Apple started transferring everyone who still watches the iTunes Movie Trailers iPhone app to the TV a week ago, but now the famous service has ended.
Left: The old iTunes Movie Trailers app. Right: Apple’s TV app, now home to trailers
If AppleInsider noticed when the first signs of the app’s disappearance became apparent, iTunes Movie Trailers on iOS has had sixteen minor updates in eleven years. It’s just had its 17th — and despite Apple saying it’s adding “some minor performance and stability improvements,” it isn’t.
To be fair, the functionality of the app is indeed stable and fast performing now, but everything it ever did before is gone. All the app does now is tell you that “the Apple TV app is the new home of iTunes Movie Trailers,” and that there’s a Open button that takes you there.
At the same time, the online iTunes Movie Trailers site has also been stripped. Going to trailers.apple.com now just bounces straight ahead tv.apple.com.
It’s not a surprising ending, given that trailers are now widespread on YouTube and given how the iTunes Movie Trailers app and site have been neglected.
Still, it’s a sad moment because this app and site harks back to a time when Apple was still in trouble — and movie trailers were surprisingly helpful. Movie trailers showed how vastly superior Apple’s QuickTime video player was to Microsoft’s Windows.
It became the place where you could see all the new trailers, and all the film companies wanted to be there.
However, that was in the late 1990s, so despite its neglect, despite its unheralded demise, iTunes Movie Trailers had a good run.