how to organize apps with itunes?

Management of apps, books, and tones has been removed from iTunes 12.7. See Changes in the new iTunes - Apple Support for details. The intention is clearly that management of these generally takes place on the device.

See the Manually add items from your computer section of Manually manage content on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch using iTunes - Apple Support for the control that remains. This can be used to copy apps (including apps that have been withdrawn from the store), ePubs, iBooks, PDFs, and tones from your computer to your device. The File Sharing feature for copying data between apps and the computer is still there. You can also use iCloud Drive, or Dropbox to move content to and from the device.

A long time criticism of iTunes, at least from some quarters, is that has been that it has become bloated. Perhaps this is an attempt to address that. I let both my iOS devices update automatically when there is an updated app, and I'm not interested in hanging on to old apps that a developer has withdrawn, nor do I need to rearrange my apps often, so while the change is drastic, I don't think it really affects me much. I'm more irritated by the changes to iTunes U, and iBooks in iTunes for Windows.

See Deploy apps in a business environment with iTunes - Apple Support for access to iTunes 12.6.3 if you want to revert to a build with app management features. Windows users need to uninstall the current copy of the iTunes application first. See Empty/corrupt iTunes library after upgrade/crash for steps to revert to a pre-iTunes 12.7 version of your iTunes database.

tt2

Whargarblicus wrote:

I recently got a smaller SE device and my screens was a mess after the backup. It has been very time consuming to rearrange everything. I hope this feature returns or is brought back in a separate desktop app.

Actually, there are TWO desktop apps that let you manage apps. iTunes 12.6.4 has the app organization function that you love. And it's compatible with 12.7.4, which does not. And Apple also has the Configurator app for businesses, but you don't have to be a business to use it: Apple Configurator 2 on the Mac App Store

BTW, both of these have been mentioned multiple times in this thread. Sometimes it pays to read a thread before posting to it.

See Deploy apps in a business environment with iTunes - Apple Support for access to iTunes 12.6.3 if you want to revert to a build with app management features. Windows users need to uninstall the current copy of the iTunes application first. See Empty/corrupt iTunes library after upgrade/crash for steps to revert to a pre-iTunes 12.7 version of your iTunes database.

Would save you from having to purchase Android versions of anything that isn't free. Purchases are not transferable between the two ecosystems.

tt2

This feature that you're referring to where you had a virtual view of your device within iTunes to arrange your apps is no longer a part of iTunes unfortunately. It was removed several updates ago and any app organization now has to take place on the device itself.

With Windows you need to uninstall the current version of iTunes before you can install the older build. See also Empty/corrupt iTunes library after upgrade/crash to revert to a version of your library that can be read by iTunes 12.6.3.6.

tt2

Sad to see that as well but it was a bit finicky to work with anyway. I'm using Apple Configurator 2 under Actions > Modify > Home Screen Layout... Not much better but it works somewhat. Dragging apps into folders can be hit and miss. You have to make sure you don't exceed the page limit or you end up creating a new folder or worse yet the apps fall out of the folder and need to be redone. It's a pain but I find myself deleting more apps to keep my phone clean

pat0653 wrote:

The iPhone and iPad are great bits of hardware. iTunes is a really rubbish bit of software.

I agree that it was useful to rearrange apps on the laptop rather than the small screen of a phone. Why has this gone and, with 994 complaints on this site, when is it coming back?

994 complaints. over 1 billion users. Let's see: 994/1,000,000,000 = 0.0001% of users cared enough to comment. Doesn't sound like that an overwhelming majority, or even a sizeable minority, does it? There are many more comments and complaints over the fact that it now takes 1/4 second more to delete a message in the Messages app.

To answer your question, no one knows, because Apple doesn't publicize their plans, but my guess is never, because it is even rumored that Apple is planning to kill iTunes entirely.

For the nonce, if you download iTunes 12.6.3 you can still manage apps on it. Or download the free Apple iPhone Configuration Utility (Apple Configurator in the Mac App Store) and use it. And if you want to let Apple know your view on the subject this user-to-user forum is not the place to do it; instead use https://apple.com/feedback (All of which you would know if you had read the thread you posted to).

It's really clear you didn't bother to read any of the thread you posted to or the Terms of Use for the forum.. If you had you would know that it is pointless to post a message to Apple in this user-to-user forum where Apple does not participate. The correct place to post is https://apple.com/feedback.

You would also know that you can still use iTunes 12.6.4 or the Apple Configurator (if you have a Mac) to manage apps from your desktop.

It took me a while to get the newest version off of my old (secondary) computer and install the older version of iTunes 12.6.3.6. But his version did the trick, I now have access to my phones apps via the computer.

That version is up to 12.6.5.3 now, but you're right, it isn't supported on Mojave. Your only options there are Apple Configurator 2, or maintaining an older OS to boot into for app management. I have it installed on a High Sierra partition for testing.

tt2

The nearest thing to a dedicated app is iTunes 12.6.3 which you are free to install.

tt2

See Managing apps with iTunes 12.7 or later. You can install iTunes 12.6.3.6 if you wish.

tt2

You can't, Apple removed the option. The only way you can have the good helpful option back is to remove the current iTunes and load an old version that allows the useful app management option.

Maybe Apple Configurator 2 is what you are looking for. Download from App Store, connect your phone and select "Actions -> Modify -> Home Screen Layout"

Your options are to manage on the device, which can be done whenever you and your device are in the same place, but can be a little fiddly at times, or you can revert to iTunes 12.6.3.6 and manage your apps when you, your device and your computer are all together. If your copy of iTunes as is unresponsive as mine sometimes is you can have almost as much difficulty reorganizing apps in iTunes. Choose your pain.

tt2