Apple to shutter Trailers app we forgot existed

Screengrabs of the iTunes Movie Trailers app from Apple
(Image credit: Apple)

Apple launched the iTunes Movie Trailers app back in 2011, a destination for details about upcoming movies, trailers, and Rotten Tomatoes scores. If you'd completely forgotten it existed, don't worry, we did too. 

But that does mean none of us will be too disappointed by the news today that hints Apple may soon be shuttering the app.

In early August, Mac Rumors noticed a new banner on the dedicated iTunes Movie Trailers website that read: "Apple TV app is the new home of iTunes Movie Trailers." Fast-forward a few weeks, and that same message is being rolled out to the Movie Trailers apps on both iOS and tvOS.

Some US-based users then reported spotting a new section of the Apple TV app called "Watch the Latest Trailers", suggesting that's where upcoming and new trailers are likely to live soon.

For now, the app is still available to download from the Apple App Store, and only a few users in select regions are noticing the new trailers section on the Apple TV app. But it hasn't been updated since 2017, and we'd guess it's only a matter of time before this update is rolled out to all Apple TV app users and the iTunes Movie Trailers app is shuttered for good.

So long, iTunes!

Apple has been slowly phasing out the iTunes branding for some time now, as well as rolling all of the best iTunes products into other offerings. 

In that context, it makes complete sense that a standalone iTunes app dedicated to trailers should become part of the Apple TV app instead, ensuring all of Apple's entertainment properties are in one place - a more straightforward proposition for anyone new to Apple, too.

This way, people could also presumably bookmark content they're interested in and then even be notified if those shows or movies arrive on the streaming platform.

Becca Caddy
Contributor

Becca Caddy is a contributor to iMore, as well as a freelance journalist and author. She’s been writing about consumer tech and popular science for more than a decade, covering all kinds of topics, including why robots have eyes and whether we’ll experience the overview effect one day. She’s particularly interested in VR/AR, wearables, digital health, space tech and chatting to experts and academics about the future. She’s contributed to TechRadar, T3, Wired, New Scientist, The Guardian, Inverse and many more. Her first book, Screen Time, came out in January 2021 with Bonnier Books. She loves science-fiction, brutalist architecture, and spending too much time floating through space in virtual reality. Last time she checked, she still holds a Guinness World Record alongside iMore Editor in Chief Gerald Lynch for playing the largest game of Tetris ever made, too.