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Anonymous User
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New Apple TV version 4 support

New Apple TV launches October 2015.

Will nowtv app be available on New Apple TV version 4 at launch.
1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION
Anonymous User
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Hi @Anonymous User, @Anonymous User, @Anonymous User, @Anonymous User, @Anonymous User, @Anonymous User, @Anonymous User, @Anonymous User, @Anonymous User, @Anonymous User, @Anonymous User and anyone on this thread I may have unintentionally missed 🙂

 

The NOW TV app for the new Apple TV should be coming out soon, so please keep an eye out.

 

Thanks,

 

Rich

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300 REPLIES 300

Hopefully NOW TV will build a new app to take advantage of all the useful new features that the new 4th generation Apple TV offers, such as voice control. One day! Maybe....

Anonymous User
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Keep dreaming. The abysmal Apple TV Now TV app will remain untouched forever. Sky only care about the Now TV box/Roku and the Xbox One and PS4, plus Android and the iPhone/iPad version of iOS. 

 

To be frank I'm close to writing the new Apple TV off. It's not just because the Now TV app is abandonware, but also because of the no shows from ITV, C4, C5 and Amazon. Apple only seem interested in the US market for the Apple TV, and seem unwilling to pay UK providers to write apps to kick start the platform. Why would anyone buy one over a Fire TV? Amazon advertise the hell out of the Fire TV, it's much cheaper, and it has 4K and HDR. And most importantly it has all the big providers on board, although amusingly not Now TV. 

I am feeling the same way @Anonymous User and have postponed my plans to replace two Apple TV 2nd gens with 4th gens. For the time being, I've gone with Roku (which I've found to be quite impressive so far). So the Apple TVs are now confined to (rare) usage for AirPlay and iTunes Store access. 😞

Anonymous User
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Hi - I used the Apple TV 4th Gen NowTV app for the first time yesterday after resubscribing to the entertainment pass.  I realise that the app is only on version 1.0 and was probably rushed to get something on the platform as quickly as possible, but there appear to be a number of issues and omissions as follow:

 

  • Subtittles do not work at all. You can select them, but they don't show.  This happen on both the movies and entertainment packages. We need this as we have a 1 year old who we don't want to wake in the evenings, but due to having a large lounge, find it difficult to hear the TV on lower volumes.
  • Some TV shows (for example The Walking Dead), finish at a blank screen and do not take you back to a menu nor start the next episode, needing the user to hit the menu button which takes you back out to the main menu, then you have to find the show you were watching again, and figure out which episode you were watching to get back to the next one.
  • There appears to be no "My TV" section as is present on the iOS apps. This makes continuing to watch a TV show a pain as you have to find it each time, which make the second issue above even more of a pain.
  • The main screen doesn't show what you have been watching like similar apps do, again, making navigation difficult.
  • The app does not appear to support the swipe skip funtion of the 4th gen unit, making skipping to a particular point difficult.
  • If you stop watching half way through a show, it doesn't appear to remember where you were and starts again, meaning you have to skip through it, which is made difficult by the issue pointed out directly above.
  • There are no markers to show what you have watched, meaning you have to remember which was the last episode you watched before selecting the next one. This appears to be the same on the iOS apps too.

 

There is probably more, but as mentioned, I've only used it for a day, but so far the app is quite challenging and annoying to use.

 

I'm guessing these issues are known by the developers and is probably largely down to porting the app directly from the 3rd gen box version, but fixing these issues would greatly improve user experience.

 

Please can you advise if an update is coming soon and if these issues will be resolved?

 

Many thanks

 

Mike

 

 

Anonymous User
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Hi @Anonymous User

 

Please see @Anonymous User post here regarding the 4th Gen Apple TV

 

Thanks

Andy

Anonymous User
Not applicable

@Anonymous User wrote:

Hi - I used the Apple TV 4th Gen NowTV app for the first time yesterday after resubscribing to the entertainment pass.  I realise that the app is only on version 1.0 and was probably rushed to get something on the platform as quickly as possible, but there appear to be a number of issues and omissions as follow:

 

  • Subtittles do not work at all. You can select them, but they don't show.  This happen on both the movies and entertainment packages. We need this as we have a 1 year old who we don't want to wake in the evenings, but due to having a large lounge, find it difficult to hear the TV on lower volumes.
  • Some TV shows (for example The Walking Dead), finish at a blank screen and do not take you back to a menu nor start the next episode, needing the user to hit the menu button which takes you back out to the main menu, then you have to find the show you were watching again, and figure out which episode you were watching to get back to the next one.
  • There appears to be no "My TV" section as is present on the iOS apps. This makes continuing to watch a TV show a pain as you have to find it each time, which make the second issue above even more of a pain.
  • The main screen doesn't show what you have been watching like similar apps do, again, making navigation difficult.
  • The app does not appear to support the swipe skip funtion of the 4th gen unit, making skipping to a particular point difficult.
  • If you stop watching half way through a show, it doesn't appear to remember where you were and starts again, meaning you have to skip through it, which is made difficult by the issue pointed out directly above.
  • There are no markers to show what you have watched, meaning you have to remember which was the last episode you watched before selecting the next one. This appears to be the same on the iOS apps too.

 

There is probably more, but as mentioned, I've only used it for a day, but so far the app is quite challenging and annoying to use.

 

I'm guessing these issues are known by the developers and is probably largely down to porting the app directly from the 3rd gen box version, but fixing these issues would greatly improve user experience.

 

Please can you advise if an update is coming soon and if these issues will be resolved?

 

Many thanks

 

Mike

 

 


You're wasting your time asking on here, you'll just be fobbed off by the mods. The truth is that Sky update every other Now TV app very often with new features and fixes, but the Apple TV app hasn't been updated in years. It's a relic, abandonware.  It isn't even an app at all, it's just very basic script, hence the lack of any useful functionality or a graphical UI. Basic "apps" like this were all that was possible on the old Apple TVs, but the new one is essentially just an iPhone 6 with an HDMI port. It runs iOS code, so Sky could do whatever they wanted with the app if they could be bothered.

 

If you want to watch Now TV buy literally any other device with a Now TV app on it. I'd recommend the PS4 as Sky update it every month or so.

 

The sad thing is people will still come here in 12 months time asking when the app will be re-made and they'll get exactly the same cut and paste response.

Anonymous User
Not applicable

Yes, staring to get that impression, after posting I found a post asking about lack of subtitles back in 2012 and they were advised they were coming soon...... I have a PS4, but I don't like using it as I have an Apple TV for that sort of stuff (PS4 is s little noisy too). To be honest, I'll watch the rest of The Walking Dead (which Amazon only has to Season 4), then Game of Thrones when it is on, then cancel it. I already have Netflix and Amazon Prime which are both great, even though the latter doesn't have an Apple TV app (yet?).
Anonymous User
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If I was trialling NowTV on the Apple TV I wouldn't keep paying as the interface is so poor. Hardly a good sales pitch the way the current app looks / works. Surely they want to attract subscribers.

I've chosen to use Apple TV over a NowTV box as my devices are Apple and my main content is from Netflix, so I can minimise devices by severely compromising on usability of the NowTV service.
Anonymous User
Not applicable

Move along everyone, there's nothing to see here. The app will never, ever be updated. It's abandonware. a relic, something Sky keep around as it makes them money but it's clear they have no interest in it beyond that.

 

Buy a PS4 or an Xbox One as those are the platforms Sky care about. Or if you want something cheaper buy a Roku as it will get you the PS4 app more or less albeit at a slower speed.

 

It should surprise me that a company with pockets as deep as Sky think the reputational damage of such a truly terrible app is acceptable  (user scores on the ATV app store are almost all 1 out of 5), but not giving a monkeys about customers seems to be Sky's raison d'etre.   It is what it is though, and no amount of badgering them will change the situation. Don't expect to hear from Tom-R ever again either. He's probably long gone.

Anonymous User
Not applicable

@Anonymous User you'll never hear from @Anonymous Useragain because he is no longer working at Now TV @Karl-F now has Toms job