Apple is preparing to retire the iTunes Wish List feature, a long-standing tool that allowed users to save movies and TV shows for purchase or rental at a later date. According to an email sent to affected customers, the feature will be removed soon and will no longer be accessible across Apple platforms. For users who still rely on it, Apple is offering a limited window to migrate saved selections to a newer system.
The iTunes Wish List has existed for years as part of the broader iTunes Store experience, letting customers bookmark titles they planned to buy or rent in the future. While Apple continues to operate the iTunes Store for transactional purchases of movies, TV shows, and music, the company has gradually shifted its focus toward streaming-first platforms. Over time, Apple Music and the Apple TV app have become the primary destinations for everyday content discovery and consumption, leaving some legacy iTunes features increasingly isolated.
In its message to users, Apple states that the iTunes Wish List, also referred to as Favorites on tvOS, will no longer be accessible once the change takes effect. The company has not provided a precise shutdown date, but the language suggests the removal is imminent. Rather than automatically migrating user data, Apple is asking customers to take manual action if they want to preserve their saved titles.
To support the transition, Apple is including a PDF attachment in its notification emails. This document lists each movie and TV show previously saved to a user’s Wish List, along with direct links to the corresponding listings. By opening those links and tapping the plus button, users can add each title to the Apple TV Watchlist. Once added, these items will appear in the Continue Watching row on the Apple TV app’s Home tab, where they can be easily revisited later.
The process is intentionally simple but requires individual confirmation for each title. Users who do not take action will lose access to their saved lists once the feature is removed. Apple notes that no further steps are required if users are comfortable letting their Wish List expire without migration.
This move fits a broader pattern in Apple’s ecosystem strategy. Over the past several years, the company has steadily phased out older iTunes-era features in favor of app-specific experiences that align more closely with its current services model. While the removal of the iTunes Wish List is unlikely to affect casual users, it may be disruptive for those who have maintained long lists of planned purchases over time.
For customers who still use iTunes as a discovery or planning tool, the change serves as another signal that Apple’s long-term priorities now sit firmly with the Apple TV app and its unified Watchlist approach, rather than legacy features tied to iTunes.
