“Apple made a major change in the latest version of iTunes, version 12.7: they removed the App Store,” Kirk McElhearn writes for Kirkville. “And because of this, you can no longer sync apps using iTunes.”
“But many people think that this means that iTunes no longer backs up your iOS devices. It still does, exactly as before,” McElhearn writes. “iTunes backs up much of your data via iTunes (you can also back up your device to iCloud), but it doesn’t store apps; it never has.”
“It merely stores a list of apps and how they are organized on your device. When restoring a device from a backup, it used to copy the apps from your iTunes library,” McElhearn writes. “Now, it downloads them directly to your device, which, as I point out in this article discussing what’s new in iTunes 12.7 can be problematic for many people.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Yes, this is an issue for anyone with multiple iOS devices, a lot of large apps, and limited bandwidth, since they’ll need to download apps and app updates to each device. For the rest of us, though, here’s to Apple’s efforts to reduce iTunes bloat!