End of an Era: Upcoming tvOS 26.4 update removes stand alone iTunes Movies & TV Shows app

In Apple’s upcoming tvOS 26.4 update, the dedicated iTunes Movies and iTunes TV Shows apps will be completely removed from Apple TV devices. This marks the final chapter in Apple’s long-term plan to phase out the legacy iTunes branding for video content.

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The change, first observed in the tvOS 26.4 developer beta released on February 16, 2026, consolidates all movie and TV show purchasing, renting, and viewing into a single, unified Apple TV app. This transition has been gradual, with Apple beginning to redirect purchases to the Apple TV app on tvOS 17.2, iOS 17.2, and iPadOS 17.2 in late 2023.

Apple explained the shift by stating that they have been working to consolidate all movie and TV show viewing and buying to the TV app, ensuring that everything is in one place.

No Loss of Access to Purchased Content

Importantly, the removal of the standalone iTunes apps does not affect users’ ability to access or play previously purchased or rented movies and TV shows. All owned content remains fully available and playable directly in the Apple TV app, with libraries intact and no migration required for existing purchases.

The standalone iTunes apps had primarily been used to guide users during the transition and to provide continued access to iTunes Wish Lists for movies and TV shows. However, Apple recently began phasing out wish lists entirely, sending emails to affected users informing them that the feature would soon disappear and providing links to migrate individual items to the Apple TV app’s Watchlist feature.

Some users with extensive wish lists have expressed frustration over the need to manually migrate each item one by one using the emailed links.

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