Say goodbye to the iTunes Movies & TV Shows apps on Apple TV

Still navigating to the iTunes Movies and TV Show apps to buy and rent videos on your Apple TV? If so, get ready for some big changes. 

With the arrival of tvOS 17.2, which was released Monday, the iTunes Movies and TV Shows apps for the Apple TV have been deprecated.  

Now, if you try to open those apps on your Apple TV, you’ll jump to a screen that directs you to the Apple TV app to rent or purchase movies or TV shows, or to view your previously purchased videos. 

This news story is part of TechHive’s in-depth coverage of the best media streaming devices.

The update won’t come as a surprise to anyone following Apple’s tvOS beta software—and indeed, the mere existence of the Apple TV app had been a clear sign that the old iTunes apps were on the way out.

Ben Patterson/Foundry

Ben Patterson/Foundry

Ben Patterson/Foundry

Still, the change is jarring to those of us who’ve been long-time Apple TV users, and particularly for anyone who’s still sore that Apple yanked the Trailers app. (The new–and paltry–Trailers section on the Apple TV app is a poor substitute for the deleted Trailers app, if you ask me.) 

Besides nixing the iTunes Movies and TV Shows apps on Apple TV, tvOS 17.2 brings substatial interface changes to the Apple TV app.  

Specifically, the update adds a sidebar that allows you to quickly navigate to Apple TV+, Apple’s MLS Season Pass, the new movies and TV storefront, channels and apps (such as Amazon Prime Video, ESPN, NFL, and Peacock), and your library of purchased videos. 

Overall, the move makes sense. The iTunes Movies and TV Shows apps were holdovers from the early days of the Apple TV, and keeping them around while also offering movie and TV purchases on the Apple TV app was needlessly confusing. 

Also, Apple has been moving away from iTunes as a brand for years now. Besides the Apple TV app on tvOS, there’s the “TV” app for iOS, iPadOS, and Mac (which contains movies as well as TV shows), while the music app across all Apple devices is now simply called “Music.”  

Despite those recent changes, I admit to being among those who still went to the iTunes Movies app for renting and buying movies on my Apple TV, if only out of habit. Looks like those days are finally over.