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 Searches in Google and Apple Support only point me to outdated articles.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 This can be used to copy apps (including apps that have been withdrawn from the store), ePubs, iBooks, PDFs, and tones from your computer to your device.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automatically when there is an updated app, and I'm not interested in hanging on to old apps that a developer has withdrawn, nor do I need to rearrange my apps often, so while the change is drastic, I don't think it really affects me much.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
My apologies. I have never commented on this platform. Didn't realize I was @ anyone in particular and had just noticed 2 more of my paid for apps were nullified... it just feels like managing iPhone was becoming an impossibility. Once again, my sincere apology.
Ps: thanks for the new word, I love learning something new... always.
VeryUnhappyAppleUser wrote:
it just feels like managing iPhone was becoming an impossibility. Once again, my sincere apology.
It is often uncomfortable and annoying to learn a new way of doing things. But, I've found if you don't let yourself get stressed about it, it's easier to learn and get used to the new way.
Ps: thanks for the new word, I love learning something new... always.
😎
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?
I find it really unnecessary to have to wait until I'm at my computer to manage my Apps.
Log in to the computer, open iTunes if its not turned on, connect the device, move the Apps around until I'm happy, and then sync to apply the changes.
Much easier, faster, and I don't need a computer if I organize them directly on the device. Moving an app takes all of 10 seconds to do. Even less on an iPad, since I can drag them around without having to wait for them to shake.
If you learn to do it on the devices you'll find how much faster, less cumbersome and easy it is to do it on the device.
The only 2 things I use iTunes to do now, is to backup once a week, and to sync music and videos not bought from the iTunes store. That's it.
pat0653 wrote:
The iPhone and iPad are great bits of hardware. iTunes is a really rubbish bit of software.
I wouldn't go so far as to say it's rubbish but it certainly has become bloated. Thankfully, Apple has decided to reverse course and start removing features. Removing app management is a great start.
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.
Alas, when installing 12.6.4 after already having the latest iTunes, I receive the error: The file "iTunes Library.itl" canot be read because it was created by a newer version of iTunes. Would you like to downloadiTunes now? Quit | Download iTunes.
At this point I will quit and try to delete the itl file. But I have to find it first.
When Steve Jobs died, Apple slowly starts to die too...
Now, I hope Apple wakes up because this time there is no one who can save the company again
It's important to understand the person you are talking about.
Steve was the first person to dislike Application management in iTunes. He disliked the idea of 3rd party apps in general. He had to be convinced that apps needed to exist, and management in itunes needed to be there.
Steve Jobs resisted third-party apps on iPhone, biography reveals | Technology | The Guardian
If anything this is exactly the type of thing Steve wanted to do, and would have eventually done. Devices need to be self contained. Not rely on anything else. That's what he wanted when created the iPhone.
Apple has not in any way departed from the ideas and philosophy Steve had. In fact they have embraced now more than ever.
It's really poor manners to try to use the memory of a dead person to make an argument without knowing what that person would have done.
Also, I doubt the lack of app management in iTunes is really going to kill Apple. Considering no other manufacturer actually does this anyway. Android devices have no computer app management. It is all done directly on the devices. Windows phones when they were a thing only had the Windows App store on the devices themselves.
So no, if anything, this move is in keeping with what the industry in general already does.
Apple is not dying, nor does it need anyone to save it.
Fascinating. I wasn't aware of this philosophy. That said, I think there is a very legit argument to have app and screen management software as storage capacity increases, yes? Where a decade ago the average user was limited in how many screens and folders and apps they could have, that limit has been effectively done away with.
If anything a general philosophy will have its exceptions and this is a glaring one. After what I went through with this exercise, it seems we've entered a new era of "desktop-style organization" on mobile devices with larger screen real estate and more storage, which is completely contradictory in its demands to the self-contained management concept.
Ironically, the SE that I switched to for a short time (due to an accident with the washing machine and my 7 getting submerged beyond repair) seemed lighter, more modern, and far more usable in terms of being a good fit for the hand and pocket. Perhaps if it didn't have the storage capacity then the self-contained management concept would apply better, but 128 gigs of space allowed me to use my 7 backup on the SE and wow, what a mess after that.
I do believe Apple, regardless of being ubiquitous, is less visionary and "directed", and has succumbed to some poor popular trends while ignoring the good ones.
I would suggest then that instead of needing an application on a computer to handle large amounts of apps, perhaps a better app management option on the device itself would be the way to go. Most people complain about the difficulty of moving apps from one screen to another.
An easy way to do this, is to have a list of installed Apps and an option to simply select a screen to place them in.
Then you can move them around in that screen normally to where you want them. With an option of being able to select more than one App to move at the same time to a specific screen.
I think that, in the long run, would work much better on any sized screen, than how app management in itunes ever did.
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.
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.
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.
Lawrence, I really could not agree with you more. My guess is that Apple thought this would drive more business to iTunes music and video (to compete with Netflix etc, copycatting again). Do you also find the increased sensitivity of the iPhone screen that came from a fairly recent iOS update helpful? I certainly don't. It causes all kinds of effects for me - spelling errors, locating errors, and of course app management due to this greed fuelled lack of care over the user experience. Steve Jobs would pick up today's iPhone and scream ***!
Agreed. For Steve Jobs the user experience was vital. He wanted a fusion of art and technology, and as the early ads said "it just works". Well in this case, it does not work, the technology gets in the way of useability, and the user experience has been sacrificed for 'more sensitivity, less accuracy, fewer methods'. Instead of writing less bloated code, they remove useful functions instead. And then they say "well everyone else does it this way". Wow. How inspiring, Apple no longer stands out from the crowd, but copies them. Innovation is limited to selling more iTunes junk.
how to organize apps with itunes?
