iTunes was once the go-to application for managing music, movies, TV shows, audiobooks, and more on Macs and Windows PCs. First released in 2001, iTunes revolutionized the way people purchased, organized and synced content across devices. However, over time, iTunes became increasingly bloated with features beyond just music management. In 2019, Apple announced that it would be retiring iTunes and splitting its functionality into three separate apps: Music, TV, and Podcasts.
So what has replaced iTunes as the central hub for buying and enjoying multimedia content? The answer differs depending on whether you’re using a Mac or Windows PC.
Replacement for iTunes on Mac
For Mac users, iTunes has been replaced by the Music, Podcasts, and TV apps. These three apps collectively cover the media management features previously packed into iTunes:
- Music – This app is focused 100% on your music library. You can use it to purchase songs and albums from the iTunes Store, listen to Apple Music, organize your music files into playlists, and sync music to your iPhone, iPad or iPod.
- Podcasts – The Podcasts app is dedicated to searching, subscribing, managing, and playing podcasts. If you used iTunes to listen to podcasts, this is where that functionality now resides.
- TV – The TV app is very similar to iTunes’ video management capabilities. You can buy or rent movies and TV shows, access your video library, and subscribe to channels like HBO, Showtime and Starz.
For the most part, these three apps replicate what iTunes could do but in a more streamlined way. Apple split iTunes up so users don’t have to deal with features they don’t need cluttering up their interface.
Replacement for iTunes on Windows
In the past, Windows users could install iTunes to buy music, movies, TV shows, audiobooks and sync content to iOS devices. Now that iTunes is gone, Windows users need to use separate apps:
- Music – The Apple Music app for Windows provides access to the Apple Music streaming service and music store. However, it does not let you organize your own local music files.
- TV – There is an Apple TV app for Windows 10 that gives access to the iTunes video store and Apple TV+ streaming service.
- Podcasts – Windows users can also get the Apple Podcasts app to subscribe and listen to podcasts.
Without iTunes, Windows users lose the ability to easily manage their own media library files and sync to iPhones or iPods. If you have an extensive music collection that you’ve curated yourself, you’ll need to find an alternate music player app for Windows.
How to Sync iPhone or iPod Without iTunes on Windows
One of the big drawbacks of iTunes being discontinued on Windows is that there is no built-in way to sync iPhone or iPod devices anymore. However, there are a few alternative options:
- iCloud – You can use iCloud to sync music, photos, contacts, calendars and more across your Windows PC and iOS devices. This allows you to bypass connecting your device to sync.
- Third-party apps – Apps like iMazing, AnyTrans, CopyTrans Manager, and EaseUS MobiMover can be installed on Windows to sync files, messages, and backups over USB or Wi-Fi.
- AirDrop – You can wirelessly transfer photos, videos and other files between your Windows PC and iOS device using AirDrop.
- Bluetooth – Media files and contacts can be transferred via Bluetooth to sync Windows and iOS.
While not as seamless as syncing through iTunes, these options allow you to transfer files without needing iTunes on Windows anymore.
Replacement for Syncing iPhone on Mac
On a Mac, you have a couple options to sync iPhone and iPad devices without relying on iTunes alone:
- Finder – macOS Catalina introduced device syncing directly through Finder. You can connect your iPhone via cable and sync contacts, calendars, photos, notes and other data.
- iCloud – Just like on Windows, you can use iCloud on a Mac to wirelessly sync bookmarks, photos, emails, documents and more across devices.
- Handoff – With Handoff enabled, you can start an activity like writing an email on your Mac and instantly pick it up on your iPhone or iPad.
The Music and TV apps on Mac also allow you to selectively sync media content from your library onto connected iOS devices. While Finder and iCloud syncing may not be quite as feature-rich as iTunes, they offer efficient new ways to transfer data without iTunes.
Replacement for Purchasing Multimedia Content
The iTunes Store used to be the go-to place to purchase music, movies, TV shows, audiobooks and apps. Now that it no longer exists as a singular store, where should you buy multimedia content?
Fortunately, Apple offers dedicated stores tailored to specific content types:
- Music Store – Get music downloads for your library via the Music app.
- TV App Store – Purchase or rent movies, TV shows and subscribe to premium channels.
- Podcasts App – Discover, subscribe and listen to podcasts here.
- App Store – Continue purchasing iOS, iPadOS and macOS apps from the App Store on respective devices.
- Books Store – Buy audiobooks and ebooks from the Apple Books app.
The content purchasing experience is now more fragmented across apps compared to iTunes. However, the stores themselves provide better focus on their respective media types instead of jumbling everything together.
Replacement for iTunes App Management
In the past, iTunes offered the ability to sync apps onto your iPhone or iPad. With separate Music, Podcast and TV apps, how can you manage iOS/iPadOS apps now?
On both Mac and Windows, app management is done through the App Store app on the target device itself. For example:
- To manage iPhone apps – Use the App Store app on the iPhone
- To manage iPad apps – Use the App Store app on the iPad
- To manage Mac apps – Use the App Store app on the Mac
The App Store offers the ability to install, update or remove apps with automatic syncing across devices via iCloud. This means you no longer need iTunes to sync app data. Each device manages its own apps natively.
Replacement for iTunes Backup & Restore
Another vital iTunes feature was the ability to back up and restore iOS devices. How is this accomplished now in lieu of iTunes?
On Macs, you can use Finder to create backups of connected iPhones and iPads. Finder will even prompt you to do a backup when you connect a device if it hasn’t been backed up recently. These Finder backups store device settings, app data, photos, videos, and other content to refer back to if needed.
On Windows, iCloud backups are now the preferred backup solution without iTunes. Enable iCloud Backup on your iPhone or iPad to securely store a copy of your data in the cloud. You can also use iMazing or a similar third-party app for local Windows backups.
To restore from a backup, you can use Finder or iCloud on Mac. On Windows, iCloud restore is your main option unless you have a local backup from a third-party app.
Conclusion
While iTunes revolutionized multimedia management for many years, its kitchen-sink approach became dated over time. The functions previously crammed into iTunes have now been appropriately split into focused apps for Music, TV, Podcasts, Books, App Store and more.
Syncing and backups are now primarily facilitated through cloud services like iCloud rather than needing to connect to iTunes. Purchasing content is done via dedicated media stores tailored to each content type. In general, the replacement for iTunes differs based on your Mac vs Windows ecosystem but offers more specialized experiences compared to iTunes alone.
| iTunes Functionality | Replacement on Mac | Replacement on Windows |
|---|---|---|
| Buy Music | Music App | Apple Music App |
| Buy Movies/TV Shows | TV App | Apple TV App |
| Manage Podcasts | Podcasts App | Apple Podcasts App |
| Buy Audiobooks | Books App | No Direct Replacement |
| Sync iPhone/iPad | Finder | iCloud |
| Backup iPhone/iPad | Finder | iCloud |