Once upon a time you could organize/rearrange the apps on your iphone via your computer screen while the phone was plugged in. My phone is currently on 11.0.3, and my itunes is 12.7.0.166, so both up to date, and I no longer see this option available.
Does it no longer exist? If it does can you show me where to find it? Searches in Google and Apple Support only point me to outdated articles.
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 This can be used to copy apps (including apps that have been withdrawn from the store), ePubs, iBooks, PDFs, and tones from your computer to your device.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automatically when there is an updated app, and I'm not interested in hanging on to old apps that a developer has withdrawn, nor do I need to rearrange my apps often, so while the change is drastic, I don't think it really affects me much.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
i also have this problem, until i find there is a new function to organize app in ios 11, quite fast
https://lifehacker.com/ios-11-finally-gets-app-organizing-almost-right-181881916 5
This feature is now in an app called Apple Configurator 2 on the Mac App Store.
Go to: Actions -> Modify -> Home Screen Layout ...
These replies don't really answer the question. Now that the apps section has been removed from iTunes, how do you organize your apps on the phone? Manually moving apps on the phone screens has always been a suboptimal way to organize apps. Is this another downgrade by Apple?
Idiotic idea to demand rearranging apps on the phone and preclusing it on the laptop, where it is way way more convenient. Time for apple to either add that back in to itunes or make a dedicated app available.
Making us rearrange on the iphone was plain idiotic but no one cares what we think.
It is a real pain to sit there & rearrange on the iphone with fat fingers, apps disappearing, screens
moving etc etc.
It was soooo much easier on the pc where you could easily see the complete set up all at once.
Left microsoft because they always knew 'better' and apple is no different - just herd us along.
Sorry to see things going in the wrong direction.
Trying to drag your app icons between screens without messing up the organization of the other ones on the screen is untenable. Having the management of the apps on the screen "generally take place on the device" is poor user interface design. Basically, Apple's "update" did nothing but make it impossible to organize your iPhone screens. Thank you for nothing Apple.
I am sick of itunes, icloud, iphone etc. They are cumbersome to coordinate without spending hours on how to fix a problem. Itunes no longer displays the phone to rearrange the apps. Impossible to download photos from icloud without spending hours. I am dropping iphone etc. and getting everything windows based. Nothing should be this difficult to use!!!!
Seems like a real dumb move by a smart company to eliminate the ability to sort the icons/tiles on the iphone page by using the computer. It was relatively easy to do. Now you have a ton of icons moving and jiggling at the same time and rarely ending up where you want them. BRING BACK THE OLD SYSTEM. IT WASN'T BROKE SO DON'T FIX IT!!!
I wouldn’t suggest reverting to an older iTunes version as you may require a compatible iTunes version for all of your iOS devices that are up to date . I would recommend familiarizing yourself with the iOS device’s functionality and manage your apps on the iOS screen. You’ll notice your home screen has enlarged by creating additional windows when needed. If you feel you have trouble navigating on the screen, you may find purchasing a iOS device with a larger screen may be a better choice.
I am officially complaining about the way we can not manage our purchased apps on our computers! Most of us do not JUST own iphones! We have many devices....FIX THIS PROBLEM PLEASE! we want to manage our apps using a mouse and a larger screen, not on a small device. PUT IT BACK!
Cyndi
This is a user to user forum. Apple decision makers do not monitor these discussions. If you really want to “officially” complain, use the feedback form:
https://www.apple.com/feedback/iphone.html
otherwise, you can read the thread you posted in for ways in which you can continue to manage your apps on your computer. Including the iTunes version that retains that feature.
Tell Apple: https://www.apple.com/feedback/itunes.html
We are just users like yourself, and cannot put it back.
FWIW, with how simple it is to manage Apps directly on the iPhone or iPad, I doubt apple will bring app management back to iTunes.
You can request it at Feedback - iTunes - Apple. I doubt Apple have plans to change the way iTunes behaves in this respect. As noted Apple have provided a version of iTunes that has the app management features and works with iOS 11. Mac users also have an application called Configurator 2 they can use.
tt2
tarafromclinton wrote:
I am really unhappy to see that I was just not the idiot who couldn't figure out where my app arranger had gone. Total bummer.
Puts me a notch higher on the fence to make a switch just cuz. Nothing is as intuitive as it once was. Everything is overly detailed and too complicated. I always felt I was in one of those mazes, but usually found where the next piece of small cheese was... not sure I'm loving it.
What would you switch to? Android has never, ever had a way to manage apps on a computer. And still doesn't.
Now . . . Apple has become complicated interaction through all "APPLE ENVIRONMENT" . . . Now, you can't see and organize your applications from iTunes, those two verification steps aren't easy to recover iTunes account matched to specific device (which was lost), etc... I was a “Apple believer”, since Steve Jobs aren't with us, it’s not user friendly as used to be . . . maybe is time to try Android!!!!
how to organize apps with itunes?
