What is the apple tv app?

• Go to your device's app store and search for the Apple TV app or Apple TV+ app. If you don't see the app that you're looking for, check your device's compatibility.
• Download the app.
• Open the app and follow the instructions to complete setup.

It gets a little confusing, perhaps. But that’s where we come in.

This is everything you need to know about Apple TV. The hardware. And the software. And the streaming service.

Generally speaking, when you talk about Apple TV, you’re talking about hardware, or what commonly is referred to as a set-top box, which plugs into your television via HDMI. The official name of the current hardware is Apple TV 4K, which is now in its third generation.

The box itself is about the size of a couple of decks of cards. And in typical Apple fashion, it’s a pretty stark design. Matte black plastic, with just the Apple logo on top, and some ports on the back.

There now are a couple of versions of Apple TV 4K, which was last refreshed in October 2022 and sport mostly minor improvements on the previous version. They share the same parts and features for the most part. Apple refers to them as the “Wi-Fi model,” and the “Wi-Fi + Ethernet model.”

As the names imply, one only has wireless networking, and the other has a gigabit Ethernet port. That’s not the only distinction, though. The model with Ethernet has double the onboard storage at 128GB, and support for the Thread networking standard, which will make smart home support even more seamless.

Both models are powered by Apple’s A15 Bionic processor, which means both are very overpowered for what they currently do. That’s not a bad thing, though.

And both share the same Siri Remote. It’s still the sleek silver deal we’ve enjoyed for a while now (and it’s still perhaps a little smaller and boxier than you’d like). It still has a combination directional/clickable button/pad thing that sounds weird on paper but works fine in actuality, with a minimal smattering of buttons. And it has proper power and volume controls, so there’s a pretty good chance it’ll be the only remote you need.

And it now recharges via USB-C instead of Apple’s proprietary Lightning cable.

The Wi-Fi-only Apple TV 4K costs $130, while the one with more storage, plus Ethernet and Thread support, costs $150. In case you need us to spell it out, you should just go ahead and spend the extra money. Because if you can plug in into your network, you should. and if you ever want support for Thread, this is how you get it. And nobody has ever said, “Welp, I wish I didn’t have this much storage for apps and stuff.” Just do it.

The original Apple TV hardware was born in January 2007 and ran a modified version of Mac OS X Tiger. Things have changed quite a bit since then, of course. Apple tvOS is a dedicated branch of Apple software that feels a little bit like if you told someone to take the iPhone or iPad experience and stick it on a living room-sized display.

The home screen is as simple as it gets — icons for apps. And those apps all come from the Apple TV app store.

And … that’s it. Mostly. You can hold down the TV button on the remote to slide open a Control Center that very much looks like what you’ll find on iPhone, iPad, or a Mac. Or click it twice to see thumbnails of your open apps, which you can then swipe away to close manually.

Available apps run the gamut. There are all the streaming services, of course, like YouTube TV or Hulu With Live TV. And utilities. And music and other videos. And if you’re a gamer, Apple TV has a bunch at the ready, too, via Apple Arcade.

There’s also support for multiple user accounts, so you can have a completely different experience from a family member, be it apps or notifications or whatever. And tvOS remains an excellent platform for things like AirPlay, where you can mirror your phone or use the feature to watch any content from a handheld device or Mac on your TV instead.

And if you’re the owner of an Apple Watch, Apple TV is a brilliant way to use Apple Fitness+.

For those who are into Apple’s smart home ecosystem, Apple TV (the hardware) allows you to use HomeKit (the software) to control supported devices. That ecosystem should grow exponentially once Thread support is mainstream, so that’s a reason to get the more expensive of the two current Apple TV 4K options.

Like other Apple products, tvOS will see updates alongside Apple’s other software.

We’ve mentioned the TV button on the Siri Remote. Press it, and it takes you to the TV app. This is where things start to get a good bit more confusing.

The short version is that Apple is trying, with various degrees of success, to make the TV app the one place to go for all TV on Apple TV. Except it’s not.

A number of major video apps allow their content to be surfaced in the TV app. That’s how you might see an on-demand movie from, say, HBO Max, alongside something from Disney+ or Amazon Prime Video. There are more than 130 services that can pipe content into the TV app. But not participating, still, is Netflix. So for as good as the TV app is in helping you figure out what you want to watch without having to care about which app you’ll be able to watch it on, it’s not all-encompassing.

The Apple TV app also is where you’ll find MLS Season Pass. It’s a separate subscription that gets you every MLS game, plus playoffs, without any blackouts. In addition to the live games themselves, you’ll also get replays, interviews, and features on every team.

The cool thing, though, is that the TV app is available on iOS, iPad OS, Mac OS, and Apple TV.

But it definitely tends to make things a little more confusing, and we wouldn’t blame you for ignoring it.

Then there’s Apple TV+. It’s Apple’s own premium streaming service that is all about exclusives. If you’re watching it on Apple TV+, be it a movie or series, you can’t watch it anywhere else.

Apple TV+ also is required if you’re going to watch Friday Night Baseball. Apple used to show games for free. But starting with the 2023 season, you’ll need a subscription.

But there’s nothing particularly exclusive about Apple TV+ itself. While, yes, you can watch Apple TV+ in the TV app on your Apple TV, you also can watch it pretty much anywhere else, be it on hardware from Roku or Amazon, or even Google. Or in a web browser. And that makes sense, because what good is a streaming service that’s only available on certain hardware?

Apple TV+ costs $6 a month.

Description The Apple TV app is a line of media player software programs developed by Apple Inc. for viewing television shows and films delivered by Apple to consumer electronic devices. Wikipedia

The Apple TV app (also known as Apple TV, TV, and the TV app) is a line of media player software programs developed by Apple Inc. for viewing television shows and films delivered by Apple to consumer electronic devices. It can stream content from the iTunes Store, the Apple TV Channels a la carte video on demand service, and the Apple TV+ original content subscription service. On iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, and Apple TV devices it can also index and access content from linked apps of other video on demand services.

The app was released in the United States in December 2016 for iPhones, iPod Touches, and iPads and was rolled out to other countries starting in late 2017. During the course of 2019 and 2020, it was brought to Macs and the third generation Apple TV and gradually, with certain feature omissions, to non-Apple devices: post-2015 Roku and Amazon Fire TV models and some newer television models on the Roku TV, Fire TV Edition, Samsung Tizen, LG webOS, and Vizio SmartCast smart TV platforms, with select new Sony Android TV models gaining access in October 2020.

Content from the TV app may also be streamed via Apple's AirPlay 2 protocol from a device supporting the TV app to particular smart television sets from Sony, Vizio, LG, and Samsung.

TV was announced at an Apple media event on October 27, 2016, and was released in the United States on December 12, 2016, with iOS 10.2 and tvOS 10.1, replacing the "Videos" application in earlier versions of iOS. It aggregates television shows and movies from the iTunes Store with content from installed partner apps, and can track progress across devices using the same Apple ID. Only content from Apple's services opens inside the TV app; other content is opened in the linked app.

The app originally contained five sections: "Watch Now", "Sports", "Library", "Store" and "Search". Push notifications for sports scores can be enabled.

TV received a major redesign following Apple's March 2019 media event, which refocused it as a hub for Apple-distributed video streaming. The new version added support for Apple TV Channels and debuted a new icon similar to the Apple TV hardware icon, replacing the previous icon resembling a television.

TV was added to the pre-tvOS 3rd generation Apple TV in March 2019, though this version lacks the ability to link with other video on demand apps. Picture-in-picture and switching between multiple Apple IDs was added in tvOS 13 to fourth generation and newer Apple TVs.

TV supports 4K, Dolby Atmos, Dolby Vision, and HDR10 on the Apple TV 4K. Dolby Vision and HDR10 are supported on iPad Pro and iPhone models released in 2017 or later, and Dolby Atmos on 2018 iPad Pro models and iPhones.

TV was released with macOS Catalina on October 7, 2019, as one of three applications created to replace iTunes. It supports Dolby Atmos, Dolby Vision, and HDR10 on MacBooks released in 2018 or later, while 4K HDR playback is supported on the iMac Pro and other Macs released in 2018 or later when connected to a compatible display.

Apple announced in January 2019 that the TV app would be made available on non-Apple platforms for the first time. The decision to expand to other platforms was cited as part Apple's efforts to expand its service revenues by making video content available widely to the public.

It launched on Roku on October 15, 2019, on models with a 3800 model number or higher, and on the Roku TV platform. It became available on Amazon Fire TV on October 24, 2019, though limited to Fire TV devices released in 2016 or later, and on the Fire TV Edition platform.

The app launched on Samsung TVs on their customized version of the Tizen OS platform on May 13, 2019. It became available on the LG webOS platform on February 3, 2020. It was added to the Vizio SmartCast platform on September 8, 2020.

The app also launched on select 2020 Sony Bravia Android TV models on October 14, 2020. On December 16, 2020, Google announced that the Android TV version of the app would be widely made available to other devices running Android TV, beginning with the Chromecast with Google TV in early 2021. It became available on nearly all Android TV models and devices running on Android TV 8.0 on June 1, 2021.

The app became available on the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 in November 2020, as well as the Xbox One, and the Xbox Series X/S on November 10, 2020.

The features available through the software on non-Apple devices are more limited than those on Apple devices, such as a lack of Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision support, but additional updates have lessened the differences over time.

TV is the portal for Apple's Apple TV+ service, featuring original content created for Apple.

On June 14, 2022, Major League Soccer (MLS) announced that it had signed a 10-year broadcasting deal with Apple that would take effect with the 2023 MLS season, under which Apple would hold the global over-the-top streaming rights to all MLS and Leagues Cup matches, and selected MLS Next and MLS Next Pro matches. The service, known as MLS Season Pass, launched on February 1, 2023 as a channel in the Apple TV app. In addition to offering a discounted rate to Apple TV+ subscribers, a package of MLS and Leagues Cup matches is available for Apple TV+ subscribers, with a subset of these matches available for free.

Apple TV Channels is a service that aggregates content from popular video on demand a la carte subscription services and is accessed from the TV app. Announced in March 2019, it is designed to simplify subscriptions by making them purchasable and accessible in one video content hub, so the consumer need not use each service's own sign-up mechanism or view the content through each service's own app or website. It is designed to compete with similar services such as Amazon Channels and Hulu Add-Ons, which similarly make multiple subscription premium networks available in one location. The payment method can also be centralized through Apple's own billing service. Because the content is from paid subscription services, it will be ad-free. Content can also be downloaded to the device for offline viewing, and there is an option to share accounts within families.

Partners include Cinemax, Boomerang, Discovery Channel, Motor Trend, Tastemade, Starz, MGM+, Showtime, BET+, Paramount+, Nick+, Noggin, Curiosity Stream, Mubi, Globoplay, BBC Select, BritBox, AMC+, Allblk, Shudder, and Acorn TV. HBO was a launch partner but deprecated their channel following the launch of HBO Max, discontinuing new subscriptions and retaining existing ones for Apple users who registered for the channel before the May 2020 launch of HBO Max (while granting access to HBO Max at no extra charge) until July 22, 2021, when it was discontinued for existing subscriptions. The broad reach of the 1.4 billion Apple devices in use globally induced major services, some of which already have their own content distribution systems, to make deals with Apple.

Netflix declined to be involved with the service, with CEO Reed Hastings saying that they chose not to integrate its service's programming into Apple TV Channels because "we prefer to have our customers watch our content in our service." Netflix would have received little or no data about viewers from Apple TV Channels. AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson, during an on-stage discussion with CNBC's Andrew Ross Sorkin at a fintech event, pushed back on the suggestion that content providers like AT&T's HBO would "not have the same level of access to the data" captured from Apple TV Channels that they currently receive through their own apps and websites to "see what everybody's really watching and be able to make certain decisions", instead insisting that AT&T's digital distribution deals provide it "access to data ... critical to advertising delivery, critical to marketing".

The TV app can stream content rented or purchased from the iTunes Store.

The versions of the TV app on iOS, iPadOS, and tvOS can integrate and curate content from supported video on demand apps installed on the same device, and can track progress across devices using the same Apple ID. Only content from Apple's services opens inside the TV app, for other content it will open the linked app. Support from apps varies by country. Support for Netflix is limited; their television shows and films will appear in search results and play, but other features like curation and progress tracking are unavailable.