I'm trying to mentally prepare for this, but I know it's still going to be more of a kick in the gut than I can imagine, losing access to so many apps on my daily device. I mean, I've gone through other major operating system upgrades (ie, Windows, etc) without losing hundreds and hundreds of paid for apps, so this is just ridiculous. Certainly won't be updating iTunes or iOS to the newer versions right away, will stall as long as possible. Lame.
Said earlier, totally know what you mean ! When i updated to ios11 and saw the list of apps i would be losing i was gutted ! To be fair many i (ahem) hadnt played in ages but there were about 40 favourites which i was gutted to be losing. About 25 have been updated but theres a few more which havent, some will be updated by Dot Emu (R-Type etc which i didnt want to lose) but gutted to lose the Metal Slug games. On the plus side having gems such as KOTOR updated and Baldurs Gate (any minute now) has helped, plus the GTA games etc. Like i say the 'good' thing is when a new device is launched it means the old ones (e.g. ipad 2) much much cheaper to buy second hand. Get one of these and install your old favourites on it so you have at least got them somewhere to play But yeah the initial shock is bad
I'm still on IOS 9.3.5 with my Mini 2. And I've kept iTunes on 12.6.something on my PC. I want a back-up of my apps, anytime. I've had it before with apps that a bad update came out (or there were changes I didn't like), so I can always put the previous version back.
I just didn't expect Apple to remove the App Store from iTunes - did not see that coming. That would probably be frustrating enough in itself since I prefer to do the rare full backup restore from iTunes since the cloud restore takes many hours to complete, but to coincide with the iOS update breaking 32-bit apps which I have backed up on my computer, it's a lot to digest.... (guess I should be thankful I have older iOS devices which they will still run on) Now I just wonder how long it will be before an iOS update starts slowing my iPhone 6 Plus down to a crawl essentially forcing me to buy a newer phone... Always a joy.
It's the very last section: "Manually add items from your computer If you have media on your computer that you can't redownload from the App Store or iTunes Store directly on your iOS device, such as custom ringtones or iOS apps"...
no, you can buy. however you must be smart about keeping cracked backups and even considering pc versions of the games. ios is great for me to experience all my games on the go and on my ipad. however i am smart enough to grab the games i really want on pc too since those will always be compatible some way or another. luckily, practically every game nowadays gets a pc version even though it's on mobile first or afterwords. i have very few games that are mobile-only. and even then i have a cracked backup of them. support the devs by purchasing their games, but be also smart about storing your games independant from official digital accounts. because you'll always be f*cked as a consumer in the end. and that's why dedicated devices will ALWAYS be superior to mobile: all the games you purchased on them will be playable on them for YEARS down the line.
I just learned that iTunes 12.7 no longer feature the desktop appstore. In other words it is now impossible to keep the IPA files on your computer. By today, I won't buy anything from appstore and Apple store. Sorry for the devs.
It's a sorry state for sure. Anything we have already is still in the folder. So we have 3 main problems; - From iTunes 12.7 there's no way of backing up your purchases - From iOS 11, 32-bit apps won't work - When developers closes their developer account, their apps will also disappear fro your 'purchased' list I get that times move on, they always have, which is why I don't have a mountain of Spectrum, Megadrive & PS1 games anymore. However, these moves look pretty damming for the preservation of the hard work that developers have put into these titles.
You can still access all you apps if you run an older version of iTunes. I have on an old laptop and I use that just for my apps. I have music on my surface and my library is stored on a portable drive. My music is in one iTunes folder and my apps are in another iTunes folder, effectively giving me two separate iTunes library, each one accessible from different computers. This way there's no problem with syncing to e iPad or iPhone. Works fine for me, so it's not all doom and gloom. I have backed up all my apps, have been doing it for years, checking for updates weekly for apps I haven't used for a long time.
Here's how to revert back to 12.6.2. Worked great for me https://www.itipbox.com/downgrade-itunes-previous-version/
