iTunes For Chromebook: How To Download and Install (April 2023).

If you are searching for iTunes for Chromebook, it means you are a killer fan of Apple, but you own a Chromebook and now you want to use iTunes apk on Chromebook to listen to music and manage your Apple stuff here, right?

Apple is building its own ecosystem where the company wants, all users conditionally or unconditionally bind with their products and services. And google is their biggest competitor, and like that Google’s alphabet wants the same.

So what? Google is the largest shareholder in the smartphone OS industry and owns Android OS, which is a direct competitor of iOS which is Apple’s OS and Chromebook device runs on Android OS.

And that is the reason, apple will never release the Android version of iTunes. So what will you do in this situation?

itunes for chromebook

Well, don’t worry, as our ancestor says, where there is a will, there’s a way. So there are many ways by which you can able to use iTunes on Chromebook.

how to download iTunes on Chromebook?

iTunes is a great option to sync your iPhone, and iPad data and music on Chromebook. Till now, Apple didn’t release any Android versions of iTunes.

But don’t be sad you can still access it on your Chromebook using Windows versions of iTunes via installing Wine architecture. If you don’t know, what is wine? You can find it here.

Note:

  1. As you know Apple is a direct competitor of Google, so that’s why, the company didn’t release any Android versions of it. So you have to install Windows versions of iTunes for chrome book.
  2. To install Windows versions of iTunes on Chrome, you need to enable Debian Linux beta which comes with your Chrome laptop.
  3. Also, you can get iTunes download for Chromebook with or without Linux beta. I will guide you step by step.
  4. If you install iTunes using Linux, you need to follow some crosh commands in the Linux terminal.
  5. Only 32-bit versions of iTunes work well on Chrome devices. If you install some other versions, it will not work on your ChromeOS.

iTunes for Chromebook download with Linux.

setting up linux development environment

To access iTunes app on Chrome device, first of all, you need to do is, “Enable Linux On Chromebook Laptop”. This is a simple few steps process.

When you are configuring it for the first time, you have to choose, the username first. By default, your username is default “Gmail ID”, except @gmail.com.

enable linux

You can choose whatever you want, whatever is easy for you to remember, and then, select the memory space you wish to allow Debian Linux.

You can also modify the memory space later, so you don’t have to worry about it, all the memory space will be managed from Chromebook OS.

So let’s see the step-by-step process to install iTunes for chrome os in a Linux terminal by using Wine architecture and Windows applications.

1. Installing Linux on Chromebook OS.

  1. From the bottom right corner, click on time.
  2. A popup will come up, now click on the “Settings gear” icon.
  3. After that, a new window will open, from the left navigation, go to “Advance” and then, click “Developers”.
  4. In the “Developers” section, you will see, “Linux development environment”.
  5. Now, you have to “turn it on”. Don’t panic, it seems to be difficult and technical but trust me, it is not. You can do it very easily and will not disrupt your Chromebook anyway.
  6. Follow the on-screen instruction, click “Next” and select “terminal memory size allotment and username”. This whole process will take up to 15 minutes.
  7. When the Linux is installed successfully, the crosh command terminal window will pop up automatically.

2. Update Linux with the latest version on ChromeOS.

updating linux to latest version on chromebook os

After the successful installation of Linux, the terminal window will open, if any technical problems happen and crosh shell terminal will not open itself or you closed it accidentally. You can open crosh command terminal, manually.

So to open the crosh shell terminal, press “Ctrl+Alt+T” simultaneously or go to the search box and type “Terminal”, and select it. This will open the terminal. Now follow the command and press “Enter” to update the Debian Linux.

sudo apt-get update

Also Read: Debugging Keyboard Shortcuts Chromebook OS.

3. Enable 32-bit Wine Architecture and Update Linux package libraries.

Now you have to enable 32-bit architecture and update the package library so that Wine can install iTunes and run it smoothly. So for this, follow the command one by one, and press enter after every successful run.

sudo dpkg --add-architecture i386
sudo apt update

4. Download and install Wine on Chromebook’s Linux.

Download and install Wine on Chromebook

This is last but not least, you need to download and install Wine emulator. Follow the command to install the Wine 32 architecture.

When it prompts press “Y”, and then “Enter”. If you don’t know what is wine, let me tell you in brief. It is a compatibility layer that helps Windows apps to run on Chromebook.

sudo apt install wine wine32 libwine libwine:i386 fonts-wine

5. 32-bit iTunes for Chromebook download.

Your wine emulator is ready to install Windows app on Linux terminal. Now you have to download and install 32 bit itunes for Chromebook, make sure you are downloading the right version of iTunes 12.10.11, which has 176.9MB file size.

If you download some other version or 64-bit iTunes for Chromebook, it will not work and shows white screen.

6. Install iTunes on Chromebook.

install itunes on chromebook os

Now locate the file which you have downloaded and rename it to iTunesSetup.exe or whatever is easy for you to remember, because the file name will be used later.

When everything is done, you have to do few changes in given crosh commands to install iTunes. Replace the username with your Linux username and iTunesSetup.exe with the file name you have provided or if you haven’t renamed it earlier.

Note: Linux is username is written before @penguin.

WINEARCH=win32 WINEPREFIX=/home/username/.wine32/ wine iTunesSetup.exe

Do as you follow in the Windows OS installation wizard. Do “Next” when it prompt until the “Finish” button appears.

After finishing the installation window, now you have to fix the path of the installed file, otherwise, it will show an error message like “Path not found

itunes hidden folder

So, go to the Linux folder and click on three vertical dots from the right corner, and then “Show hidden files

Now, you have to find the following file iTunes.desktop and do a few changes to it. So, for this locate

linux itunes
My Files>Linux Files>Share>Applications>Wine>Programs>iTunes.

Right-click on iTunes.desktop and select “open with text” and select “Text (default)”.

ituned desktop opening in text

Important Note: If you are unable to open iTunes.desktop in text format. So in this case you have to rename it itunes.txt and when editing has been done, simply rename it back to iTunes.desktop. That’s it.

After opening the file, add the following commands in the 3rd line, and “Save” the file.

Exec=env WINEPREFIX="/home/username/.wine32" wine "/home/username/.wine32/drive_c/Program Files/iTunes/iTunes.exe"
chromebook text editor

Note: Change username with your Linux username, starting from @penguine.

That’s it, iTunes is now successfully installed on your Chromebook and ready to use. You can easily navigate it from the Chrome book’s search tab or from menu drawer.

itunes on chromebook

Sign in with your apple id, enjoy the millions of songs, and manages your iTunes stuff on ChromeOS.

Conclusion.

In my point of view, iTunes is not designed for Chromebook, and if we it anyhow, using an emulator or compatibility layer like Wine, sometimes it lagged that isn’t sound nice.

I’m using the latest version of ChromeOS with 16 GB RAM, but still, I’m facing the issue right now. Might be in your case result may be different, you should try at least once.

So if you want to use iTunes just to listen to music, then you can choose its alternative too, and that is not a bad idea. Play Store already had Apple Music, You can switch there.

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