Apple TV 12+

The app is great except for a few annoying features. First, if you’re watching a series, the app doesn’t auto-play the next episode when the previous one finishes. I understand this is to save bandwidth for continuous streaming, but it would be nice to have it set by a timer or something else so that you don’t have to re-enter the app to manually choose to play the next episode when screen-casting to a larger device. Second, you have to re-select the captions for every single video. I have to re-start or rewind so many videos because I forget to reset the captions at the start of each one. If there is an option to automatically apply a captions setting preference it is not easy to find. Finally, the app shows a lot of series and movies that are not available on the app. I know they’re trying to encourage connecting other streaming apps to this one, but most of the suggested programs/movies are not available through the app. I don’t understand why they would promote more content from other apps than Apple’s original content (which has been really good, from what I’ve seen so far). Other than that, the app itself is easy to use and pretty intuitive. The picture is clear and it doesn’t freeze up or blitz out if you rewind or fast-forward a video.

I love the shows on Apple TV+. However, I seem to have the most issues with the Apple TV app of all the streaming/entertainment apps I use. For something made by Apple, this confuses me. It’s little annoyances like how you can’t just view all the episodes of a show easily, you have to search for it and then make sure you don’t choose the option to resume the current episode. Also, there really should just be a toggle for Apple TV+ shows instead of having to navigate the one page. Or, make a search bar appear at the top of the page like in Music, Settings, etc.

I also seem to have a lot of issues with the desktop app on my M1 MacBook Air. The app refuses to load the shows for some reason, it loves to freeze in the middle of an episode or movie, and the app will become unresponsive regularly or even crash upon opening. I can’t be the only one having these issues.

TL;DR: Apple TV+ shows are fantastic, but I hope Apple will work to make the navigation of their apps more consistent and put the same level of detail/love into each one in the coming OS.

Wow…Talk about taking an amazing app and completely destroying one of the main purposes for using an Apple TV, Up Next. Now, you are bombarded with Apple TV+ shows trying to get you to buy or watch them. The Up Next feature (which was the best part of having an Apple TV) is now a shell of what it once was and is no longer a focus for the user. Instead, you are now offered a small thumbnail of your Up Next carousel in the top 1/3 of the screen, with the lower 2/3 being advertisements for Apple TV+ shows. You no longer get any previews or artwork for Up Next, just that little square box. This terrible change by whomever approved this disaster actually has me questioning if it’s now even worth to have the Apple TV since features are being taken away. Almost all TV’s today are smart and have the Apple TV+ app, so the worth of the Apple TV is pretty moot if they remove or no longe care about one of the main reasons for having it. Instead of continuing to provide an amazing customer experience, Apple has opted to force you to see what they want you to see, and when, for their own personal gain. I’m not sure who this redesign is for, but Apple TV owners don’t buy an Apple TV for the TV+ app, they buy an Apple TV because it is the only product that provides you a unified experience and watch list that is continuously updated. Apple called it Up Next, and it was amazing before greed took over.