MacRumors

The European Commission is awaiting a response from Apple after Spotify accused the iPhone maker of anticompetitive business practices in relation to its App Store, said the European Union's antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager.

"We are looking into that and we have been asking questions around in that market but of course also Apple themselves, for them to answer the allegations. And when they come back, we will know more," said Vestager, speaking on the sidelines of an economic conference, according to Reuters.

In March, Spotify announced it had filed an antitrust complaint against Apple with the European Commission over unfair ‌App Store‌ practices. Apple responded two days later, labeling the complaint as "misleading rhetoric" and arguing that "Spotify wants all the benefits of a free app without being free."

In a blog post, Spotify founder and CEO Daniel Ek took particular issue with Apple charging a 30 percent "tax" on ‌App Store‌ purchases. This results in Spotify charging existing subscribers $12.99 per month for its Premium plan via the ‌App Store‌ just to collect nearly the $9.99 per month it charges normally.

Apple also forbids developers from alerting users that they can sign up for a subscription or complete a purchase outside of an app, which would bypass Apple's commission on in-app purchases tied to digital goods.

Spotify later said "every monopolist will suggest they have done nothing wrong" and that Apple's response was "entirely in line" with its expectations.

Apple has faced increasing scrutiny as of late over the way it runs its ‌App Store‌, beyond Spotify's complaint. In the United States, for example, the Supreme Court recently ruled that a class action lawsuit accusing Apple of operating an App Store monopoly can proceed to trial in a lower court.

Parental control app developers have also petitioned Apple to release a public API for its Screen Time feature to ensure a fair playing field on the ‌App Store‌, while the Netherlands is investigating whether or not Apple favors its own apps.

In response, Apple added a new page to the ‌App Store‌ section of its website titled Principles and Practices, noting that the ‌App Store‌ was created with two goals: to be "a safe and trusted place for customers to discover and download apps" and "a great business opportunity for all developers."

Apple emphasized that the App Store "welcomes competition" and listed many examples of third-party apps that compete with its own apps, such as Spotify versus Apple Music and Google Maps versus Apple Maps.

We believe competition makes everything better and results in the best apps for our customers.

We also care about quality over quantity, and trust over transactions. That's why, even though other stores have more users and more app downloads, the App Store earns more money for developers. Our users trust Apple — and that trust is critical to how we operate a fair, competitive store for developer app distribution.

The deadline for Apple's response to the European Commission is unclear.

Each year, Apple provides up to 350 students with a free ticket to WWDC and lodging for the conference. The lucky winners are selected based on the quality of their Swift Playground coding submission and written answers.

Apple has now highlighted dozens of WWDC 2019 scholarship winners and their apps in an editorial in the App Store under the Today tab.

This year's winners hail from over 20 countries and regions around the world, according to Apple, including Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Italy, Kazakhstan, Korea, Norway, Poland, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, the U.K., and the U.S.

The winners had the opportunity to discuss their apps with Apple CEO Tim Cook, Apple marketing executive Greg Joswiak, and vice president of software engineering operations Cheryl Thomas at the McEnery Convention Center on Sunday, according to photos shared by CNET's Connie Guglielmo.

Here's another look at that reversible jacket:

Just hours ahead of Apple taking the stage at WWDC 2019, Ben Geskin has leaked a screenshot of what he claims is the new Reminders app coming to iOS 13, complete with the update's widely rumored Dark Mode.

The image actually appears to be a photo of the screenshot, superimposed over an iPhone XS frame, as evidenced by its blurriness.

The redesigned Reminders app has a much cleaner design than the current version, with categories for Today, Scheduled, All, and Flagged, as we saw in a leaked screenshot of the new Reminders app on iPad last week. Dark Mode appears to be a true-black interface, which would of course benefit battery life.

Reminders is one of many Apple apps expected to be updated in iOS 13, alongside Messages, Mail, Maps, Books, and Health, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. He has also reported that Apple will merge its Find My ‌iPhone‌ and ‌Find My‌ Friends apps into one app for tracking the location of devices and friends.

MacRumors will have live coverage of the WWDC keynote on our website and on Twitter starting at 10 a.m. Pacific Time. Apple will also be providing a live stream of the keynote on its website and at select Apple retail stores around the world. Follow along throughout the day for up-to-the-minute updates.

A number of Apple Stores will be live streaming the WWDC 2019 keynote for customers to watch tomorrow at 10 a.m. Pacific Time.

We've learned from a source that participating locations include Apple Williamsburg in Brooklyn, Apple University Village in Seattle, Apple Crabtree Valley Mall in Raleigh, and Apple Carnegie Library in Washington, D.C., with the keynote to be streamed on the Video Wall at the back of each store.

The keynote will also be live streamed in the theater room of Apple SoHo in Manhattan, according to our source.

According to 9to5Mac's Michael Steeber and others, the keynote will also be streamed at Apple Downtown Brooklyn, Apple World Trade Center in Manhattan, Apple Union Square in San Francisco, Apple Beverly Center in Los Angeles, Apple Champs-Élysées in Paris, and Apple Regent Street in London.

Apple has not shared a list of stores that will stream the keynote, so we recommend calling your local store to see if they will be hosting a viewing party. As of now, there does not appear to be a way to RSVP, so space will likely be available on a first come, first served basis. There is no fee to attend.

Apple Stores with Video Walls include locations opened or renovated after mid 2015.

Of course, the live stream will also be available online, and MacRumors will have full coverage of the announcements with our own live blog and at MacRumorsLive on Twitter. Follow along tomorrow for up-to-the-minute updates.

WWDC 2019 officially kicks off tomorrow, but as usual, the check-in process began today. Developers have started to pick up their badges and WWDC swag, which this year includes a reversible jacket, an assortment of Apple-themed magnetic pins, a special t-shirt for scholarship winners, and more.

Here's a photo of the check-in area via WWDC 2019 scholar Zach Knox:

Here's a photo of the swag courtesy of WWDC 2019 scholar Erik Martin:

It turns out the jackets are reversible and come in a variety of colors like red, orange, and cyan via Ethan Saadia and Paul Hudson:

WWDC 2019 scholars Erik Martin and Julian Schiavo:

Update: Apple is now hosting its WWDC Scholarship Kickoff at the Discovery Meadow park next to the McEnery Convention Center. We're told that Apple executive and WWDC scholar chaperone Esther Hare said 75 percent of WWDC 2019 scholarship winners are first-time scholars.

Here's another photo courtesy of Martin:

Apple is expected to unveil iOS 13, macOS 10.15, watchOS 6, and tvOS 13 at its WWDC keynote tomorrow, and it could have some surprise announcements in store, potentially including a preview of its long-awaited Mac Pro redesign.

MacRumors will have live coverage of the WWDC keynote on our website and on Twitter starting Monday at 10 a.m. Pacific Time. Apple will also be providing a live stream of the keynote on its website.

More evidence has emerged to suggest that Apple is beginning to move away from its iTunes brand after over 18 years of use.

As noted on Reddit, Apple has abruptly removed all social media content from its iTunes page on Facebook, including posts, photos, and videos. This appears to have happened within the past 24 hours, as a cached version of the iTunes page on Facebook still had content available as of May 31.

As far as we can tell, it looks like Apple has migrated its iTunes page to its Apple TV page on Facebook, including not only all of the content but nearly 30 million likes and its original April 29, 2009 creation date.

Apple has also removed all photos and videos from its iTunes profile on Instagram, which points users towards the newer Apple TV page on Instagram, but its Twitter counterpart still has content for now.

The blank pages likely foreshadow bigger moves to come, as Bloomberg's Mark Gurman and 9to5Mac's Guilherme Rambo have both reported that iTunes will be replaced by standalone Music, TV, and Podcasts apps in the next major version of macOS, which Apple is expected to unveil at WWDC 2019 on Monday.

Notably, while the overall iTunes app as we know it is expected to be discontinued, the reports did not suggest that the iTunes storefront for purchasing music, movies, and TV shows is going away any time soon.

iTunes has attracted its fair share of criticism over the years for being bloated software, so its split into three separate apps would be much welcomed. Apple's phasing out of iTunes is likely to be a gradual process, however, so the brand could live on in some capacity for the foreseeable future.

Update: As noted by the Iconfactory's Craig Hockenberry, some itunes.apple.com links for songs and artists now redirect to music.apple.com, serving as yet another example of Apple moving away from its iTunes brand.

Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference is set to kick off on June 3 with a keynote event that will see Apple unveiling next-generation versions of iOS, macOS, watchOS, and tvOS.

We've rounded up all of the rumors that we're heard so far about the features we can expect in each of the new operating systems. Watch the video below and read on to get a glimpse of what's coming.

iOS 13

iOS 13 is going to be a major update, introducing some features that iOS users have been hoping will come to the iPhone and the iPad for quite some time. Below, we'll outline all of the major features that we're expecting, with full details on iOS 13 available in our iOS 13 roundup.

iOS 13, like iOS 12, is expected to introduce speed improvements for devices, including older devices, and it will include bug fixes thanks to Apple's 2018 plan to put more focus on quality.

Dark Mode

iOS 13 will introduce a dark mode for the first time, letting users choose between light and dark themes. There aren't a lot of details on dark mode at this time, but it's expected to be a system wide feature much like the dark mode that came in macOS Mojave.

Apps that are currently light mode only will have darker themes available when dark mode is set, much like Books or Maps, existing apps that have a darker night mode.

Leaked screenshots of iOS 13 suggest the Dark Mode option will be enabled via the Settings app or the Control Center. The Home screen will look similar to the Home screen in light mode, though the dock will be darker.

New Volume HUD

If you're tired of the current volume interface that blocks the middle of the ‌iPhone‌'s screen when you're adjusting the volume, there's good news -- it's expected to change in iOS 13.

We're expecting a volume HUD that's less obtrusive than the current version, with something that doesn't take up quite as much room on the display. We've mocked up what it might look like below.

Sleep Mode

iOS 13 is expected to streamline sleep time behavior with a new sleep mode that's available in the Control Center. According to rumors, sleep mode will toggle on Do Not Disturb, darken the Lock screen so it's not so bright if you pick up your phone in the middle of the night, and mute all incoming notifications.

Unspecified improvements could also come to the Bedtime tab that's available in the Clock app. Bedtime is a feature that was first introduced in iOS 12 and is designed to send you reminders when you should go to bed.

iPad Updates

Several iPad-specific features are going to be overhauled in iOS 13, so this should be a major update for those who use iPads. A new Home screen layout is expected, but few details have been provided.

Apple is introducing improved multitasking. ‌iPad‌ apps will support multiple windows through a tab view, and there may be stackable cards within apps that can be rearranged. Apps will have sheets that are initially attached to the screen, but that can be detached and dragged around so you can have multiple instances of the same app (or different apps) open.

These app cards can be stacked on top of one another, and a depth effect will indicate which cards are on the top or on the bottom. As with card-based interfaces in other parts of iOS, you can close out an app card by flinging a card to dismiss it.

There will be a new gesture for undoing text input on an ‌iPad‌, letting users undo or redo an action using a three finger tap on the keyboard area along with a slide to the left or the right. Apple will also be adding a new gesture for selecting multiple items in table and collection views, letting users drag multiple fingers on the screen to draw a selection.

There have been rumors that mouse support could come to the ‌iPad‌ as an Accessibility option, and iOS 13 would be an ideal time to introduce that feature, though it has not been confirmed that it's part of the update.

Updated Find My iPhone App

Apple is designing a new Find My ‌iPhone‌ app that also incorporates ‌Find My‌ Friends, so in iOS 13, we may no longer have two apps for these features. The new app is said to include a networking feature that will let Apple devices be tracked even when not connected to a Wi-Fi or cellular network by leveraging other iOS devices that are close by.

Messages

Messages is said to be gaining a new WhatsApp-style feature that will let users add their own profile picture and display name, and then choose who sees that info. Apple is also adding a dedicated menu for Animoji and Memoji stickers.

Mail

In the Mail app, Apple may be planning to add new features that will organize messages into searchable categories like marketing, purchases, travel, "not important," and more, plus there will be a read later queue, an option to mute incoming Mail notifications for specific email threads, and a tool for blocking people you don't want to talk to.

Reminders

The Reminders app may get overhauled to make it a bit more useful with four default sections laid out in a grid, encompassing tasks to be finished today, all tasks, scheduled tasks, and flagged tasks.

Books

You might get rewarded for reading books in iOS 13 with Apple perhaps planning to introduce a progress tracker and a rewards system to encourage reading. There's no word on how this might work, but it could be similar to the achievement system that rewards you with stickers when completing a fitness goal.

Health

The Health app may be getting a new feature related to the health of your ears. The app is said to include a "hearing health" section that will measure how loud you play music on your headphones and the volume of the ambient environment around you.

A better view of daily activity may also be included, and Apple may include better tools for tracking menstrual cycles.

macOS 10.15

macOS 10.15, like iOS 13, is going to be a major update for Mac users. We'll highlight major features below, but full details on the new software can be found in our macOS 10.15 roundup.

We don't know what Apple will call macOS 10.15, but it will have the name of another California landmark, following Mavericks, Yosemite, El Capitan, Sierra, High Sierra, and Mojave.

Cross-Platform Apps

macOS 10.15, paired with iOS 13, marks a major year in macOS app advancement. Apple started introducing universal apps in iOS 12 and macOS Mojave, and that project, known as "Marzipan," is going to progress in macOS 10.15. Universal apps let iOS apps be ported over to the Mac with few changes, resulting in an app that can run on both platforms.

Apple started porting iOS apps to the Mac in macOS Mojave during the early stages of the project, and in macOS 10.15, Apple is going to give developers the tools to easily bring ‌iPad‌ apps to the Mac.

Apple's aim with Marzipan is to let developers design a single app that works with either a touchscreen or a mouse and trackpad based on whether it's running on iOS or macOS. This universal app feature would likely significantly increase the number of apps available on Macs while also cutting down on developer workload to create cross-platform apps.

iOS apps ported over to the Mac will be able to take advantage of Mac-specific features like the Touch Bar and keyboard shortcuts along with support for multiple windows. Adding Mac support to an existing iOS app will be as simple as checking a checkbox in Xcode.

New Apps Coming to Mac

As part of the Marzipan project, Apple is bringing several iOS only apps to the Mac and revamping some others.

There will be new Music, Podcasts, and TV apps, along with an updated Books app, some of which will be built using Apple's Marzipan developer tools. Right now, all of these functions on Mac are done through the iTunes app, but Apple is retiring iTunes in favor of these new apps.

All of the current iTunes functions will be available, just through the aforementioned separate apps. The iOS Device management that's done through iTunes at the current time will reportedly be done through the Music app instead.

Apple has already announced the TV app, but it's expected to launch on Mac this fall. Music and Podcasts are new apps, and the Books app is rumored to be getting overhauled with an Apple News-style design and new tracking features and rewards that encourage reading.

The Reminders app, Screen Time, and iMessage Effects are also new features that are rumored to be coming to the Mac in macOS 10.15.

iPad as an External Display

macOS 10.15 will feature an option to send any app to an external display, including connected monitors and even an ‌iPad‌. The feature is said to be available through a menu that can be opened by hovering over the maximize icon in any Mac app.

32-Bit App Support Ending

Apple began issuing warnings about 32-bit apps in macOS Mojave, and has said that Mojave will be the last version of macOS to support them.

Apple is expected to phase out support for 32-bit apps in macOS 10.15, which means some older apps that haven't been updated in a while will cease to work. Aperture, for example, Apple's now-discontinued photo editing software, will not run on macOS after Mojave, nor will any other 32-bit app.

This change is still likely going to catch some people unaware and there could be some people who are upset when the new version of macOS is released and their favorite older apps no longer run.

New Find MyApp

The new ‌Find My‌ ‌iPhone‌ and ‌Find My‌ Friends hybrid app in the works for iOS is also expected to come to macOS.

It will be similar to the existing ‌Find My‌ ‌iPhone‌ feature on the web, but it will include ‌Find My‌ Friends functionality and it will perhaps have a "find network" feature that will let Apple devices be tracked even when WiFi and cellular connectivity is disabled by using other nearby iPhones. Apple is expected to name this app just "‌Find My‌."

Apple Watch Authentication

Your Apple Watch can already unlock your Mac, but in macOS 10.15, the Apple Watch may be able to serve as an authentication method for other operations on the Mac.

Full details on what this might entail are not available, but it could allow the watch to be used instead of entering passwords or confirming payments, similar to Touch ID on Touch ID-enabled Macs.

watchOS 6

There are quite a few new features coming to the Apple Watch with the launch of watchOS 6. First of all, the Apple Watch is rumored to be getting its own App Store, which would let users download new Apple Watch apps right from their wrists.

New health apps could come to the Apple Watch in watchOS 6, with Apple rumored to be working on a "Dose" app for pill reminders and a "Cycles" app for tracking menstrual cycles.

New apps including Calculator, Voice Memos, and Audio Books could come to the Apple Watch, and Apple is expected to add support for Animoji and Memoji stickers.

There will be new complications for hearing aid battery life, audio book status, rain data, and external noise information, which is another new health-related feature coming to Apple Watch. Going forward, the Apple Watch may be able to keep track of the ambient noise level, letting you know if you're in danger of damaging your hearing.

Several new watch faces are said to be in the works, including a Gradient watch face that makes a gradient out of the color a user chooses, two new X-Large faces with jumbo numbers in different fonts and colors, and a California dial that's similar to a classic watch face but with a mix of Roman and Arabic numerals.

The existing Solar Analog face may also be redesigned with a watch face that looks like a sundial.

tvOS 13

We don't know what features are coming in tvOS 13 as it doesn't often get the same major feature changes as other operating systems, but Apple could further refine the TV app and lay the groundwork for the upcoming Apple Arcade service that's designed to let you access exclusive games for a monthly fee.

Games will be available on ‌iPhone‌, ‌iPad‌, Mac, and Apple TV.

Other Possible Announcements

Mac Pro

Apple is working on a high-end high-throughput modular Mac Pro that's set to debut in 2019, and we could see our first glimpse of it at the Worldwide Developers Conference.

There's no guarantee that we're going to see the new ‌Mac Pro‌, but when Apple debuted the 2013 ‌Mac Pro‌, it was shown off at WWDC before its December launch. Apple is also working on a 6K 31.6-inch high-end display to go along the ‌Mac Pro‌.

New iPhone Cases and Apple Watch Bands

WWDC is one of the events where Apple typically unveils Apple Watch bands, ‌iPhone‌ cases, and ‌iPad‌ cases in refreshed summer colors.

This year should be no exception, and we may also see another rainbow-colored pride band, as Apple has done rainbow bands in June for the last couple of years.

MacRumors Coverage

Apple will have a livestream of the WWDC keynote available on its website and through the Events app of the ‌Apple TV‌, but for those unable to watch, we'll be covering the event on MacRumors.com and through our MacRumorsLive Twitter account. We'll also have in-depth coverage of all of Apple's announcements throughout the week.

The first WWDC 2019 events kick off in just two days with the early arrival of student scholars, and Apple is putting the finishing touches on decorations at and around the McEnery Convention Center in San Jose.

Decorations on the convention center, light poles, and public transit stops all carry the same neon theme on dark blue as seen on other WWDC materials, with the front entrance area of the convention center covered in a huge sheet displaying a robot emoji with all sorts of icons exploding out of the top of it and the "Dub Dub" nickname sometimes used for WWDC.

Photos from earlier in the assembly process hint at the possibility of some sort of lighting behind the sheet, so we'll have to wait and see what it looks like at night.

The main event of WWDC 2019 kicks off on Monday at 10:00 am Pacific Time with the traditional keynote, and we'll have full coverage here on MacRumors.com and through our MacRumorsLive Twitter account.

Update 8:51 PM: As shared on Twitter by Lucas Wagner, the "Dub Dub" graphic on the facade of the McEnery Convention Center has now been lit.

In a report covering apps that are tracking kids and sending data to companies like Facebook and Google, The Wall Street Journal's Joanna Stern says that Apple is planning to limit third-party tracking in apps that are in the Kids section of the App Store.

The site says that a "person familiar with the matter" shared the info on the upcoming feature, though Apple declined to comment.

In fact, Apple will limit third-party tracking in apps in the Kids category of the App Store, according to a person familiar with the matter. Apple declined to comment on this, but a spokeswoman provided a statement:

"For privacy and security reasons, Apple does not see what data users choose to share with developers and we can't see what developers do on their servers."

In the piece, Stern mentions an iOS app for kids called Curious World that she found was tracking her son, collecting data that included age, name, and books he tapped on, with that data then sent to Facebook.

She went on to test over 80 apps, many promoted by Apple, and all of them except for one included third-party trackers for marketing, ads, or analytics purposes.

Apps tested (which weren't kids apps specifically) included an average of four third-party trackers, and some had many more. The app her son was using had a total of seven trackers in it.

There are no controls in iOS for limiting the tracking features that are used by apps for everything from ad targeting to analytics, though users can download VPN apps that block these services. Stern suggests that Apple and Google should cut down on the amount of data that third-party trackers are able to collect and require app developers to provide clearer disclosures.

Apple today announced in an updated support document that the Back to My Mac service is being eliminated from all versions of macOS on July 1, 2019.

Apple previously warned that Back to My Mac support would be eliminated in macOS Mojave, but the updated wording seems to suggest the feature will be removed from all versions of macOS rather than just macOS Mojave.

As of July 1, 2019, Back to My Mac service is not available in any other version of macOS. You can use these alternatives for file access, screen sharing, and remote desktop access.

macOS Mojave has not had the Back to My Mac feature since the first developer beta launched, and Apple confirmed plans to end support for the feature in August 2018.

Back to My Mac is designed to let Mac owners connect to one Mac from another Mac for file transfers and screen sharing purposes. It lets users create a network of Mac computers with two or more Macs, but it can be complicated to set up and use, which is perhaps why Apple has decided to discontinue it.

In the support document, Apple suggests customers can access their files across all of their devices - including new machines - from iCloud Drive. Other Macs can be operated through screen sharing functionality, and Macs can be managed remotely with Apple Remote Desktop, software available from the Mac App Store for $80.

Some Back to My Mac users are sure to be unhappy with Apple's decision to sunset the feature entirely and the suggestion that users transition to Apple Remote Desktop for remote management purposes given its high price tag, but there are third-party options like TeamViewer and LogMeIn.

Over a dozen parental control app developers have come together with a shared message for Apple: it's "time to put kids first."

Together, they have launched a new website called Screen Time API that urges Apple to release a public API granting developers access to the same functionalities that iOS 12's Screen Time feature uses. The developers have even proposed their own API, complete with samples of code and a diagram of how it would work.

"Protecting children online and teaching them good technology use habits are some of the biggest challenges facing modern parents," the developers plea. "That's why developers need a cross platform, open screen time API."

The website, shared by The New York Times and The Verge, is a joint effort by OurPact, Kidslox, Qustodio, Screen Time Labs, Safe Lagoon, MMGuardian, Boomerang, Family Orbit, Netsanity, unGlue, Mobicip, Activate Fitness, Parents Dans Les Parages, Lilu, FamilyTime, Bosco, and Tittle.

The developers were encouraged to act by Tony Fadell, a former Apple executive known as the "Father of the iPod." Fadell backed the developers in a series of tweets, and according to The New York Times, he also said he would help "push" their message "out to the world," adding "just make sure it's done BEFORE WWDC."

The campaign comes a month after The New York Times reported that Apple had removed or restricted many of the most popular screen time and parental control apps on the App Store since launching its own Screen Time feature in iOS 12 last year, raising concerns over potentially anticompetitive behavior.

"Contrary to what The New York Times reported over the weekend, this isn't a matter of competition," wrote Apple. "It's a matter of security."

MDM technology is intended for enterprise users to manage their company-owned devices, and Apple says the use of MDM by consumer-focused apps carries privacy and security concerns that resulted in Apple addressing the situation in its ‌App Store‌ review guidelines in mid-2017.

Apple added that when it found out about these ‌App Store‌ guideline violations, it communicated with the necessary developers, giving them 30 days to submit an updated app to avoid being removed from the ‌App Store‌.

Many developers quickly refuted parts of Apple's press release, with OurPact claiming that its parental control app for children was removed from the ‌App Store‌ on October 6, 2018 without any prior communication from Apple, just three weeks after iOS 12 was publicly released with Screen Time.

Three other developers added that Apple was slow to respond and did not provide any resolution for the sudden guideline violations.

Apple has yet to indicate whether it will release a public API for Screen Time. While it is certainly possible that Apple could announce that it will offer such an API at its WWDC 2019 keynote next week, on short notice, no rumors have indicated that the API is coming in the initial release of iOS 13.

While it was initially reported that iTunes would live on in macOS 10.15, it now looks like the app will be retired, over 18 years after it was introduced by the late Steve Jobs at Macworld on January 9, 2001.

Apple will be replacing iTunes with standalone Music, TV, and Podcasts apps in the next major version of macOS, expected to be unveiled at WWDC 2019 next week, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman:

End of iTunes

iTunes has been the way Apple users listen to music, watch movies and TV shows, hear podcasts, and manage their devices for almost two decades. This year, Apple is finally ready to move into a new era. The company is launching a trio of new apps for the Mac – Music, TV, and Podcasts – to replace iTunes. That matches Apple's media app strategy on iPhones and iPads. Without iTunes, customers can manage their Apple gadgets through the Music app.

This information lines up with a recent report from 9to5Mac's Guilherme Rambo, who claimed that iTunes will be renamed to "Music" on the Mac. In other words, iTunes is going away and will be replaced by the new Music app, which is expected to become the new utility for syncing and managing Apple devices.

Steve Jobs quote from Apple's press release about iTunes in 2001:

Apple has done what Apple does best — make complex applications easy, and make them even more powerful in the process. iTunes is miles ahead of every other jukebox application, and we hope its dramatically simpler user interface will bring even more people into the digital music revolution.

Here's what iTunes looked like in 2001:

iTunes has attracted its fair share of criticism over the years for being bloated software, so its split into dedicated Music, TV, and Podcasts apps will be much welcomed. Earlier this week, leaked screenshots provided us with our first glimpse at what the Music and TV apps should look like on macOS 10.15.

Apple is widely expected to announce iOS 13, macOS 10.15, watchOS 6, and tvOS 13 at its WWDC 2019 opening keynote on Monday at 10 a.m. Pacific Time. MacRumors will have live coverage of the event on our website and through MacRumorsLive on Twitter, so be sure to follow along for the latest updates.