Apple TV's tvOS found to support app folders
Developer Steve Troughton-Smith continues to find interesting nuggets of info in Apple's tvOS that hint at future Apple TV capabilities, and on Wednesday discovered a way to bring app folder support to the new operating system.
As seen above, Troughton-Smith cobbled together code, or "abused llbd" as he says, to enable the creation of app folders in the shipping version of tvOS that mimic those found in iOS. Each created folder shows up on the tvOS home screen as one would expect, with its own title and nested app icon previews.
The folders come with customizable names and what appears to be full compatibility with tvOS, meaning stored apps can be repositioned and deleted by entering "wiggle mode." It is unclear how exactly apps are moved into and out of a given folder, or if that is even possible, and does Troughton-Smith elaborate on specifics like app limits. At this point the discovery serves as a proof of concept of what Apple could have planned for future updates.
Depending on consumer interest in third-party tvOS apps, there could very well come a day when folders make sense for Apple TV. For now, however, Apple's basic one-app-per-slot organization system offers sufficient support for the smattering of available apps.
Launched publicly alongside the fourth-generation Apple TV last week, tvOS is a distinct operating system that mixes and matches GUI elements from iOS and previous Apple TV software builds to form a cohesive OS ready for the big-screen. Apple is still building out functionality, though initial developer interest in the fledgling OS looks promising.
Earlier today Apple updated the tvOS App Store with a new Categories section, a content discovery enhancement that follows Monday's Top Charts addition.
As seen above, Troughton-Smith cobbled together code, or "abused llbd" as he says, to enable the creation of app folders in the shipping version of tvOS that mimic those found in iOS. Each created folder shows up on the tvOS home screen as one would expect, with its own title and nested app icon previews.
The folders come with customizable names and what appears to be full compatibility with tvOS, meaning stored apps can be repositioned and deleted by entering "wiggle mode." It is unclear how exactly apps are moved into and out of a given folder, or if that is even possible, and does Troughton-Smith elaborate on specifics like app limits. At this point the discovery serves as a proof of concept of what Apple could have planned for future updates.
Depending on consumer interest in third-party tvOS apps, there could very well come a day when folders make sense for Apple TV. For now, however, Apple's basic one-app-per-slot organization system offers sufficient support for the smattering of available apps.
Launched publicly alongside the fourth-generation Apple TV last week, tvOS is a distinct operating system that mixes and matches GUI elements from iOS and previous Apple TV software builds to form a cohesive OS ready for the big-screen. Apple is still building out functionality, though initial developer interest in the fledgling OS looks promising.
Earlier today Apple updated the tvOS App Store with a new Categories section, a content discovery enhancement that follows Monday's Top Charts addition.
Comments
Peope are not dumb... They can foresee a situation where lack of folders will creat an organizational mess .... So why leave that impression on consumers and disappoint them on omission of such a critical feature ...
Who wins ? Nobody..
Consumer gets pissed and starts creating negative narrative.
Apple gets blasted for rushed product or unfinished rough product..( all u have to do is look at the reviews and forum comments to see this)
If it was a tactic by apple not to enable folders.. It was a screwed up one !
Same with siri and remote functionality for apple music... So many holes.
Not providing a night mode or dark mode is another obviouse issue . The UI is way too bright in dark rooms.
Siri search can not be locelized to an app....If one wants to JUST search netflix while in netflix app's search, one has to use the keyboard entry method! If one uses Siri one will get a semi universal search showing results outside of netflix too.... Why not allow both "app locelized siri search " and "universal siri search "?
Why is universal search limited to a handful of apps?
Why isnt the apple ios remote app not compatable with the new Apple TV?
Dont get me wrong... I like the new tv... I love some of the features .. But why release it with such obviouse shortcomings..
Who wins.... Its not like apple did not have time to iron out things at such basic level .. Its been years in the making !
But that is the negative side of things.
There are wonderful feature To the product too.
My favorits are:
The remote!
The new rewind/fast forward through the touch panal on the remote. Finally an accurate smooth way of doing this! Its fantastic.
Siri integration for so many functions... Will only get better .
Apps.
The arial screen savers.
All said.. I believe/hope all the negative issues and obviouse omissions will get resolved before holiday shoping season !
It can trully become a GREAT product!
Not allowing to have folders as it stands right now is a mistake by apple.
Peope are not dumb... They can foresee a situation where lack of folders will creat an organizational mess .... So why leave that impression on consumers and disappoint them on omission of such a critical feature ...
Who wins ? Nobody..
Consumer gets pissed and starts creating negative narrative.
Apple gets blasted for rushed product or unfinished rough product..( all u have to do is look at the reviews and forum comments to see this)
If it was a tactic by apple not to enable folders.. It was a screwed up one !
Same with siri and remote functionality for apple music... So many holes.
Not providing a night mode or dark mode is another obviouse issue . The UI is way too bright in dark rooms.
Siri search can not be locelized to an app....If one wants to JUST search netflix while in netflix app's search, one has to use the keyboard entry method! If one uses Siri one will get a semi universal search showing results outside of netflix too.... Why not allow both "app locelized siri search " and "universal siri search "?
Why is universal search limited to a handful of apps?
Why isnt the apple ios remote app not compatable with the new Apple TV?
Dont get me wrong... I like the new tv... I love some of the features .. But why release it with such obviouse shortcomings..
Who wins.... Its not like apple did not have time to iron out things at such basic level .. Its been years in the making !
But that is the negative side of things.
There are wonderful feature To the product too.
My favorits are:
The remote!
The new rewind/fast forward through the touch panal on the remote. Finally an accurate smooth way of doing this! Its fantastic.
Siri integration for so many functions... Will only get better .
Apps.
The arial screen savers.
All said.. I believe/hope all the negative issues and obviouse omissions will get resolved before holiday shoping season !
It can trully become a GREAT product!
Jesus, what a rant. It's a 1.0 OS release. Apple focused on the fundamentals, and making sure those were nailed. And i think they did a pretty damn good job. These features and refinements will come in time.
I have to lol at this:
"Forum comments" have never been evidence of anything. Also, reviews have been positive so far. Hilarious how you're trying to pretend that online bitching means anything.
... Troughton-Smith cobbled together code, or "abused llbd" as he says...
No, he says "lldb".
I don't get all the hate towards Yojimbo007… Is it because of the typos, or the size of the rant itself?
I write pretty big rants myself but that's not the only reason I'm showing my solidarity; he's pretty much spot-on about the AppleTV 4. Apple developers, these days, seem to be behaving more and more like Google's… They will rather meet some deadline than fix and polish their $hit before they throw it in the wild like they at least tried to back when SJ was alive. I never said “Steve would never let this happen” but, at some point, one has to confront these issues and say that enough is enough.
Look, I, like most fans (not fanboys), already give Apple lots of leeway when it comes to unfinished stuff; revolutionary as it may have been, iPhoneOS 1.0 was an unfinished mess, it didn't even have basic stuff like copy-and-paste functionality, let alone native app support… And the watchOS 1 SDK offered a solution barely “sweeter” than the web apps allowed on the first iPhone. And most users put up with all that and were very much happy about those products (I'm lusting after an Apple Watch, and should it have become available where I live back when it ran watchOS 1 – we're already at watchOS 2 and, at this pace, we'll be getting it when the Watch itself hits version 2
But those were entirely new, groundbreaking platforms! AppleTV has existed for years now as a platform, as did Siri, multitouch trackpads and the OS itself (heck, it even debuted at version 9.0, fehrcrhissakes!)… And don't even bring up iWork and Final Cut Pro X as prior examples; yes, Apple did omit a lot of funcionality, much to the chagrin of its users, but at least they had the decency to own up to it and give them some pointers as to which of it would be restored, if not when.
Did Apple release some statement about the Remote.app support, other than that it (duh) wasn't supported? Or Bluetooth keyboard support? Does *anyone sane* agree with their decisions? Because, yes, after years and years of development, they must have been conscious decisions (and stupid ones, at that) and not gross oversights… Or were they?
We're not talking about coping with feature bloat here, people, but pretty basic, “just works” stuff. How can you justify, after the stellar iPod ecosystem took the world by storm, all the hassles that *paying* Apple Music customers have been subjected to? Now, on top of that, they plunk down more money for an AppleTV which doesn't support *Apple* Music and *Apple* Remote.app properly and you also think that's acceptable? It only adds insult to injury! What about iCloud Keychain? It's the same damned underlying OS! What about Apple's latest Bluetooth LE keyboard that is charged with the same Lightning cable as the Siri remote? I mean, seriously?
When you see Microsoft investing more into interoperability than Apple, that's the moment when you, as a user, start to wonder whether Apple has lost its mojo and collective sense of decency… This is a flustercuck of bigger proportions than the Apple Maps fiasco, because it's not like people can use alternatives to fix those nags without ditching the device altogether! And Apple does have some serious competition in that field. This may not be as big nor as visible, but it is an extremely telling and worrying sign that we may be reaching a death-by-a-thousand-cuts scenario… Which, incidentally, was where many of the companies whose lunch was devoured by Apple got themselves into.
I am pissed because I was very much considering buying this doo-hickey but, after reading all the reviews, I refuse to support Apple's new, half-assed release-it-while-in-beta mindset… That's what Public Betas are for, and I'm already enrolled in quite a few (both from Apple and other companies, like Serif) out of my own free will, thank you very much. For the time being, I'll keep plugging my MacBook Pro to HDMI2 and dealing with stupid Bluetooth issues (I still haven't figured whether it's my TV cabinet that's blocking BT's RF signals, my Apple rechargeable batteries that are dying or the keyboard itself that is crapping out)…
One thought about BT keyboard support and Remote App support. IF you could pair a keyboard, then you could either AirPlay iWork, or Google Docs, or Office to your tv, or perhaps even apps for office come out on the tv, and suddenly with cloud integration you have a $150 computer. No need for a laptop or desktop anymore. Just a thought, is Apple protecting themselves from a low cost cloud based tv computer?
Agreed. Talking of Siri, that's where I want to see the next batch of advancements. I added my large collection of home ripped movies to iTunes on my nMac Pro yesterday for fun, to see how well the new Apple TV handled everything. It does beautifully. It automatically added a new section called Home Movies and all played very smoothly. The only snags are, Siri cannot find them and secondly navigating through them with the swipe on the remote is painful. If you so much as swipe a fraction off the vertical it moves you to another menu. I could barely manage to get half way down the list of movies without being thrown out of that screen.
TLDR.
but on your last paragraph -- if you're letting the bitchers in a couple online forums deter you from using a great product, I feel sorry for you. it does its job to be done very well. it takes less than 10 minutes to set up all your accounts and it just isn't that big of a deal. Siri works for the apps that implemented it. the rest will take time, duh.
how can it take 10-12 "clicks" to open your desired app? I've got 25 apps on the home screen. and it takes a split second to fast-swipe from one axis end to another. you don't need to perform "clicks" (??) or single-swipes. same with the bemoaned keyboard.
I'm not convinced some of you even use the device.
how can it take 10-12 "clicks" to open your desired app? I've got 25 apps on the home screen. and it takes a split second to fast-swipe from one axis end to another. you don't need to perform "clicks" (??) or single-swipes. same with the bemoaned keyboard.
I'm not convinced some of you even use the device.
Apologies for calling them clicks instead of swipes. And yes, you can fast swipe, but since 40 apps covers more than one screen, if I swipe past it I have no way of knowing is above. Either way, 40 icons on a screen with no written names on them is a hunt and peck affair. Folders would make that much easier and should have been a part of this product from the get go.
I don't yet have the new AppleTV. Is there a clean way to drag apps into/out of folders? Are they supporting 3d-trackpoint operations via the Siri Remote?
Doesn't make sense for them to expose folder functionality if there isn't an intuitive solution...
Jesus, what a rant. It's a 1.0 OS release. Apple focused on the fundamentals, and making sure those were nailed. And i think they did a pretty damn good job. These features and refinements will come in time.
Do you really think is acceptable when it is introduced along side a mature iOS? It is even called tvOS 9.0. They should have called it 1.0, like they did with watchOS.
I love the Apple TV but am a bit disappointed that it is in so many ways a very very very baby version of iOS.
use Siri to open Apps for now.
folders are coming.
Does that even work? I'd be surprised. There are more things you cannot use your voice for on Apple TV, than can. I do feel like the over emphasis on Siri has been misleading. The parts that work, are great, and make me wish the whole product had it integrated.
"I'm an Apple fan but"
"I've been using a Mac since 1984 but"
will not increase your credibility in the forums.