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Opinion: With Apple TV 4’s open app platform, some classic channels offer worse user experiences

While the new fourth-generation Apple TV advances Apple’s entertainment box in many areas including universal search, Siri  input and a whole App Store for the first time, much of week one with Apple TV 4 has been about what you lose when moving from Apple TV 2 or 3.

The list is uncomfortably packed for a device that had three years to advance since its predecessor hit the market: missing Bluetooth keyboard and iPhone/iPad Remote app support for easier text input, Apple Watch’s built-in Remote app doesn’t recognize it yet, the Podcasts app hasn’t moved over, and the Photos app is exactly the same (no iCloud Photo Library) despite the newer iCloud Music Library feature making the cut for Apple Music.

There’s also the oddity of each channel being pre-installed on older Apple TVs while new Apple TVs ship with only iTunes, Music, and Photos apps installed. If I were gifting a family member a new Apple TV — something I’m sure will be popular during the holidays — I’d prefer essential channels like Netflix, Hulu, YouTube, and HBO to come pre-installed, albeit optionally deletable, to make the experience friendlier. There’s also the lack of one universal sign-in process between multiple channels so that’s a big setup challenge. I had hoped Apple would tackle this with the new box but instead its just like the prior Apple TV experience.

That being said, my biggest critique and one I haven’t seen acknowledged nearly enough this week is the drop in usability of popular video apps, like the ones that used to be pre-installed on the third-gen Apple TV as ‘channels’. Simpler, list-focused versions of apps like Netflix and Hulu were just easier to use than current versions on the new Apple TV.

Apple TV 4 1

The tvOS software running on the new Apple TV is flashier and more capable as a platform than past versions of the software running on Apple TVs despite the missing features that will surely return with time. Right now, though, most video apps are now worse with harder-to-use layouts. Video apps aren’t constrained in the same way they were with the template-system of previous Apple TV software, so tvOS is giving them the freedom to do things worse. This is counterintuitive to what you expect, as you assume the new device to be better and more capable, but this is sadly not the case.

Take the new Netflix app as an example. Netflix gives you full access to its library of streaming movies and TV shows for a monthly subscription fee, and finding your way around that massive catalog requires great organisation to have a good experience.

Netflix Apple TV 3

The old Apple TV app for Netflix (above) featured a stripped down menu list that made navigating extremely simple. After choosing your user account, the  navigation list let you pick between movies genres and TV shows while presenting new releases and the very important ‘My List’ of manually saved shows to watch later.

Apple TV 4 5The new Apple TV Netflix app (above) is visually more impressive and perhaps makes discovering new content easier, but navigating to core places in the app is noticeably more difficult. The newer version is a definite step backward in usability from my experience. The main view is split in two parts: a detailed preview on the top half and content navigation on the bottom half. Moreover, the focus is only ever on one row of results at a time. A large Netflix logo hides much of the second row.

Apple TV 4 4

Finding the My List section is actually quite hard with the new app. It’s right at the bottom of the list, the 37th row from the top. In fact, My List is located below obscure film collections and series recommendations that Netflix somehow considers more important. Once you discover that it takes several swipes down every time you want to access your saved shows, the new layout on the 4th-gen app feels a lot more limited than its predecessor.

Netflix My List Apple TV 3

The old My List screen displayed up to 14 movies or TV shows in your saved collection at once. The new buried My List is reduced to a row and limited to just 4 and a half titles that you swipe through. Don’t worry, the heavy Netflix brand logo to remind you which app you’re in doesn’t interfere here, thankfully.

Apple TV 4 6

It’s not all bad news.  On the new Apple TV, the screen where you resume playing a movie or TV show consolidates what used to take three separate steps into one. You can choose to resume playback, start video from beginning, or browse more episodes all through one screen. It’s easy to miss but this is an improvement from the old version, which would always surprise me by showing one more step than I was expecting.

Apple TV 4 11

I won’t dive so deep into the next app, Hulu, but from the initial starting page can you locate the Queue section? The top carousel of slides promotes what Hulu wants you to see (or thinks everyone will want to see?) and the next row down does an okay job of showing you shows you’ve recently watched although it’s a little tricky when you share an account with your house. For me the important Queue section was located as the 9th tile on the first row after TV, Movies, Kids, Originals, Latino, British, Anime, and Korean Drama. Not a knock against any of those collections, but Queue being placed after them all is a curious decision.

Hulu Queue Apple TV 3

Compare that to the clear organization on the Apple TV 2/3 version of Hulu where Queue, the place I typically start watching shows, is prominently displayed at the top center. Now that I know Queue is around the 9th tile on the first row it’s not a big deal to locate it next time, but its poor placement made me think it was just removed initially. Without the top navigation menu or an equivalent replacement, I also find myself unsure at times at where I am in the new app.

Apple TV 4 8

Other apps do a better job, taking advantage of the layout possibilities with the new Apple TV. HBO Now, for example, doesn’t much resemble the old channel which could be confusing for upgraders, but the new version does closely resemble the iPad and iPhone version. What’s more, the important Watchlist section is placed in clear view and still manages to show off large artwork for movie and TV show titles.

Apple TV 4 10

My one disappointment here is that the new HBO app doesn’t offer an option to reverse the order of episodes in a season list and Watchlist only seems to work on individual episodes that you add rather than catching all new unwatched shows in a series. So when hunting the latest episode of Last Week Tonight from the TV shows section, for example, you first pick the season then swipe through however many episodes come before it. This happens in other apps like Hulu as well and Siri search helps but doesn’t completely solve it.

Apple TV 4 7

I’m not suggesting that new Apple TV apps should port their old limited layouts from the third-generation box to the fourth-generation box. That’s all YouTube has done so far and the result is a rather unremarkable user experience visually. The stock apps, iTunes Movies and TV Shows, show what is possible and its disappointing to see third-party apps nowhere close to comparable.

I do think there’s a massive opportunity for these popular apps from Netflix and Hulu to meet the usability of their old layouts and build around that experience. Apple TV is getting dinged for a lot of missing features from Apple that will likely be addressed in time, but the freedom to move from uniform apps to widely ranging designs on the new Apple TV is a usability concern that won’t necessarily be addressed without highlighting the issues.

Plex, an entirely new app to Apple TV but one that I don’t personally use for now, strikes a pretty good balance of taking advantage of the new capabilities while still maintaining good navigation and sense of place. And the new Apple TV as a whole is a really welcome product in my home.

As I discussed on this week’s Happy Hour podcast, I’m enjoying many of the new apps and games that aren’t just video channels. For that reason, I’m hopeful that we’ll see improvements to the current popular video apps like Netflix and Hulu on the platform. Agree or disagree with these points, let us know in the comments!

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Comments

  1. ryancgoodfellow - 8 years ago

    I’m having an issue with just the basic iTunes TV shows app that comes with it. Perhaps I am missing something fundamental, but i can’t seem a way around it. I have purchased many seasons over many years. When I go in to watch Modern Family, for example, i am automatically brought up with the side-scroll list of the episodes, starting from the very first season i have purchased. I then have to swipe through approx. 24 episodes/season to get to the very end of the list to watch the most recent episode. the other alternative is, after going into the show, to select the “seasons” button, swipe over to the very end to get the most recent season, select that, then swipe through to the most recent episode. am i nuts? am i missing something important?

    • lkrupp215 - 8 years ago

      You have 14 days to return it. Buy a Roku or an Amazon Fire instead.

      • Michael Harwell - 8 years ago

        He had two years to buy an Amazon fire TV and seven years to buy a Roku. Why would he want to switch to a device with less features at this point?

      • gkbrown - 8 years ago

        How would that help him watch TV shows he purchased through iTunes? Neither Roku nor Fire TV can play iTunes content.

      • JBDragon - 8 years ago

        You can use Siri and say you want to watch Modern Family season 4 episode 5 and have it play that way I beleive!!

  2. pdoobs - 8 years ago

    the “new” interfaces you mention are exactly the interfaces that other people have been using for years at this point on rokus and other smart tv devices. they are much more in line with the app interfaces on the ipads, iphones, and websites that many use as well as their tvs to enjoy those services. if anything it was the old apple tv interfaces that created confusion and a poor experience when used in combination. sure there is a lot of fluff on the “new” netflix interface, but to claim that the old apple tv interface was better is pretty silly

    • slowawake - 8 years ago

      Was going to say the same thing — the Netflix app looks almost identical to the PS3 version I’ve been using for as long as it’s been out. The old ATV one looks archaic in comparison, like they were never able to update that version to match the app with every other version out there.

      • Soluble Apps - 8 years ago

        They weren’t, the old Apple TV apps were really restricted in what they can do, as they essentially ran a template within which only a few elements could be changed.

      • irelandjnr - 8 years ago

        I disagree. The old interface was simpler and better.

    • Moi (@snoo_zin) - 8 years ago

      Look old interface, 14 items visible in the list, the current interface has only 4 items visible at once. Please explain how this is better. Yes the new interface looks better, but its functionally inferior.

      • irelandjnr - 8 years ago

        Try getting My List it’s 37 rows down. These interface was designed by morons.

    • Peter Hillman - 8 years ago

      What you don’t realize is that the Netflix app on the new AppleTV4 is LACKING features from the SmartTV version. It is more crippled than the SmartTV and prior AppleTV3 version. The AppleTV3 and SmartTV version both allow you to browse and search by genre. The new AppleTV4 version lacks that ability. How is that better? As pointed out below, the prior interface displayed 14 titles in your list. The new version displays 4. It is no surprise you cannot explain how that is better.

  3. More bitching and crybabying by a 9to5 Mac author.

    Getting sick of the constant negativity.

    • Benjamin Mayo - 8 years ago

      Listen to our Happy Hour podcast. We love the new Apple TV :) Doesn’t mean there aren’t laws and bad points that are worth discussing.

    • This website wasn’t put on this planet to praise Apple from the high Heavens while skirting around any issues just so that people like yourself can justify and feel good about your purchases. They said the love the new Apple TV – what do you want them to do, get down on their knees and praise all that is Holy? If they did that would that make you feel better?

      If those opinions make you sick, it says more about you as a person, rather than 9to5mac as a website.

  4. It’s *extremely* disappointing to me as a relatively happy Apple TV 3 user how many little problems like this the Apple TV 4 has. For all the very necessary improvements the new box makes, it’s tremendously annoying how many regressions there are in UI.

    • Steve Grenier - 8 years ago

      Give it time, but I agree. Needs work.

      • Peter Hillman - 8 years ago

        It should not need any work coming from the AppleTV2 and AppleTV3, which were both refined products, and both ran iOS.

  5. sevallis - 8 years ago

    This is a good article, I agree with all of the points that you discussed. I am generally satisfied with the new Apple TV, but it certainly does have a 1.0 reboot feel to it – similar to the iLife suite losing features in the past.

    I upgraded from an Apple TV 2, and the new one seems merely evolutionary rather than revolutionary. I figure that the App Store will be the biggest area of improvement going forward, but I was hoping for more “wow” and all I got was “huh, okay”. I figured we’d be looking at new features like being a HomeKit hub or something of that nature.

    Also, who decided to forego a single light to indicate a low battery on the remote? The status is buried deep in a menu. I have to say that the new remote is simply too small for the kind of comfort that I get from any other remotes, which is a complaint because I am interacting with apps for longer periods of time.

  6. rogifan - 8 years ago

    Of course everybody has different opinions but I find it kind of amusing that this article is wishing for preinstalled third-party apps when so many people complained about apps they didn’t want being automatically installed on Apple TV. at least the Netflix app looks a lot nicer than most of the content apps using the same boring UI.

  7. fringe30 - 8 years ago

    I prefer the “new” Netflix I think it is much easier to use. Haven’t really played much with the other apps.

    • irelandjnr - 8 years ago

      The old interface is way quicker at finding My List and Genres etc. The new one is all flash with bad usability.

  8. joe.hodson - 8 years ago

    After a phone call with Apple, the new TV no longer supports the keyboard or the remote App. The person I spoke with on the phone made it seem like Apple has no plans on supporting either of these features in the near or distant future.

    • Soluble Apps - 8 years ago

      They will support them, and it probably won’t take too long.

      its probably just that the person you spoke to has no knowledge of their plans, and didn’t want to tell you something would happen that he wasn’t sure about.

      • taoprophet420 - 8 years ago

        It is taking to long already. Both should been supported day one. They had the hardware settled upon 2 years ago. They spent to much time on Siri’s movie and TV knowledge and neglected many other features.If Apple didn’t want to include bluetooth keyboard or Remote app support they should gave Apple TV Dictation.

      • Peter Hillman - 8 years ago

        It should have been supported right out of the box, since both features had existed for YEARS, all the way back to OS 5.2, and now they are on 9.0. But Apple is great for removing features that people used often (iWork, iLife, Final Cut X, etc).

  9. amazingrugs - 8 years ago

    The reason for not pre-installing apps is simple. Because now they are taking up user hard drive space, where before they were pushed over the air.

    Again, the classic no one can be happy. They ask for less pre-installed apps on a phone, but want more on their TV!

  10. rwanderman - 8 years ago

    I agree with the gist of this. I didn’t use all that much of the pre-installed stuff on my 3rd gen Apple TV but I found navigation in Netflix, my most used app much easier. What’s useful for me so far is the Siri search piece. That alone is making the new Apple TV a very useful upgrade for me. Here’s hoping that various apps get updated and improved as developers listen to user feedback.

  11. Jack Ivers (@jackivers) - 8 years ago

    I haven’t figured out how to bring up the list by genre in the new Netflix Apple TV app … has anyone found it?

    • pdoobs - 8 years ago

      If it’s like the apps on Roku and TiVo from the main page go up one to where you can choose a different profile and search and there should be a spot to select genre. No idea if the app is as full feature on the new Apple TV though.

    • Peter Hillman - 8 years ago

      That feature has been removed. The AppleTV4 version is a stripped down version of the SmartTV app. You cannot search or browse by genre or any other specific category. No guarantee that will ever be added to the AppleTV4 version.

      • Jack Ivers (@jackivers) - 8 years ago

        Thanks — here’s hoping that they keep improving their app as opposed to leaving it incomplete like this.

      • irelandjnr - 8 years ago

        Netflix genres has zero to do with ATV4, it’s Netflix’s doing.

  12. webzpinner - 8 years ago

    I have had the Appletv4 since last Friday, and have had zero issues with the apps. The “only” issue I have had was it not recognizing some of the art I have for some homemade movies stored on my Mac and streamed thru the appletv, whereas the previous appletv3 displayed those jpgs flawlessly. Otherwise it’s an awesome little box, well worth the $. Hoping Amazon and Apple come to terms, as well as a channel/app for The Blaze, but otherwise I’m a happy clam.

  13. Tony Wiltshire - 8 years ago

    Easy solution! Don’t buy one like I decided not to do. Instead I chose the Tivo Bolt and Ill never look back. Apple really used to have their stuff together but this group settles too easily.

    • irelandjnr - 8 years ago

      Netflix and Hulu make these apps, not Apple. In fact, given the article states the interfaces for ATV2/3 were better that’s when those guys were forced to use Apple-designed templates. So your argument couldn’t be more wrong. It’s literally the opposite.

  14. David Fabian - 8 years ago

    The navigation issue described above about the HBO app drives me crazy, too! Overall Apple TV 4 seems much more stable and capable than the previous version, especially when using AirPlay video and audio. I’m hopeful that the platform will mature quickly, both from Apple releasing updates, and 3rd parties improving app layouts.

  15. cody1213 - 8 years ago

    I’ve mostly used the new Music app. The Apple Music playlists and radio half is fantastic but I’ve found finding specific albums or songs, whether in My Music or Apple Music, to be a frustrating experience. It takes a lot longer to scroll through a long list of albums with repeated swipes than by holding down a button (that scrolled faster the longer you held). It’d be nice if it broke down large lists by letter.

    From the review above, it sounds like the apps generally are better at helping users figure out what to watch/listen to and worse at helping users who already know what they want. Hopefully, Siri eventually fills that gap. (It might already for the video apps. No Siri for music yet, for whatever reason.)

  16. Inaba-kun (@Inaba_kun) - 8 years ago

    I couldn’t disagree with you more Zac. Netflix on the new ATV looks exactly the same on every other platform. Most people will use it on other devices too, a PS4 or Roku for example, so using same design makes enormous sense. By contrast the old ported ATV3 apps look laughably basic, like an MS-DOS throwback. They’re extremely ugly and very jarring when compared to the beautiful new front end on the ATV.

    The biggest disappointment to me is seeing the lazy porting of those ugly old ATV 3 apps. Why doesn’t YouTube use the material design UI as used on every other platform? Instead it’s a 1980s throwback with text on a black background. It’s the very definition of ugly. Apple shouldn’t have let these ports on the App Store, as they make what isn’t very new device look very, very old.

    And for what it’s worth, the new Netflix app is great. Visually beautiful and media rich. That’s why it’s exactly the same on every platform.

    • taoprophet420 - 8 years ago

      The old Apple TV couldn’t support Netflix new UI and is also why the Roku1 never got the update Roku 3 did.

    • Peter Hillman - 8 years ago

      Explain how the AppleTV4 version of Netflix is better than the AppleTV3 version? You cannot search or browse by genre or any other specific category in the new AppleTV4 version of Netflix. That feature has been removed. It is a stripped down version of the SmartTV app. Even the SmartTV app could search or browse by genre or category. The list only shows 4 shows/movies instead of 14. How is that better?

      • Inaba-kun (@Inaba_kun) - 8 years ago

        I didn’t have an ATV 2/3 but I’ve used Netflix for years on consoles. They have never had genre search either so I’ve never missed it. There is a limited genre search in the iPad app, but if I went to go granular I just browse Netflix on my PC.

        For me aesthetics matter. I love the Netflix app as it has a huge art area, large thumbnails, and the slick scrolling on every direction makes it feel like a well engineered product. Plus you get huge show pages for Netflix originals. That it can only fully display one line of thumbnails is irrelevant to me as I can easily scroll down to see more. I don’t see what the problem is.

        I have seen old ATV 3 apps on my 4 though, like the YouTube app, and they’re butt ugly. I’m used to YouTube on other decides so I really don’t see why it doesn’t look exactly the same on the ATV4. I hope Google update it, but I suspect they won’t. To me it would be a negative user experience as any new user (as it was for me) to go from Apple’s beautiful front end to apps which look positively ancient and are an aesthetic train wreck.

      • irelandjnr - 8 years ago

        > I didn’t have an ATV 2/3

        That explains all we need to know. He thinks it’s better but never used the other version.

  17. Richard Garrett - 8 years ago

    I have about 500 items on ‘My List’ in Netflix. I read/hear about something good, I add it. On the ‘old’ Apple TV app, I got a screenful of thumbnails of the list items, and I could see the artwork & scroll down the pages to select what I wanted to watch.

    In the ‘new’ app, I now have to scroll my list horizontally, where I can see about a half-dozen titles at a time. I can’t go and just browse my list the way I used to. It’s driving me nuts. I’m now switching back & forth between my old & new Apple TV depending on which apps I want to use.

    • irelandjnr - 8 years ago

      My God Netflix is completely retarded. I use their new app on my uncle’s Smart TV and it was one of the worst interfaces I’ve used. Things would auto-play and everything. And My List was 37 very slow rows down.

  18. lkrupp215 - 8 years ago

    9to5 has become the biggest iHater on the planet. Nothing satisfies them. Just one example is the author’s rant about the ‘lack’ of preinstalled apps. Go to the Apple discussion forums prior to the new ATV and you see post after post whining and complaining about how to get rid of all the ‘useless’ preinstalled apps that the complainer ‘never’ uses. Now you see the opposite posts, whining and complaining about how basic apps are ‘missing.’ People are just plain too stupid to figure out how to search and download apps JUST LIKE THEY DO ON THEIR IPHONES! 9to5 has touted the in the past as an example of how the interface should look. Now that the apps are almost identical to Roku versions 9to5 is unhappy with that.

    • Peter Hillman - 8 years ago

      They have a valid point about the apps lacking features that existed in the prior AppleTV. It is too bad you cannot comprehend that and just assume they hate the product. It looks like you are too stupid to appreciate an opinion piece that explains the flaws in the new apps. The apps are not identical as they are lacking features. Again, you are too stupid to figure that one out too.

  19. TCiB (@TCiB_Music) - 8 years ago

    I’m so so glad to finally read an in depth article about the issues that have been annoying me for the past week. Just last night I sounded off at length about it on a forum as well as tweeting Hulu. I have also conversed with Netflix support. Netflix responded in a WTF manner, as in they were really confused to the changes: primarily, my criticism of the removal of genre – there is now no way to search for genre on Netflix bar their predetermined mish mash ones on the homepage. So on Halloween for example, I only had the option to browse gore films as opposed to the hundreds of horror films that Netflix has. Siri search only brings a limited amount up and a large percentage of those are iTunes based. Apple Search doesn’t permit genre either so it is a real quandry. Previous models, as you say, were a joy to browse.

    Hulu, aside the placement of queue, I’ve found an improvement. I like the large display of Criterion artwork, a pleasure to see, perhaps too large but still agreeable. Except their A-Z section only reached C. I told Hulu this on Twitter and they thanked me for the heads up and said they’d tell the development team. Last night we went to browse the Criterion section and lo and behold, A-Z has been totally removed. I tweeted them and they confirmed they’d removed it. They suggested I use the main search. So I tried Siri search, which didn’t have a clue what Criterion was, and I tried Hulu search which brought up about two dozen titles. That’s it. I referred this back to them, and they said this: I could use a PC to search for a title I wanted to view.

    And I guess there lies the problem. Apple have this great idea for the future but for now, now that they have passed the onus for design in the hands of others, the future is very backward facing.

    Last night I turned back on my 3rd generation Apple TV and then realised how slow it was in comparison and that I immediately missed Apple Music. Amazing what a week can do. So for now I will put up and be hopeful.

  20. cseeman - 8 years ago

    Thanks for the excellent article Zac. I couldn’t agree with you more.

    I’d add one more annoying thing regarding Netflix. It now automatically shrink back during credits to reveal other options. As someone who works in the industry I’m one of those rare birds that actually read the credits, In fact some film have bits of humor in the credit roles. I can’t find any way to bring the credits back full screen.

    • Inaba-kun (@Inaba_kun) - 8 years ago

      Just highlight the video window and click. It will pop back to full screen, exactly as it does on every other platform.

      • cseeman - 8 years ago

        That’s exactly what I assumed. That was the first think I tried and have tried it repeatedly. It’s not working for me. Highlight the video window and a swift click in the middle of the pad. Nothing.

    • Fabio Studmonovich - 8 years ago

      I’m very annoyed at not being able to do this too. It ruins some shows for me where I am a diehead fan, have been to the conventions, and have met some of the behind the scenes folks and like to know when they worked on something. Clicking the video window does not work as it only lets you highlight the ratings button.

      • cseeman - 8 years ago

        Thank you for confirming this Fabio.

  21. Brian Cardinale - 8 years ago

    I completely agree with your complaints. Netflix is a jumbled mess. It look me far too long to find the Queue in Hulu. HBO Go drives me crazy having to swipe continuously to find the latest John Oliver and Bill Maher episodes. The sign in process is a challenge and I’ve already had to sign back into several apps that for some reason won’t hold onto my credentials. I bought two to replace my Apple TV 2’s. The biggest benefit so far is that the new ones aren’t constantly restarting. The one thing that I haven’t read on any review site yet is how odd the swipe orientation feels. Apple has implemented directional swiping on the MacBook trackpad, iPhone and iPad. Swiping in the opposite direction from every other Apple device with the new remote isn’t intuitive. Hopefully they will address this with an update. At least give us a choice in the settings for swipe direction.

  22. Inaba-kun (@Inaba_kun) - 8 years ago

    “the freedom to move from uniform apps to widely ranging designs on the new Apple TV is a usability concern that won’t necessarily be addressed without highlighting the issues”

    It depends how you look at it. The new Netflix app is 100% uniform if you use other platforms. The old ATV3 one was the oddity. Yes it shared the same bare bones ugly UI with other ATV3 apps, but so what? The new one is an improvement in every way, and one which a great many people already know like the back of their hands as they’ve been using it for years on other platforms.

    These apps can also resemble their iOS counterparts more closely now, and I’d of thought for content providers the total lack of brand identity and unique design flair in old ATV3 apps would have been a major annoyance. Why would they want their entire brand identity dumbed down to white text on a black screen?

    Have you ever used MUBI? It’s a great movie streaming service for cinephilles. Their apps on the PS3, PS4, iPad and Fire TV/Android TV all share the same gorgeous design which is a perfect fit for their service. If they had mangled it into an ATV3 app it would have been ruinous. They’re apparently working on an ATV4 app so I assume it will use their standard, beautiful UI design, as it should.

    As for usability, come on Zac, even if you hadn’t seen the Netflix app before how long is it going to take to work it out? 5 seconds? Maybe 6 at most? It’s not difficult.

    • taoprophet420 - 8 years ago

      I had no problem accessing my list and isn’t buried at the bottom. All the streaming app have the same menu ui when you swipe up.Netflix is no different then what it is on Xbox One, my LG web OS tv or the new internet layout.Add in the Siri features the Netflix app is much better on the new Apple TV.

    • Moi (@snoo_zin) - 8 years ago

      Using 2/3 of the screen to slideshow movie stills may look nice, however its a terrible interface, when there is only two rows of what user is looking for, regardless on what device it’s on. The Netflix app is NOT 100% uniform with other platforms, it’s missing the entire categories view section. Have you even used the Apple TV?

    • Peter Hillman - 8 years ago

      Please show us how to search or browse genres or specific categories in the new AppleTV Netflix app. It should take you 5 seconds, maybe 6, to realize that Netflix REMOVED that feature from the new AppleTV app. The new Netflix app is NOT 100% uniform to other platforms. It is obvious you, like many others here, have NEVER used an AppleTV before. The AppleTV3 version was extremely easy to browse and find what you want to watch, and what Netflix offered. The new version removed that capability. But I guess you wouldn’t know because you don’t even have an AppleTV4.

      • Inaba-kun (@Inaba_kun) - 8 years ago

        Well that’s a weird response. I have two Apple TV 4s, and a Roku 3, a Samsung Smart TV, an Xbox One, a PS3, and a PS4. So I’ve used Netflix on a lot of devices and they all look identical. If one or even some of them have a genre search buried somewhere I’ve never cared to look for it as I don’t need it.

        I didn’t own the ATV 2 or 3 as the ugly interface all the apps used looked terrible and it lacked UK specific apps. The new ATV has little UK stuff too but I’m assuming that will change over time.

  23. Hyatt Zamora - 8 years ago

    Whenever I access the Hulu app, I have to scroll through to find whatever tv show I was last watching. There isn’t a handy “resume playback” or “play next episode” like I get on my Roku. Has anyone else experienced this on the new Apple TV?

  24. Jon G. - 8 years ago

    Unfortunately, the problems you’ve described are all too familiar to me as they are the de-facto layouts of the respective apps in my Samsumg ‘smart TV’ – in fact, they seem to be practically identical. As an owner of the 3rd gen. Apple TV, I too prefer the layout and navigation of Netflix, including “my list”. It would appear as though the streaming services in question took the easy way out and decided to just port pre-existing apps instead of putting the time and resources into developing something new AND user-friendly… :(

  25. Peter Hillman - 8 years ago

    After using the new AppleTV for 3 days, I returned both of them. I only opened one. I returned them because the new apps lacked the simple process of browsing or searching genres and categories of shows or movies to watch. The Netflix app was a stripped down version of the SmartTV app. Who cares about the pretty eye-candy when you cannot search or browse a genre in Netflix, or easily find what you want to watch. Hovering over an episode in Netflix barely enlarged the screenshot to indicate you were even on it. The HBO Go app new font was so small you could not read it from across the room. Many of the apps required in-app purchases, so screw that. The AppleTV4 doesn’t offer much for the upgrade when the AppleTV3 can still do it all, and better with their full featured apps. I guess fools prefer eye candy over lost features.

  26. Totally agree. And it’s so obvious at first try that it is amazing that noone in the process pulled the brakes. Putting My List at 37’th row, and ahowing a fraction of the hundreds of entries I have in there? Clever.

    Add to that the MAJOR flaw that Siri cannot be used if you don’t live in one of only eight countries in the world. I live in Sweden but no, I’m not talking about Siri in a “weird language”, I’m talking Siri, period. We can’t even select Siri in english! This is super weird because we’ve been able to use Siri on iPhone/iPad in english since the beginning, why not here? I know Apples stance, that dialects makes names being pronounced in different ways, but hey – let ME be the judge of that. Maybe I am an american living in Sweden? Or speak without a dialect, or whatever. Let us use it if we want to?

    So we who are among the unfortunate cannot use Siri, not the Remote App from ATV3 and no Bluetooth keyboard. We can only search using the TERRIBLE one line of A-Z characters, picking out one by one… What genious put them on one line?!? Tales ages to input having to scroll back and forth.

    And when we finally manage to input INTERSTE to search for Interstellar, we get the result that it’s available in iTunes. That’s it, although it’s also available in Netflix for example. Buuuuut, Apple also took away the Universal Search cross apps for us. Yes, it’s true. I cannot even begin to think of a reason for this.

  27. Marklewood at Serenity Lodge - 8 years ago

    One thing that really has me stimied of late is that what I came to expect from Apple is the uniformity of applications across all devices. But, it seems that instead of uniformity I’m being confronted with same application nonconformity, that’s beginning to become more and more confusing and frustrating. It’s almost like you’ve got iOS pitted against MS pitted against Linux. Where before I used to be able to sit down with any device and get the same feel of a similar operating system experience, not so any more. The more upgrades to the individual systems we get, the further apart and dissimilar they become. Now throw TViOS into the mix, it’s all too much. Apple used to be simple, intuitive and basic — it was elegant. Not so much now.

  28. bb1111116 - 8 years ago

    Terrible tech journalism imo (similar to the 9to5 Apple Watch review). What this lacks is a basic understanding of Netflix app design and who is responsible for it.
    For instance Netflix has an iOS app. Open it and wow, it looks like the new Netflix app for the new Apple TV.
    Own a console like a PS3? Open the Netflix app and it looks like the new Netflix app for the new Apple TV.
    Have a smart TV or a high end Blu-Ray player? Chances are they have a Netflix app that looks like the new Netflix app for the new Apple TV.
    – Why is this? Netflix and Apple are two different companies. Apple is now allowing the standard Netflix app design from Netflix on the new Apple TV.
    Is the new Netflix app design Apple’s fault? No. Netflix is responsible for the Netflix app design.
    What if a person does not like the Netflix design of the Netfix app? Complain to Netflix.

    • Richard Garrett - 8 years ago

      Could you explain (I’m really just asking, because I did try) how to effectively complain to Netflix about one of their application’s behaviors?

      • bb1111116 - 8 years ago

        Netflix has a customer service phone number and website (Netflix Help Center).
        As far as “how to effectively complain to Netflix”, all the customer can do with a giant software company is complain. Whether complaints will result in any action, is another issue.
        My point remains, complaining to Apple about this is futile. Apple does not design the Netflix app.
        See the many examples of the app including the iOS version which is something that 9-to-5 should’ve been aware of.

  29. vkd108 - 8 years ago

    crApple following in Microshits stoolsteps, selling alpha and beta products as so-called ‘finished’.

  30. Robert L Spaulding - 8 years ago

    Same problem, I’ve gone back to my old AppleTV and am thinking of sending this junk back to Apple. Remote is a joke as well.

  31. Michael Andrei Trimm - 8 years ago

    The new Apple TV is very nice but I do agree, the lack of consistency between apps is very confusing and it is a box-top setup and while open may be nicer for the developer, if developers and companies do not follow UI/UX standards and guidelines, it can get very confusing quickly for a lot of older and less tech-savvy people. I don’t think they’re considering consistency amongst OTHER apps when designing their interfaces.

    All in all, the HBO GO app is pretty bad even though the content is good. I often find myself wondering where I am in the flow of the app, how to get back to the previous areas, and how to quickly go to the latest episode.

    About that – latest episode – only Hulu seems to have it figured out that you feature the latest episode of the show you’re looking at and then offer the seasons – grouped – below. I dislike HBOs scrolling nonsense. It takes me like 45 seconds to scroll through (while my hand is hurting doing so) to get to the latest Bill Maher episode. Now while I probably shouldn’t be watching that show, its beside the point. Shows with excessive amounts of episodes make the user experience of scrolling to the latest episode a pain in the butt.

    The Apple TV show is the same – it has the scrolling issue and the lack of ability to quickly see the seasons of the show. Netflix has that part right.

    The Netflix app is, in my opinion, the best of the movies apps out there in terms of UI/UX. They seem to understand the relationship that a catalog of episodes has to its show and the way people get around their seasons. I’m a big fan of that app.

    All in all, its a good product with room to grow. The keyboard, lack of third party siri support, remote app, and usability of the general OS is annoying and typing in your password 10,000 times for each service and apple microservice is down right annoying. Some apps are combating that though by offering you the ability to go to a website on your phone, login there, and then your Apple TV becomes logged in too. That’s a nice feature that combats Apple’s stupid decision to make text entry so difficult on the platform.

    • Inaba-kun (@Inaba_kun) - 8 years ago

      Whilst having a consistent, generic UI across all apps may appear to make sense, I don’t think it does in reality. Not all streaming services are the same, they need different UIs. Take the great cinephille streaming service MUBI for example. They offer 30 films a month with a new one each day, so their apps have gigantic full screen pieces of art for the new movies, then progressively smaller pieces of art for the older ones. It’s a beautiful UI which is perfect for their service. If they had tried to turn that into the ugly MS-DOS style Apple TV 3 interface it would have been horrible.

      Plus you have to consider brand identity, if which the UI is a major factor, and consistency between devices. Netflix is identical on all devices now, which is entirely logical as most people use a variety of platforms.

      And of course multiple UI styles are common on phones, and nobody seems to have the slightest bit of trouble using those.

  32. Joseph Frye - 8 years ago

    I couldn’t disagree more when it comes to the Netflix app. I absolutely HATE the version on Apple TV 2 and 3, to the point of almost throwing the whole device in the garbage a few times. Having to tap several times just to get deep enough in the OS to play another episode of a series I was just watching yesterday is just ridiculous. I never like the Apple TV OS, its total junk.

  33. calisurfboy - 8 years ago

    Your complaint about netflix would not be limited to just Apple TV but across all electronic devices since the Netflix app behaves pretty much universally the same. It is a serious pain trying to find a movie to watch. Amazon Prime on their Fire Stick is a problem child as well.

  34. The “My List” being at the bottom for some people is strange. It must be some Netflix bug. In my Profile on Netflix it is the 2nd line right after “Continue Watching”, but switch to my husbands profile and his “My List” is at the bottom like others have mentioned. There doesn’t seem to be anyway to reorder it yourself.

  35. coreylarue - 8 years ago

    I had two of the ATV3s and planned to purchase two ATV4s. After setting the first one up though, I’m keeping one of the old ones. The reason? iTunes TV shows.

    I have been buying shows from iTunes since they first became available. It was part of the reason I felt comfortable cutting the cord-I could purchase shows directly from Apple and get them the next day, and I owned them. It wasn’t like Netflix where they could lose the rights to air them, or so I thought.

    When I set up the ATV4, some of the specials I had purchased were showing a blank placeholder, but with the name still showing. For example, I bought the 2011 Sugar Bowl game. When I went to launch that game (the placeholder had me intrigued), I got an error message informing me that the video was not available in the US iTunes store. I went to my other Apple TV and it played there, and I just tried to download it to this computer and it appears to be an available download there as well. Fortunately I have all my older shows backed up, but this is shaking my confidence. I’m only replacing the ATV in my living room for right now-the other one lives to see another day, because I don’t want to have to hook both of them up just to get the content I’ve already purchased. I’m hoping the whole thing is that they just don’t have a server hooked up or something, but this is shaking my confidence quite a bit.

    • Paul Andrew Dixon - 8 years ago

      You don’t legally own any of the digital content!!!… so should apple or the other companies decide to withdraw the shows availability they can also prevent older shows playing on older devices (even the ‘backed up’ shows)… if you want truly own the content – buy on dvd/bluray…often they are cheaper!!!

  36. zorn85 - 8 years ago

    You make a lot of good points here. I think one important thing to keep in mind is that now since the “channels” are apps, the services are free to push any updates to interface or layout. With the old Apple TV, I don’t think they had as much control over it since Apple had to basically add the app themselves. Also since tvOS versions can be included as part of a Universal app, it’s much easier for them to just update the entire Apple ecosystem of their service’s app simultaneously.

  37. Zac Hall… You have nailed the deficiencies within the 4th Gen Apple TV. Simple things are sometimes okay! Take for instance “Trailers” App. Why would that have been not carried forward?

    I am a fan of the new look and feel, but it doesn’t have to also come at the expense of trying to force a change!

  38. Paul Andrew Dixon - 8 years ago

    Firstly, not everyone watches hulu, netflix etc etc – so way go to all that effort to fill the TV with bloatware that not everyone will need — the apps are very small and require internet for streaming anyway, so if you want the, download them — thats much easier than having to go through many apps and delete them.

    Secondly, Apple don’t create the 3rd party apps – although they want a certain design look, it is up to the 3rd party developers to deliver…

    Finally – it’s new… some people dont like change…it can take time to get used to change… but improvements will be added in the future as always…

    i do think they need to add support for bluetooth keyboards etc – but again, maybe in the future – the same with an iphone app…

    It seems apple have fallen into the problem of always releasing things that are not quite ready – something job hated but obviously the company has become more relaxed about… it’s a shame, but we’ll see how they fix things.

  39. macsince1985 - 8 years ago

    Apple TV user experience has been lousy for me, ever since they began their “sleep, back to main menu” feature. If I pause a show I am watching for more than a minute or so, the system bails out and goes all the way back to the sleep screen, where Apple advertises movies it wants me to buy or rent. I must then 1) Find the app; 2) Find the series or genre within the app; 3) Find & Choose the episode I was watching; 4) Hit Play; 5) Hit Resume. Unacceptable! Apple has entered an arrogance phase that, if not remedied from the top, may result in many of us buying Tivos, Samsungs and HP & Microsoft laptops … as they try to imitate, successfully, what Apple used to do correctly.

  40. ankushnarula - 8 years ago

    The Netflix app is a total disaster. Not being able to navigate by (a) cast/crew and (b) related titles is a huge loss. “My List” is painful now. And the wasted space is just a visual design circle-jerk that has ZERO functional benefit. The Hulu app is equally frustrating with the Queue hidden away and content buried away in an incomprehensible hierarchy. There’s so much to complain about when comparing ATV2/3 vs tvOS apps. Even the iTunes Movies and TV Shows apps have problems that are driven by a misguided desire to “unify” the design.

  41. JBDragon - 8 years ago

    Having gotten a AppleTV 4 even though I didn’t really need it. I mean I have a 100 other streaming devices it seems like. It has issues and they shouldn’t have been issues from the start. The Remote App should have been working with the new Apple TV4. There’s ZERO excuse for it not to. Same goes with no Blue Tooth keyboard support!!! I mean really? Because entering login and password info using that crappy interface on screen blows!!! Apple couldn’t even get that right. You can’t even go from Z and back around to A, you can to scroll past all the letters. That’s just so basic.

    Apple couldn’t follow their own interface guidelines for Apple Music. So why are you surprised 3rd party’s on AppleTV are doing their own thing? Some will suck and some will be better. It’s just the nature of having a more OPEN platform. Netflix may look different now on the new AppleTV, but that new look is the look Netflix is doing across the different platforms. It’s the older AppleTV interface that wasn’t changing.

  42. Jim White-Termini - 8 years ago

    One thing I noticed right out of the box … the swiping on the remote is BACKWARDS! After years of using iPhones, iPads, and Mac’s with “Scroll direction” set to “natural” … it strikes me odd that Apple would not carry on with that scroll direction (or at least provide an option to choose, like on the Mac). Yet, I’ve not seen anyone mention this. :-)

  43. TCiB (@TCiB_Music) - 8 years ago

    I decided to have a go at redesigning the app which has been causing me most grief: Netflix. Seriously, I have pretty much stopped using it other than to use the “Continue Watching” section.

    Anyhow, thought I would take a leaf out of the iTunes and Apple Music layout and not stray from Netflix’s branding.

    https://flic.kr/s/aHskoreY5V

  44. K R (@ra_zieli) - 8 years ago

    This was the first thing I noticed. Using the new Netflix app is actually PAINFUL for me. I have a massive 60″ screen, but I need to squint an focus hard on one small area of focused content near the bottom, with other stuff uncomfortably obscured with deep fades. It’s the craziest, stupidest UI design I’ve seen in years. Did they forget the hierarchical navigation lessons that made the original iPhone such a massive leap forward for computer usability by the masses? Apparently they did, because they flattened it all on to one screen and made you search through it by looking through a keyhole-sized space underneath the stupendously oversized banner.

    This is similar to the Netflix interface on my WebOS TV, but it somehow feels more comfortable on WebOS. The AppleTV app is a hack job – even the profile selection screen options hover towards the top instead of being centred.

    HULU has the same problem as Netflix: their UI designers should be fired (and I say that as a UI designer myself). They’ve done what Netflix did and totally ignored what the user is doing (browsing for something to watch) in their browsing UI. Instead they smashed an enormous ad up the stop and made your browsing an afterthought.

    HBO didn’t do that. With HBO, browsing takes up most of the screen space, as it should. That’s why their app feels like an actual television app; something you’d like to use and feel comfortable using for however long it takes you to find something to watch.

    YouTube is just totally lazy. Again, the WebOS app is much better. I can’t believe that’s the best Google could come up with for a product as important as YouTube, with all of the UIKit experience they already have.

  45. Brandon Vaughan - 8 years ago

    I haven’t even been able to get netflix to log in. tried everything for about 5 days now. Old one worked great, every other app worked great :-(

Author

Avatar for Zac Hall Zac Hall

Zac covers Apple news, hosts the 9to5Mac Happy Hour podcast, and created SpaceExplored.com.