Earlier this month, the tech sphere was buzzing following a report that Apple was “evaluating” the idea of releasing a television. Many Apple diehards have longed for an Apple TV set, and I believe that such a device from Apple makes more sense today than nearly 15 years ago, when similar rumors were in full force. However, before any Apple television set can launch—or be a success—Apple needs to fix its existing, messy TV ecosystem of hardware and software that is both confusing to general users and frustrating to film buffs.
A confusing Apple “TV” ecosystem
I can’t count the number of times people have told me they are confused by Apple’s current “TV”-branded products.
“Is there a difference between Apple TV and Apple TV+?” they ask. Yes. There is a massive difference—but I don’t blame them for being confused. Apple’s “TV” branding is all over the map. So, here’s a glossary:
- Apple TV: This is the hardware device Apple sells that you connect to a television. The product’s official name is the Apple TV 4K, and you can liken it to a Roku (but instead of a USB-stick form, it’s more like a square hockey puck). The Apple TV 4K includes the box you connect to your existing television and the Siri Remote control.
- tvOS: This is the operating system that powers the Apple TV hardware. It is to Apple TV what iOS is to the iPhone.
- Apple TV+: This is Apple’s streaming service, aka: Apple’s Netflix. But unlike Netflix, it’s not an individual app for tvOS. Instead you need to access the service through another app that you also access any purchased content through. That app is called. , ,
- TV: This is an app for Mac, PC, iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, and smart TVs that allows you to access the movies and television shows you purchase through iTunes or the integrated TV app content store. Inside this app, you will also be able to gain access to the Apple TV+ streaming service, rent movies, and even browse content available on other streaming services.
I don’t even want to consider how much more confusing this branding will become for the average consumer if Apple adds a dedicated branded television set to the mix. Godspeed to the company’s marketing people if that happens.
The TV app is Apple’s most disappointing app
Apple’s confusing jumble of TV-related products is best represented by the TV app. Apple sees it as the app-based hub for your digital video content. This app hub is your access point for the Apple TV+ service, all the movies and TV shows you’ve purchased via the iTunes or TV app content stores, movies you choose to rent, and even content from select other streaming services.
However, as a hub—a central point where you can access, manage, and curate all the content you’ve purchased through Apple—the TV app, which debuted in 2016, still lacks basic content organization features, or any that work well. I’ve detailed many of these disappointments before, particularly because they infuriate film buffs who have chosen to build their digital collections by purchasing their movies from Apple’s content stores.
Take, for example, the illogical restrictions that the TV app places on creating playlists, which allow you to organize your movie into collections. you can group your purchased movies into various playlists of your choosing (such as a playlist for “My favorite films” or “Best Sci-fi movies”), but the TV app only lets you add movies to these playlists if you download them to your device. first. Given that a single 4K movie could be more than 5GB, most Apple devices won’t have the storage space needed to download extensive collections of movies, so you can get so far as to sort them into playlists. It is baffling that Apple requires you to download movies to your device in order to add them to a playlist. This space-hogging requirement is why so few users take advantage of the feature.
