iTunes app goes missing on my iPhone

After reorganising my Mac iTunes library I decided to download my previously purchased music to my iPhone. But the iTunes app was missing. I searched and still couldn’t find the distinctive purple icon. This I certainly couldn’t understand, because I know that the iTunes app is hard-wired into iOS and cannot be deleted. I checked the iPad and iTunes was all present and correct as I expected.

Then I remembered a little-used option in Settings/General. In the pane dealing with auto lock and passcode lock is an option called Restrictions. Most times you will find restrictions switched off. I suspect it is off by default. Mine was on. Inside restrictions is a list of items, including Safari and Camera that you can actually switch off. There are also two buttons for iTunes and Ping. Both, on my iPhone were off.

I now remember that when Ping was introduced I read a tip that it could be turned off by using the Restrictions menu. Unfortunately, while switching off Ping I had also disabled iTunes. This must have been months ago, so it shows how often I try to access iTunes on the iPhone.

After turning iTunes back on again I was able to see the app on the iPhone and proceed to download the purchased media. Frustrating for a moment, but there is usually a logical explanation to anything that goes wrong.