iTunes 12.7

hal1 wrote:

So.. it appears from the article that Apple has eliminated the ability to shop or purchase IOS apps from a computer.

Also, for those people who have mulitple IOS devices, seems like 12.7 have also lost our ability to centrally manage our apps.

is this what everyone else is seeing as well??

Yes, that is what happened. If you read the thread from the beginning, you'll find a link to Apple's information on the changes as well as a number of other helpful links.

For those who are still struggling with the update to 12.7 and not having a way to mange your iOS devices on mac. There is always Apple Configurator app on Mac app store. Not as easy to use as iTunes for managing apps but still fairly simple. I had earlier mentioned the use of AnyTrans software, but aside from having to pay for AnyTrans, it has some limitations and is buggy after more through exploration. So Apple Configurator is going to be my go to choice for now. Plus its free! Great way to get ton of apps on a iOS device fast!

Just updated to High Sierra and notice that my old version of iTunes will not work. I had previously updated to iTunes 12.7, hated it for what it did to the app structure. Time machined back my previous iTunes and all was well again for awhile anyway.

So if you want to keep the older version of iTunes don't upgrade to High Sierra. Otherwise the Apple Configurator looks like a possible replacement for the apps portions of iTunes. But now the app is called Apple Configurator 2 and it needs High Sierra to function. Won't even download unless you have HS installed.

I just did the HS install this morning and installed iTunes 12.7 again and AC2 as well. Just had a few moments to look over AC2 and will probably need to find a tutorial on how it works.

HI dnorth12,

For those that are on older versions of OS other than High Sierra. If you previously downloaded Configurator you can go into Mac App Store and look through your purchases and download an older version that is compatible. If you had never before used Configurator then yes you are going to have to install lastest OS to use it unfortunately.

Hope that you can get Configurator to work for you, it's not as intuitive as iTunes but I was able to figure out how to load individual apps onto an IOS device. There is even a way to look through your entire history of purchased apps ( even ones you don't have stored locally) and select the ones you need to install.

I downloaded and installed Configurator 2 a couple of days ago and it works fine -- so far -- on macOS Sierra. Maybe the requirements for Configurator 2 have been changed since High Sierra was released.

This update is the worst thing to happen to a product since Coca-Cola released New Coke! You want to focus on something, focus on this. The last time that Apple did a major update on the Mac OS where Apple thought that iCloud back up and storage was going to be a big hit, it lost tons of data for Apple customers! Go figure. Now Apple wants to lose tons of functionality for their customers by going this route? They must be kidding. Next time I'm getting myself an Android phone.😮

Nope. No way. Done this, been there before when Coca-Cola released the new Coke. Paaaaaleeeese! People thought that it was going to be the greatest thing. It fell flat on its back. Also, remember that great OS release where Apple thought it was a good idea to migrate files to iCloud without full explanations of what was going on? People suffered tons of data loss because Apple tried to make a quick buck off of iCloud storage. This is going the same way. Can't you see that???

I am wondering, whether tvOS 10 can stream content from an iTunes 12.6.3 library via Home Sharing. When I tried yesterday, iTunes was still at 12.6.2, and it didn’t work. An error message indicated that the shared iTunes library had to be served up by the latest version of iTunes.

This version does look like it actually restores downloading

to the device, which mysteriously vanished some time in the

past week or so with 12.6.2. Or perhaps it was related to

11.0.1 or 11.0.2. I know for 11.0 and 12.6.2 initially all worked

as it always had. Then mysteriously said it downloaded to device

put ended up grabbing over cell connection.

12.6.3 is no more than a current work-around, and won't be useful for long. Unless Apple bows some kind of pressure, 12.7 and later won't reinstitute apps, and at some point, maybe 13.0, we'll all just have to bite the bullet. This really p***es me off, because I can remember the time when Apple was a computer company, and truly interested in the community of people who use computers. That didn't really stop with the advent of pods, phones and pads, but it's becoming less and less important - and far from central. Phone and pad apps used to be big business, and much of that has to do with something like computer use. The focus has now shifted entirely to entertainment and social media. There's nothing at all wrong with providing such stuff, and it's probably good business. But why does that have to neglect computer and app users (and buyers)? Does Tim Cook believe the only important world is the world of Desperate Housewives and teenie-boppers (of whatever age)?

My biggest gripe is having to totally depend on the internet and Apple

servers to recover an iDevice from some failure.

Right now, I have all all my data, my music, all my apps, and movies and

the last iOS installer on my Mac. If my phone goes south for some reason,

have everything available right in front of me to restore my phone (and back ups

of all that as well just in case). I don't have to sit there with my fingers crossed

hoping that my internet connection doesn't burp, or Apple servers are available,

or Apple servers haven't slowed to a crawl, or Apple servers hiccup and leave me

with an iBrick.

Edit:

Then again, the whole industry wants us to live from the cloud

not not have anything on our devices.

Pete Buchta wrote:

Expect app sales and down loads to drop drastically.

I don't expect to see that at all. I suspect that the people who use iTunes to manage their apps are a small percent of all iTunes users. I suspect they are not the people who buy apps on the spur of the moment while waiting in a line or sitting on a bus. I suspect they are also not most of the lucrative demographic who use in-app purchasing.

And Apple has provided a version of iTunes that, as I understand it, will meet the needs of people who want to continue using iTunes.

woodmeister50 wrote:

And more incentive for jailbreaking and developing

of jailbreaking, and associated security issues.

Really? How does jailbreaking restore app management to iTunes on a computer?

Yes, I too want to use a large screen and a mouse for managing the content of my iPad, iPhone.

In addition, through iTunes 12.7 my wife just lost all the albums she created for important document photos on her iPhone. Any way to get those albums back? Or are they hidden somewhere?

She could recreate them (with her fingers) on the iPhone but wants to use her iMac and a mouse.

Please excuse this question from an unsophisticated newcomer. I have an iMac with OS 10.12.6 and iTunes 12.7. My iPhone 8 has iOS 11.0.2. I have read through this thread but can not see a resolution to my specific question(s).

I download an iOS app which I see on a web page. The app is downloaded fine over wifi and appears OK on my iPhone screen. Prior to iTunes 12.7 if I backed up my iPhone to my iMac the app would appear in the Applications list in the phone's segment of iTunes. After a closer look at the app I decide I do not wish to retain it at present but wish to be able to reinstall it on my iPhone if I think I will need it later. Again in pre-iTunes 12.7 I had two ways to delete the app from my iPhone. One, by clicking 'Remove' in the Applications list where it would remain and then Sync or, two, by deleting it from the phone [click on the jiggling x and confirm].

Now it seems I have only one way which is the latter. Remove directly from the iPhone screen.

The question now is where does that app go to? complete delete from the phone? if so, how do i retrieve it back on to the phone if I decide later that I want it . Do I have to search for the app, where? Of course it is not in the App Store for that is only for Mac apps. Neither is it in the iTunes Store because iOS apps are no longer provided there.

I have found the collection of iOS apps on my computer [Music>iTunes>Mobile Applications] but of course that lists only the apps which I have or deleted prior to 12.7. And in any case I can not see how to reinstall any of those.

Where do I look to seek new iOS apps?

Sorry if this appears convoluted but I am confused by this change.

I would appreciate any help in pointing me in the right direction.