Apple TV renovation could kill iTunes Movies app in December

AppleInsider

Apple could overhaul its Apple TV app by the end of the year, in a bid to make it easier for users to acquire content without needing to access other apps to buy or rent content.

Apple TV

The current landscape for Apple's video content sales and rental is one consisting of multiple apps. While the Apple TV app was meant to be a way to aggregate videos from Apple's various services, it still meant users were often funneled into the other apps to buy and rent items.

According to Bloomberg, the Apple TV app could see a big change in tvOS 17.2, which should be released sometime in December.

In the change, Mark Gurman believes Apple will discontinue apps like iTunes Movies and TV Shows, as well as relevant movie and TV show elements from the iTunes Store app on iOS and iPadOS. Instead, Apple intends users wanting video content to head into the single, solitary TV app.

As part of the refresh, the app will be redesigned to have an aesthetic reminiscent of Netflix and other video services, in having a panel on the left-hand side for navigating between the different video categories.

Read on AppleInsider

Xed

Interesting that they'd do this in a point release. Is there a precedent for this?

elzee

I know a few people who paid for Apple TV+ and ended up canceling it because while trying to find stuff to watch, they were asked to pay for things. Apple already does a really bad job of differentiating the content that you get for free with your Apple TV+ subscription from the content that you have to buy from the iTunes Store or stream from other apps. The average user cannot differentiate these things. If they ship something new, it needs to resolve this core problem, but it sounds like they are going to run the risk of making it worse by rushing the change into a point release.

Xed

elzee said:

I know a few people who paid for Apple TV+ and ended up canceling it because while trying to find stuff to watch, they were asked to pay for things. Apple already does a really bad job of differentiating the content that you get for free with your Apple TV+ subscription from the content that you have to buy from the iTunes Store or stream from other apps. The average user cannot differentiate these things. If they ship something new, it needs to resolve this core problem, but it sounds like they are going to run the risk of making it worse by rushing the change into a point release.

Can you elaborate on that because I thought everything under AppleTV+ was part Apple's streaming options. I just looked now and I am not seeing any paid content under Apple TV+.

My guess is they simply stayed on the Watch Now area which does include AppletTV+, the Store for movies and TV shows, along with some trailers. These people you know don't seem to be your "average user" unless you have a valid reason how Apple can have 25 million AppleTV+ paid subscribers who find it impossible to find the AppleTV+ content on their devices. Anecdotally, I know plenty of people who are not good with technology that have had no problem watching AppleTV+ content.

entropys

I prefer the individual apps. The ATV app is too clunky and hard to navigate.

eightzero

elzee said:

I know a few people who paid for Apple TV+ and ended up canceling it because while trying to find stuff to watch, they were asked to pay for things. Apple already does a really bad job of differentiating the content that you get for free with your Apple TV+ subscription from the content that you have to buy from the iTunes Store or stream from other apps. The average user cannot differentiate these things. If they ship something new, it needs to resolve this core problem, but it sounds like they are going to run the risk of making it worse by rushing the change into a point release.

I got ATV+ specifically for only one show (Foundation) and I fumed at the end of every episode when I got some strange ad for "next up" stuff that cut off the credits and associated music that I wanted to hear and see. The autoplay when you hover over some possible content is damn annoying. And then the "select" display for content is next to impossible to discern on the screen.

That interface is the worst, and it really does keep me away from ATV when I have alternatives. 

kkee

Amazon Prime already mix rent/buy and subs videos.
AppleTV at least has different tabs for them.

daven

I find that I only watch streaming tv services in the winter when the nights are long. When days are short, I’m outside. One way the services get me is that I keep my subscriptions active during the summer even when I’m not watching. My bad.

humbug1873

So you tell me I better deactivate the Auto-Update feature, enabling me to keep the old apps longer until I will eventually be forced to use one of Apple's worst Apps on the planet, the Upsell Apple TV App. 

Fidonet127

There is a whole tab for AppleTV+ content so not sure how it is hard to find that content. We have the bundle, so it makes it cheap to watch. Would not unsubscribe. 

Took a bit to get used to watching trailers within the TV app. Apple was like we are discontinuing the trailers app and didn’t say anything about how to watch trailers. (Store tab and scroll down) As that was a point update, I’m not surprised to see further changes.  I wish they could incorporate movies and tv shows from the computer app into TV. Can we have an easier merge of content viewing for families? I find it annoying to have to go to family sharing to find our content. Yes I understand it was bought under their account. Also can we merge IDs in to one please? Why is that so hard?

sflagel

The TV app is confusing. All the other Content apps that sit alongside it, including iTunes TV, iTunes Movies, Netflix, Disney, BBC, etc., are single provider pay-per-view or subscription apps. The TV app aims to be an aggregator for all other content apps, and a store, and also carries a tab for Apple TV+ subscription: three wildly different services mixed in one app.
People think in structures and standards. It would have been more clear if Apple had a separate Apple TV+ app for only the subscription service, that users can compare mentally with all the other content apps. The TV app could then be more clearly positioned solely as an aggregator.
It seems they are going further down the wrong way and are making the same mistake as they made with iTunes: bloat it until no one knows how to use it and what it does.

Honkers

TV is a weird app.  It almost feels like it should be the default screen of tvOS instead of an app, since it's consolidating content, and is designed as the primary use case of the entire device.  I'd much prefer it if I could turn on my AppleTV and the first screen I see is Continue Watching, and Up Next, and all that stuff, with all other apps below.

wonkothesane

I still buy, don‘t stream - maybe a dying breed. Having said this, I avoids the ATV app and only go through Movies - even that one is not very usable through remote navigation.
We have 700+ movies in the library and it is a PITA to navigate them. Siri doesn‘t work with different languages of titles in the mix. You cannot create you own playlists/collections, something we could do in iTunes very early on. 

Beyond that, when I first time read „I cracked it“ and it was clear that Gene Munster was totally wrong my idea was that Apple would make a „meta app“: One great interface and all sources for movies, theirs, Disney, Netflix etc., under the hood. Turns out, not so much. I also wished they‘d had pushed for the option to buy additional language tracks. 

On the positive side: finally I can find my remote when our cats toyed with it :-)

sflagel

wonkothesane said:

I still buy, don‘t stream - maybe a dying breed. Having said this, I avoids the ATV app and only go through Movies - even that one is not very usable through remote navigation.
We have 700+ movies in the library and it is a PITA to navigate them. Siri doesn‘t work with different languages of titles in the mix. You cannot create you own playlists/collections, something we could do in iTunes very early on. 

Beyond that, when I first time read „I cracked it“ and it was clear that Gene Munster was totally wrong my idea was that Apple would make a „meta app“: One great interface and all sources for movies, theirs, Disney, Netflix etc., under the hood. Turns out, not so much. I also wished they‘d had pushed for the option to buy additional language tracks. 

On the positive side: finally I can find my remote when our cats toyed with it :-)

The Apple TV App is meant to be such meta app. It lines up all the "Up Next" from all your content apps in the top row. It has one row per content app of "suggested", and you can search across all content apps.

What is confusing is that
- not all apps are supported, notably Netflix
- you can add additional content apps through Apple TV app, but these won't appear as an app on the home screen (while if you purchase the app in the app store, its on the home screen and supported by Apple TV app - or maybe not, its confusing....)
- there is a tab for Apple TV+ (but no tabs for the other apps purchased through Apple TV)
- there is no separate Apple TV+ app

They should have just made Apple TV app the meta app, and let everything else live besides it (App Store and TV+).

Even better: the home screen of the Apple TV should look like the home screen of the TV app; and what is now the home screen of the Apple TV should be a tab in the Apple TV app.

DGDMN

The Apple TV App is a dismal failure, much like the Amazon Prime App.

Good luck navigating!

mike1

Honkers said:

TV is a weird app.  It almost feels like it should be the default screen of tvOS instead of an app, since it's consolidating content, and is designed as the primary use case of the entire device.  I'd much prefer it if I could turn on my AppleTV and the first screen I see is Continue Watching, and Up Next, and all that stuff, with all other apps below.

It can be the default screen if you choose. It's in the settings.

I love the way the app works. All my shows are in Up Next. I can search across apps. 

If Netflix participated, that would be great. Their loss, though, because I rarely go to Netflix unless I know exactly which show I want to watch.

reeserell

I love the UI i can have all the shows I’m watching on all apps and streaming services on ATV up next (except Netflix) which is convenient. What i don’t like is Apple charging 9.99 from 6.99 with hardly any content. I get mines through tmobile but I’ll cancel if TMO ever stop paying it

Honkers

mike1 said:

Honkers said:

TV is a weird app.  It almost feels like it should be the default screen of tvOS instead of an app, since it's consolidating content, and is designed as the primary use case of the entire device.  I'd much prefer it if I could turn on my AppleTV and the first screen I see is Continue Watching, and Up Next, and all that stuff, with all other apps below.

It can be the default screen if you choose. It's in the settings.

Do you means the Remote button behaviour?  Yeah, that's pretty useful.  Not quite what I mean, but not far off.  Should be the default, in my onion.

mike1

Honkers said:

mike1 said:

Honkers said:

TV is a weird app.  It almost feels like it should be the default screen of tvOS instead of an app, since it's consolidating content, and is designed as the primary use case of the entire device.  I'd much prefer it if I could turn on my AppleTV and the first screen I see is Continue Watching, and Up Next, and all that stuff, with all other apps below.

It can be the default screen if you choose. It's in the settings.

Do you means the Remote button behaviour?  Yeah, that's pretty useful.  Not quite what I mean, but not far off.  Should be the default, in my onion.

Yes. You can change the default where the device comes out of standby or goes when you hit the "TV" button on the remote.