The end of an era - Apple is rolling the iTunes Movie Store into the TV app

Apple is reportedly getting ready to make a change to the way people buy and rent movies, with the familiar iTunes Movie Store set to be killed off. Instead, it's claimed that Apple will move the same functionality into the Apple TV app, somewhere where it arguably makes more sense.

The news comes after 9to5Mac spotted code in the second beta releases of iOS 17,2 and tvOS 17,2 that show Apple will merge the iTunes Movie Store into the Apple TV app. Notably. users can already buy movies and TV shows in the TV app but those using Apple devices like the iPhone and iPad still have a dedicated iTunes Movie Store available as well. That, it seems, is about to change.

The strings seen by 9to5Mac mention text that suggests a new message will be displayed to say that the iTunes Movie Store has moved to the Apple TV app. However, it isn't yet clear whether the change will be implemented when iS 17.2 and tvOS 17.2 are rolled out to the public. That being said, the 9to5Mac report does say that comments left over from Apple engineers suggest that the tweak will be rolled out remotely. That means that it might not be strictly tied to the release of these new software updates after all.

This change is another example of Apple ditching its older iTunes Store branding and replacing it with purchases that can be made via the Music and TV apps instead.

There is currently no firm indication of when we can expect Apple to roll these new software updates out to the public, but they're currently available to public and developer beta testers. The expectation is that they'll roll out worldwide before the end of the year.