Apple TV gains Pandora app, but tvOS 9.1 still lacks Bluetooth keyboard support

AppleInsiderAppleInsider
Posted:
in iPod + iTunes + AppleTV
Streaming music service Pandora launched an official tvOS app on Wednesday, while separately, users have noticed that the fourth-generation Apple TV continues to lack Bluetooth keyboard support, even after Tuesday's tvOS 9.1 update.

Image Credit: MacRumors
Image Credit: MacRumors


The new Pandora app eschews the service's normal interface for a grid-based layout consistent with tvOS design. A menu bar up top lets users quickly switch between Now Playing, My Stations, Create Station, and Account tabs.

Exploiting the greater screen space, album art is also featured more prominently. The Now Playing tab offers standard options for voting on a song or skipping it, as well as track information and a progress bar.

Pandora is already one of the most popular streaming music services in the world, and first place in the U.S., but could cement its hold through its recent takeover of Rdio, which will allow it to launch on-demand streaming on top of radio stations.

Bluetooth keyboards in absentia



AppleInsider can confirm that the fourth-generation Apple TV still doesn't support pairing a Bluetooth keyboard, even though the option was present on the third-generation set-top.

Typing has been one of the more frequent complaints about the new hardware, since tvOS' onscreen keyboard is separated into two rows at best and forces users to scroll back and forth repeatedly if they're using the Siri Remote. Voice commands don't work in all circumstances on the device, such as entering a password.

The tvOS 9.1 update did however restore compatibility with the iOS Remote app, allowing much faster text input via an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 15
    gr8design72gr8design72 Posts: 1member
    With tvOs 9.1 they did implement the use of the Remote app for use on an iOS device. Tested it out last night and navigation and keyboard worked great!
    jbdragon
  • Reply 2 of 15
    kent909kent909 Posts: 731member
    Part of article about the keyboard support is just whiny.
    mwhiteredgeminipartalati
  • Reply 3 of 15
    chris.mccarthychris.mccarthy Posts: 1member
    Yeah Roger, just like apple is phasing out there headphone jack on phones, they will phase out keyboards with siri implimentation. You failed to mention the addition of the siri to remote app allowing people to search via voice. It will only get better, Ive always have believed in apple, tired of whining.....There the best company in the world......, Apple wants us to have the technology they just choose to release these updates when the timing/technology is right..... If you don't like cutting edge, theres always Windows OS
    mwhite
  • Reply 4 of 15
    applesauce007applesauce007 Posts: 1,698member
    Welcome Pandora!

    Who needs a keyboard on an Apple TV?  Yack!  What is it a PC?


    redgeminipajbdragonrtalati
  • Reply 5 of 15
    takeotakeo Posts: 446member
    What tvOS really needs is a universal in-box / notification centre. I'm still constantly going in and out of app to find newly added content... new episodes of iTunes season passes, new episodes in my Hulu queue, new episodes from cable TV apps, etc. Back and forth constantly. Plus, now that we're forced to use official apps with AppleTV4 none of the shows even have indicators anymore. At least with AppleTV3 most of the apps would add a red number indicator to your various show lists.
  • Reply 6 of 15
    roll2onroll2on Posts: 1member
    The latest IOS & TVos do enable the remote App on my iPhone & iPad. I was able to enter search input using the keyboard on my iPhone which turned on by default when entering characters & even displayed dots when entering a password.
  • Reply 7 of 15
    deepinsiderdeepinsider Posts: 67member
    Siri is no substitute for BT keyboard support. It doesn't work for entering text in all contexts, only for searches. And what happens when Siri misunderstands? You need to type, that's what. I wish people would stop making excuses for Apple every time they do something stupid. AppleTV gen3 > AppleTV gen4. Pretty sad...
    edited December 2015 jackansidequardo
  • Reply 8 of 15
    wood1208wood1208 Posts: 2,913member
    One question, does remote App in 9.1 mimic bluetooth keyboard or not ? If it does than I think it covers most ground other than those who likes BT physical keyboard touch. Until Siri becomes human level speech intelligent entity, physical input is still needed in many instances. It was announced that new Remote App is coming with full Siri support so that might be best of both, physical input through IOS device and voice input through Siri.
    When i bought 2nd gen AppleTV as it came out and had to use dinky remote for inputting userid/password. Man so much frustrating. Typically Apple does most things right and good thing if something sleeps through than somehow make it right quickly.
    edited December 2015
  • Reply 9 of 15
    redgeminiparedgeminipa Posts: 555member
    Siri is no substitute for BT keyboard support. It doesn't work for entering text in all contexts, only for searches. And what happens when Siri misunderstands? You need to type, that's what. I wish fanboys would stop making excuses for Apple every time they do something stupid. AppleTV gen3 > AppleTV gen4. Pretty sad...
    So... you don't own an iPhone, iPad or iPod touch? This article clearly states the Remote App for all 3 of those devices works now. Did you not read the article, or were you too focused on the whole part saying there's still no Bluetooth keyboard support?

    "Fanboys" typically read.

    When an iOS device is so much smaller, and almost always sitting right beside you, it's a LOT more convenient to grab than a big 'ole physical keyboard. Have multiple Apple TVs? Your options are:
    1) buy multiple keyboards to use
    2) keep pairing and un-pairing a keyboard for each one
    3) select which Apple TV you want to control from the Remote App on iOS with a simple tap on the screen.

    I'll take the latter. 

    There may be another solution: a Bluetooth keyboard connected to an iOS device... maybe a Bluetooth keyboard case on an iPad, like many people have, if you REALLY feel the NEED to use a physical keyboard. 
    edited December 2015 jbdragonapplepieguyrtalati
  • Reply 10 of 15
    JOldridgeJrJOldridgeJr Posts: 5member
    ....I purchased the new Apple TV 4 thinking it was going to come out with some awesome deals from cable companies, but now that Apple has abandon that idea for a while, whats the purpose of keeping the damn 4th generation Apple TV? That's what I get for jumping in my car, going to my local Apple store and getting that Apple TV a couple of days after it was released.....I should have listened to my friends and picked up the new Roku 4 instead.....
    jackansi
  • Reply 11 of 15
    jbdragonjbdragon Posts: 2,311member
    JOldridgeJr said:
    ....I purchased the new Apple TV 4 thinking it was going to come out with some awesome deals from cable companies, but now that Apple has abandon that idea for a while, whats the purpose of keeping the damn 4th generation Apple TV? That's what I get for jumping in my car, going to my local Apple store and getting that Apple TV a couple of days after it was released.....I should have listened to my friends and picked up the new Roku 4 instead.....
    Since when did you expect Cable company's to give Apple awesome deals? That's cutting directly into their buisness. Now if you're talking about the content creators, they want to much also. They want all their channels BUNDLED into the deal. You want ABC, they want to bundle ABC Family and ESPN and Disney and the all the rest, and forcing you to pay more for it all. Same with others turning what Apple wants, a cheap starting bundle into a costly bundle deal. So really, instead of paying Comcast a bunch of money for TV service, You're now paying Apple a bunch of money for TV service and nothing has changed. What's the point? Getting a ROKU 4? What does that get you? I have 3 ROKU's myself and I haven't used mine since I got the Apple TV 4. I guess the ROKU 4 gets you 4K support, but unless you have a 120" or larger TV, 4K is a Joke, and streaming 4K content is a even bigger joke then so called 1080P streaming content as it's sure not Blu-Ray quality. Yet it looks just fine for most people because people already have to small of a HDTV for the distance they sit and can't se the better detail anyway. 4K is even more worthless. 4K is what you're watching on a HUGE screen when you do to the Movie Theater. Have one of those at home? Unless you sit 1 foot in front of the screen like for a computer monitor.
  • Reply 12 of 15
    yojimbo007yojimbo007 Posts: 1,165member
    Apple needs to allow folders .. It's very inefficient to scan through all these apps on one page.. It's ridiculous! Games .. Screensavers , chana,s all mixed up on one page ! Also apple needs to allow us to creat favorites folderS for orginizing what we like. Way of consolidating programing from different apps ... Example of such folders could be ( my favorite syfy, favorite news, favorite sidcom.. Etc) Each folder can show a dot with a number inside ( like ios mail) showing designated new content that has not been watched or something along those lines ) Hec my stupid dvr is capable of some orginization. Without this orginizationsl tools at the core of TVOS .. It will be mess and inefficiant !
  • Reply 13 of 15
    dequardodequardo Posts: 29member
    jbdragon said:
    JOldridgeJr said:
    ....I purchased the new Apple TV 4 thinking it was going to come out with some awesome deals from cable companies, but now that Apple has abandon that idea for a while, whats the purpose of keeping the damn 4th generation Apple TV? That's what I get for jumping in my car, going to my local Apple store and getting that Apple TV a couple of days after it was released.....I should have listened to my friends and picked up the new Roku 4 instead.....
    Since when did you expect Cable company's to give Apple awesome deals? That's cutting directly into their buisness. Now if you're talking about the content creators, they want to much also. They want all their channels BUNDLED into the deal. You want ABC, they want to bundle ABC Family and ESPN and Disney and the all the rest, and forcing you to pay more for it all. Same with others turning what Apple wants, a cheap starting bundle into a costly bundle deal. So really, instead of paying Comcast a bunch of money for TV service, You're now paying Apple a bunch of money for TV service and nothing has changed. What's the point? Getting a ROKU 4? What does that get you? I have 3 ROKU's myself and I haven't used mine since I got the Apple TV 4. I guess the ROKU 4 gets you 4K support, but unless you have a 120" or larger TV, 4K is a Joke, and streaming 4K content is a even bigger joke then so called 1080P streaming content as it's sure not Blu-Ray quality. Yet it looks just fine for most people because people already have to small of a HDTV for the distance they sit and can't se the better detail anyway. 4K is even more worthless. 4K is what you're watching on a HUGE screen when you do to the Movie Theater. Have one of those at home? Unless you sit 1 foot in front of the screen like for a computer monitor.
    You need your eyes checked if you can't see a 4K difference on a 50" screen. 
    tallest skil
  • Reply 14 of 15
    redgeminiparedgeminipa Posts: 555member
    deepinsider said:
    Prepare to be shocked, fanboy Redgeminipa: not everybody owns iStuff. Fanboys typically don't think, so it's no wonder you didn't think of that.

    Siri is no substitute for BT keyboard support. It doesn't work for entering text in all contexts, only for searches. And what happens when Siri misunderstands? You need to type, that's what. I wish fanboys would stop making excuses for Apple every time they do something stupid. AppleTV gen3 > AppleTV gen4. Pretty sad...
    So... you don't own an iPhone, iPad or iPod touch? This article clearly states the Remote App for all 3 of those devices works now. Did you not read the article, or were you too focused on the whole part saying there's still no Bluetooth keyboard support?

    "Fanboys" typically read. When an iOS device is so much smaller, and almost always sitting right beside you, it's a LOT more convenient to grab than a big 'ole physical keyboard. Have multiple Apple TVs? Your options are:
    1) buy multiple keyboards to use
    2) keep pairing and un-pairing a keyboard for each one
    3) select which Apple TV you want to control from the Remote App on iOS with a simple tap on the screen.

    I'll take the latter. 

    There may be another solution: a Bluetooth keyboard connected to an iOS device... maybe a Bluetooth keyboard case on an iPad, like many people have, if you REALLY feel the NEED to use a physical keyboard. 
    I'm not shocked, at all, by anything you said, period. I assumed you were in the 99% club, whereby the overwhelming majority of everyone here owns an iOS device. Excuse me for not thinking you're in the 1% group. 

    I may be a "fanboy," as you say, but at least I'm not a miserable, old, disgruntled person who has nothing better to do than lash out at total strangers on the internet. Before you come off in reference to my glaring comment about your assumed lack of reading, maybe you should realize you cocked the hammer on the gun I fired at you for calling us "fanboys" when you don't know a single one of us. 

    There is no shortage of we "fanboys" who call out Apple for missteps. 
  • Reply 15 of 15
    bobcubsfanbobcubsfan Posts: 54member
    For now a work around to use a "real keyboard" with Apple TV would be to pair a keyboard with an iPhone and then use the Apple Remote to control the Apple TV. The Apple Remote will act as a bridge for text input using the "real keyboard."
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