be used in Catalina and probably Mojave too. https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/itunes-12-6-5-3-on-macos-catalina-10-15.2184518/post-28569328

This is potentially excellent news for quite a few people. Especially not having to install or activate Windows. I realize this is a Mojave thread, but the iTunes App Store "no downloads" issue is now universal. Do you have any reason to believe this would not work with High Sierra? XQuartz appears to be fine with High Sierra, but I can't find much about Wine 5.0.

Thanks

 

[tk_mac]

I've tried that myself now and got to the point where iTunes 12.6.5.3 would accept my own Root CA certificate as legit for Apple servers and where I could read iTunes' communication with the server-side in plaintext. The outcome however was not different, iTunes would still fail downloading IPA files with the same console output it generates without the proxy. Charles Proxy however displays the TLS version as "1.2", so I assume the problem is not directly related to Apple removing deprecated SSL/TLS protocol versions from their servers.

This is going to require sniffing the network traffic sent by the Windows version of iTunes that still works, and see how it is different than the network traffic sent by the Mac version 12.6.5.3. The question is why do Apple Servers accept and answer download requests from Windows and not from Mac?

 

[katbel]

Alas, but I completely understand for health concerns , we'll not see a fix of iTunes downloads , if we had a chance,
till one of the guys who turned off the download server for Mac iTunes doesn't go back to his office 😉

 

[Populus]

Hey! I’m sorry to bump this thread, but basically, is it impossible to extract apps from my iPhone 8 to my mac? I’ve installed El Capitan on an old mac, I’ve installed iTunes 12.6.5.3, I’ve tried everything to get one app from my phone before formatting it... And no luck.

I have some apps downloaded to my iPhone that are currently unavailable on the App Store, so I really don’t know what to do. If I format my iPhone I will lose those apps, because the developer just ticked the box of “remove app from App Store” before ending their developer license.

I guess the apps on the backup are no longer stored locally? If there‘s no way, even backing up the phone and later on restoring this backup, then I’ll surrender. But I need to know if once the app has been removed from the App Store, there’s no possible way to extract it from the device it is downloaded on.

Thank you.

 

[Shirasaki]

Hey! I’m sorry to bump this thread, but basically, is it impossible to extract apps from my iPhone 8 to my mac? I’ve installed El Capitan on an old mac, I’ve installed iTunes 12.6.5.3, I’ve tried everything to get one app from my phone before formatting it... And no luck.

I have some apps downloaded to my iPhone that are currently unavailable on the App Store, so I really don’t know what to do. If I format my iPhone I will lose those apps, because the developer just ticked the box of “remove app from App Store” before ending their developer license.

I guess the apps on the backup are no longer stored locally? If there‘s no way, even backing up the phone and later on restoring this backup, then I’ll surrender. But I need to know if once the app has been removed from the App Store, there’s no possible way to extract it from the device it is downloaded on.

Thank you.

iTunes did not support extracting downloaded app for quite a while since I think iOS 9. Only third party programs like iMazing would support extracting apps from iPhone.

 

[Populus]

iTunes did not support extracting downloaded app for quite a while since I think iOS 9. Only third party programs like iMazing would support extracting apps from iPhone.

Thanks! But iMazing is safe and secure? Can I trust their developers, or will this compromise the security of the devices where I install the apps extracted? Thank you

 

[Populus]

Ok, I’ve been playing a bit with iMazing, and it would had been pretty amazing if it had extracted the IPAs, but unfortunately, when you ask iMazing to extract the app from an iPhone or iPad, it just extracts a proprietary file with the extension .imazingapp, so you need to use their app each time you want to manage the apps. They basically tie you to their app forever.

I needed an app to extract the IPA itself, I guess this isn’t quite what I expected.
Oh, and renaming the .imazingapp file to .ipa doesn’t work.

 

[sracer]

I've been able to install the Windows version of iTunes 12.6.5.3 on Mac OS Mojave using Winebottler.

WineBottler | Run Windows-based Programs on a Mac

WineBottler packages Windows-based programs snugly into OS X app-bundles. No need to install emulators or operating systems - WineBottler uses the great open-source tool Wine to run the binaries on your Mac.

winebottler.kronenberg.org

It has a nice interface for building a self-contained app.

 

[Shirasaki]

Thanks! But iMazing is safe and secure? Can I trust their developers, or will this compromise the security of the devices where I install the apps extracted? Thank you

Idk much about “safe and secure” but it is decent enough for me to do some tasks, such as resetting iTunes library on iOS device. Since iMazing is relatively reputable, I think safety wise I’m ok with that.

Regarding extracting IPA file though, one way to go around is installing iTunes 12.6.5.3 on windows machine, and download IPA files from App Store. At this point it still works. For apps that are no longer in App Store, if your purchase history still has those apps, you should be able to download it. Otherwise, idk. Maybe I’ll look into that “proprietary” format when I get the chance.

 

[katbel]

Ok, I’ve been playing a bit with iMazing, and it would had been pretty amazing if it had extracted the IPAs, but unfortunately, when you ask iMazing to extract the app from an iPhone or iPad, it just extracts a proprietary file with the extension .imazingapp, so you need to use their app each time you want to manage the apps. They basically tie you to their app forever.

I needed an app to extract the IPA itself, I guess this isn’t quite what I expected.
Oh, and renaming the .imazingapp file to .ipa doesn’t work.

Have you tried, once you extracted the app, to click on you device in iMazing and then in Manage Apps

In there search the app you extracted and drag it on your desktop.
It should be the app.ipa you were looking for

 

[Populus]

Have you tried, once you extracted the app, to click on you device in iMazing and then in Manage AppsView attachment 951065
In there search the app you extracted and drag it on your desktop.
It should be the app.ipa you were looking for

Damn it! Too late. I’ve already wiped my iPhone and I’ve lost Mutter (an IRC client) and other apps that are no longer available in the App Store. And I’m not going to install iMazing on my main mac, I installed it on an old mac to try to extract the IPA. All I got was a .imazingapp file... Now it is late to recover all the apps that devs deleted from the App Store, so I guess I’ll do what Apple tells us to do: Look for an alternative app and move on.

Thank you anyway, if I had read this message just one hour earlier, I wouldn’t have lost Mutter and other great apps whose devs decided to nuke from the App Store (and they worked pretty well on iOS 13, but I NEED to perform clean installs)

OH, and yes, I also wiped the backups and the hard drive where I was playing -temporarily- with iMazing. Believe me, I’ve tried many things, although I don’t remember that one. But just dragging the app created an .imazingapp file, not the IPA I needed

EDIT: I tried it with my iPad on my old MacBook, and those options of “manage Apps” are for creating an .imazingapp file when you drag it onto the desktop. That .imazingapp file contains only the data of the app, not the app itself. The app is downloaded from the App Store. At least I tried it.

However, thanks for your concern Kat.

 

[katbel]

Damn it! Too late. I’ve already wiped my iPhone and I’ve lost Mutter (an IRC client) and other apps that are no longer available in the App Store. And I’m not going to install iMazing on my main mac, I installed it on an old mac to try to extract the IPA.

I'm 😕 for you. Do you have any Time Machine , even old ones where you could find your app in an old iTunes library?
I have several backups , plus Time Machine (old) that I do not delete because they could be used for the purpose to find old stuff . I use EasyFind to look inside those disks or Find AnyFile . And they are all catalogued using NeoFinder(CDFinder) to look among all faster. Maybe you still have a chance 😊

 

[Populus]

Thanks @katbel, you’re very kind
I have an old library of apps, I’ll look into that but I think it is not there. Never mind.

EasyFind is an awesome app... or should I say it was an awesome app, because it is no longer on the App Store. Yes, it is still available to download from the purchased apps list, but who knows when will it disappear. I’ve downloaded and stored some of those Mac App Store apps on my hard drive and they used to work fine by just dragging or copying them back on the Applications folder...

I’m wondering if we’ll be able to do the same when ARM macs are a reality. I guess that, thanks to Rosetta 2 that shouldn’t be a problem at all. But I’m digressing.

 

[gandalf16]

I've been able to install the Windows version of iTunes 12.6.5.3 on Mac OS Mojave using Winebottler.

Any chance to have a few more details? I've been trying to do it, but I always get an error when installing iTunes.

TIA

 

[sracer]

Any chance to have a few more details? I've been trying to do it, but I always get an error when installing iTunes.

TIA

There's not really much to it. It just worked. I downloaded the iTunes installer from the link in this thread, fired up Winebottler, created a new container, and selected the installer I downloaded.

 

[katbel]

There's not really much to it. It just worked. I downloaded the iTunes installer from the link in this thread, fired up Winebottler, created a new container, and selected the installer I downloaded.

How big would you suggest to make the container? Is it going to contain just iTunes or the library as well?
I need to help a friend to install it and it would be very useful to know
Thanks

 

[sracer]

How big would you suggest to make the container? Is it going to contain just iTunes or the library as well?
I need to help a friend to install it and it would be very useful to know
Thanks

Using Winebottler there is no provision for setting a container size. It only sets the size for how big the app (and supporting files) needs. External files, like the iTunes library are not part of that container. Here's the advanced dialog box of Winebottler...

 

[katbel]

Using Winebottler there is no provision for setting a container size. It only sets the size for how big the app (and supporting files) needs. External files, like the iTunes library are not part of that container. Here's the advanced dialog box of Winebottler...
View attachment 953513

Thanks!

 

[B4U]

Looks like iOS 14 is not found on this iTunes. Guess I am really done tolerating Apple's BS.

 

[katbel]

Looks like iOS 14 is not found on this iTunes. Guess I am really done tolerating Apple's BS.

I can’t agree with you more! Even using imazing or Apple configurator you need a very recent iTunes
I was able to download the iOS 14 ipa but
“Apple mobile device framework version is insufficient to install the os on this device”
I guess we are doomed: If I do an OTA ios14 I will be stuck if I need to restore from a backup
I will need 12.10.8.5 😖
I read several people had errors on Windows iTunes for the same reason.