feature request : make iTunes 12.6.5.3 spoof UserAgent to reenable downloading Apps

[Hammi71]

Hi there,

I've just registered on GitHub and this is my first post. So please be indulgent.

It's not really an issue, but a maybe useful feature request : As some of you may already know, Apple changed kind of authorization-mechanism last march when downloading Apps with macOS-version of iTunes 12.6.5.3, so that downloading Apps stopped working. The windows-version isn't affected. In Mac Rumors - forum I found this threads/posts :

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/apples-special-version-of-itunes-that-still-has-an-app-store-currently-incompatible-with-macos-mojave.2143244/post-28534466 https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/retroactive-mac-app-that-lets-you-run-aperture-iphoto-or-itunes-on-macos-catalina.2207898/post-28493323

Could it be possible to implement a patch in Retroactive to make the macOS-version of iTunes 12.6.5.3 use of TLS 1.2/1.3 to reenable the download-capability of Apps ? Maybe one could reverse-engineer the authorization-mechanims of the windows-version of iTunes 12.6.5.3 when downloading Apps.

Best regards, Marcus

[cormiertyshawn895]

TLS is not related to the breakage, and enabling TLS 1.2 or 1.3 will not re-enable the ability to download iOS apps from iTunes. The server endpoint no longer responds to macOS clients, so the path forward are:

• Wrap the Windows version of iTunes 12.6.5.3 using wine64.
• Re-direct iTunes download requests to the Apple Configurator endpoint. This will only allow you to download apps that are already purchased, new purchases will fail.
• Pretend to be iTunes 12.6.5.3 for Windows. This is challenging because the authentication mechanism are different between macOS and Windows.

[b0gdanw]

The assumption was incorrect, iTunes 12.6 is actually using TLS 1.2. On macOS 10.13-10.16, it is still possible to purchase apps using iTunes 12.6, just the downloads fail. The Windows 32-bit version of iTunes 12.6, with working downloads, can be installed in Mojave using Wine. https://github.com/b0gdanw/iTunes/blob/master/Install_Windows32bit_iTunes12.6.5.3_in_Mojave.txt In Catalina, wine32on64 is needed. The Windows 64-bit version of iTunes crashes even in CrossOver.

[Gcenx]

@b0gdanw have you tested a recent version of wine64 with iTunes 12.6?

[b0gdanw]

@Gcenx Yes, Wine Staging and Wine Development 5.7. iTunes64Setup.exe installs without issues, when iTunes.exe is started it displays the license agreement then crashes: Unhandled exception: page fault on execute access to 0x00000000 in 64-bit code (0x0000000000000000).

[Gcenx]

@b0gdanw I was thinking something more recent like wine-staging-5.13, but Tunes crashes on launch and iTunes64 fails during installation.

Also couldn't get ether version running on wine-stable-5.0.1 or wine-crossover-19.0.1/CrossOver-19.0.2 (iTunes crashes on launch and iTunes64 fails during installation)

[Hammi71]

Hi there,

month ago I started this issue with the, maybe wrong, approach involving TLS. Today I stumbled upon a new approach, where the iTunes - UserAgent is changed using Charles Proxy :

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/apples-special-version-of-itunes-that-still-has-an-app-store-currently-incompatible-with-macos-mojave.2143244/post-29395229

The resulting question, if this could also be done using a patch, has already been asked there either :

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/apples-special-version-of-itunes-that-still-has-an-app-store-currently-incompatible-with-macos-mojave.2143244/post-29577849

So I would like to repeat this question here.

Best regards, Marcus