The new iTunes iOS app that goes with the Apple Radio launch annoys the heck out of me. For some reason the GUI designers (and marketing peoples) think that the Apple online services are the only thing you'll ever need. This results in an iTunes menu bar where 80% is useless to me.
i don't want Apple 'Radio', 'New', or music especially 'For You', and I definitely don't want to 'Connect' with artists. I want to listen to MY music. And I want to be able to switch easily between playlists, albums and artists. Basically, I want the 'old' iTunes app, or the possibility to (fully) customize the options in the bottom menu-bar (which was also possible in the former iTunes app.
There is a way to minimize the 'damage' by disabling and restricting some online features. Unfortunately, there no way to remove the 'Radio' option, unless you can find a way to change your country to a place where they don't have Apple Radio (e.g. South Africa).
Just follow the steps below, or watch the movie at the bottom of this post:
- Enable restrictions (which requires a passcode) for the 'Connect' option. This removes the 'Connect' option.
(Settings -> General -> Restictions -> Disable 'Apple Music Connect'). - Disable 'Apple Music' to remove the 'For You' and 'New' menu options.
(Settings -> Music).
This leaves you with a cleaner menu, but still no option to add shortcut items like 'artists', or 'albums'.
Just hope that Apple will bring back the customization option in a new release of the iTunes app for iOS.
Finally, the steps from above in a short movie: