Apple Is Ditching iTunes U And iBooks Author: Here Are The Alternatives

In updates on its support pages, Apple quietly revealed that it will discontinue iTunes U next year and that it will stop supporting iBooks Author starting in July. Both offerings are aging — iTunes U launched way back in 2007 and iBooks Author was released in 2012. This isn't bad news, mind; Apple has alternatives for users of both products.

If you're an Apple user, there's a pretty good chance that you completely forgot about iTunes U and that you possibly never even heard of iBooks Author. The first of the two launched as a dedicated section in iTunes that houses educational content like audio files from universities and museums. iBooks Author, as its name suggests, is an ebook creator for self-publishing authors.

In a support document, Apple revealed that it will no longer update iBooks Author and that new users won't be able to use it starting on July 1. Anyone who has already downloaded this app will keep access to it, however, and it will remain usable on macOS 10.15 and older versions.

For everyone else, Apple is suggesting that users switch to Pages; the company plans to launch a book import feature in this app in the near future, which will enable users to open and edit .iba iBooks Author documents. Pages has grown over the years and include many features for assembling and exporting ebooks.

iTunes U, meanwhile, will stick around for a bit longer. As detailed on the related support document, Apple plans to discontinue iTunes U in late 2021; it instead wants users to switch to its newer alternatives, including Schoolwork and Classroom. For other educational content, users can check out its Podcasts app and Apple Books.