Update Now TV app for apple TV

[Anonymous User]

Will the Now TV app for Apple TV ever get an update?

The current version is complete rubbish and makes me regret ever getting a Now TV pass.

Unless there is an update my Now TV experience will be very short indeed.

[Anonymous User]

Are u talking about the nowtv app here or the roku app, doesn’t roku come with its own interface on devices. I’m talking the nowtv app here. 

[nst]

@ukbobboy 

This is nothing to do with Apple, or their "strategic plans" or "mountains of money"

Apple supply the hardware and the OS, and its up to developers to make apps, and submit apps to the app store.

So 0% Apple.... 100% NowTV development team.

Such a shame as, in my opinion, the AppleTV box user experience and interface and functionality with the TV app are unparalleled.  Yes slightly more expensive than the other boxes out there but worth every extra penny.

I HATE having to use the Roku based NowTV box but I put up with it as it was £25 and i expect it to be only short term.  The interface is slow and clunky and frankly terrible to use and navigate.  I cannot believe that this is a 'current' gen hardware platform - having just bought it I feel like its a few years old out the box.

I am not being entitled, or childish, or impatient here.... I am simply expecting the NowTV experience to be the same or broadly similar on all the platforms they advertise.  They do not explicitly state that certain platforms are vastly inferior to others.... and certain platforms have huge chunks of missing functionality.

After all.. the AppleTV TVOS app is bang up to date and fully functional... but only in Ireland and Italy - same app...same OS... same everything so why isnt it released in the UK - and why do NowTV's staff seem woefully unequipped to answer the queries we are asking.

[MrZippy]

I just looked up NowTV on the Ireland App Store....

Shock horror it's a universal iOS/tvOS app!

And it's the SAME version as the UK iOS only one!

v10.10.0

Hmmm, see my PDF of it on the App Store.

Now if I download will it work with my UK account is the question, also can I download as it's not that easy being accounts are region locked.

[updated with PDF instead of screenshot]

[Anonymous User]

I agree entirely with what you say I myself have had an Apple 4k box since July 2018 it’s fast slick every app is great and picture upscaling is really good. As you say the nowtv app has been released in Ireland and Italy and nowtv only operate in 3 countries. I don’t know why they have chosen not to update the app here in the UK.  Judging from what Nadine posted before on behalf of nowtv it’s not on the radar so that’s that. 

[Anonymous User]

That’s not going to work you would have to make a separate Apple account. Why produce an updated app for Italy and Ireland it’s just basically a joke.

[moroboshi]

This should come as no surprise to anyone. Do the only thing you can do and vote with your wallet - cancel your subscription. I have. 

There's enough on Netflix, Amazon and ATV+ to keep me entertained for a lifetime. 

[MrZippy]

I forgot to add a URL to my post above showing the universal iOS/tvOS app on the Ireland App store.

https://apps.apple.com/ie/app/now-tv-ireland/id1190333186#?platform=appleTV

I am repeating myself but I am still shocked that this appears to be the SAME app as the UK one, same version number.  

[Anonymous User]

---

@ukbobboy wrote:

@Anonymous User 

Hey Rob

Glad your back, like your answer to this thread but mines pithier.

Only kiffing, still how are you doing, hope you're OK and that's all's right with the world (apart from storm Ciara - which I think is pronounced "see-air-ra", not the multiple ways the BBC are pronouncing it).

Thinking about having a beer.

Catch you later.

UK Bob

---

Hey Bob. 

I've joined "big Sky" since the years end as I got a great offer but I'm keeping tabs on things here too. Can't forget my old chums who've been so helpful and kind to me 😍

Storm Ciara has given me an excuse to stay in and watch some telly 🤣

Good attempt at the pronunciation, but it's actually pronounced Kee-ra 😉 My daughter-in-law is called Ciara, so she should probably know 😁

Enjoy the beer, I think I'll join you in one. Talk soon.

[ukbobboy]

@Anonymous User  @nst 

Coming from the guy that knows Jack about Apple..., etc.

TU_73

You said, "Are u talking about the nowtv app here or the roku app?"

Well TU, the Now TV app, O/S and all related hardware are developed, manufactured and maintained by Roku, in fact all Now TV hardware are clones of established Roku products made in approved Roku factories.

Therefore, Now TV products, apart from having contractually imposed hardware and software limitations, are in effect Roku products.

nst

You said, "Apple supply the hardware and the OS, and its up to developers to make apps..."

In fact, it's up to Apple developers to develop and maintain their app, not the  Now TV/Roku team, for example the BBC iPlayer app is developed and maintained by the BBC, likewise the UKTV Player app is developed and maintained by UKTV.

There is no doubt that cooperation and close planning must occur between Now TV, the platform holder, and Apple, the app developer, before an app can be deployed.  

However, make no mistake, any apps further development, maintenance and user experience is the ultimate responsibility of the manufacturer/developer, not the platform holder.

The fact that Nadine said that you Apple guys should not hold your collective breaths indicate, to my simple mind, that there is some sort of disconnect going on.

UK Bob

[nst]

bob...

I appreciate you are trying to help the discussion but to say

"In fact, it's up to Apple developers to develop and maintain their app, not the  Now TV/Roku team" is of course completely incorrect... your following statement being:

"the BBC iPlayerapp is developed and maintained by the BBC, likewise the UKTV Player app is developed and maintained by UKTV" is of course correct.. but totally contradicts your first sentence.

By saying "app" perhaps you meant to say OS... in which case of course thats true but nobody here has made such a statement - we all appreciate the differences between hardware and software and the responsibilities therein.

NowTV/Roku Team are responsible for their app.  Not Apple.  They submit any updates and then its made available to the masses (though apparently on a country by country basis).

This thread is all about NowTV's inaction, and non communication with regards to the LATEST version of the NowTV app - a version thats available in Ireland and Italy so Im sure you can appreciate the confusion with the UK user base as to why this isn't a simple case of releasing it here too - if you can come up with an explanation for that you are a better man than I.

If you dont have an AppleTV box.. then lucky/unlucky you.  Lucky that you have a better app than we do.. unlucky as you are missing out on one of the best user experiences for a set top box.

[Anonymous User]

There may we be some sort of disconnect here between Apple and roku Who knows. I’m well aware sky have a share in roku, and that nowtv comes under the roku name.The question should be why has the uk nowtv app not been updated and it has been updated elsewhere. My guess is that it’s down to nowtv but quite frankly the decision has been made by whoever. I have contacted the MD of nowtv for comment on this matter. 

[ukbobboy]

@nst  @Anonymous User 

Hi again guys

nst

You know, I do like learning new things from users of this forum and, as I've said before, I know next to nothing about Apple.

That said, from my understanding of how the Roku platform works, the OS and certain related apps are developed by Roku itself.  Other main apps/channels (mini software applications) that use Roku's platform, i.e. OS and hardware, are developed by that app's own in-house R&D team or an outside contracted development team, which means the company that paid for the app's creation is responsible for it's further development and upkeep, not the platform provider.

To prove my point, I've just checked the Roku channel store and confirmed that the Apple app was developed by Apple itself, not Roku, here's the URL:

https://channelstore.roku.com/en-gb/details/551012/apple-tv

and a screen print Apple's channel/app:

Therefore, as you can now see, updates are provided by Apple but rolled out by Roku and or Now TV, but if there are no updates provided, as Nadine seem to indicate, then nothing can be done.

Hope that this brings a satisfying conclusion to our debate.

Just to make sure: We are all debating about the same thing?

I'm talking about the Apple app, as shown above, but I sometime get the impression that you guys are talking about the Now TV app:

Either way, if you think I'm wrong then let me know, coz' I'm interested.

BTW TU_73

I applaud the action you've taken, if the MD, or his direct staff, cannot give you a satisfactory answer then, I believe, it will be time to abandon the Apple channel as implemented on the Roku platform.

(Which could be Apple's cunning plan to get customers to buy their streaming boxes)

UK Bob

[nst]

bob

I see the problem - you are confusing the AppleTV app (on 3rd party devices) with the AppleTV set top box.

Just to be more confusing the AppleTV set top box has its own TV app.  Apple recently developed an AppleTV app for 3rd party devices which is what you are walking about.

This thread is really discussing the lack of an updated NowTV app specifically on the AppleTV set top box.

[Anonymous User]

@ukbobboy 

FWIW from having dipped in and out of this thread the last couple of days, I think there may be a case of crossed wires between yourself and @nst  and @Anonymous User . When they have been talking about how the new version of the NOW TV app for Apple TV is available in Ireland/Italy, they're referring to the Apple TV platform (which is a dedicated piece of streaming hardware), and not the Apple TV app which recently launched on a number of devices including Roku. Apple's TV app is instead designed to allow non-Apple customers access to their TV+ streaming service, as well as the iTunes Video Store.

When a company (in this case Sky) decides they want to target Apple TV as a device that they wan to have an app for, it is the company's responsibility to develop the app themselves (either in-house or using a third party. It is then submitted to Apple's App Store for review/approval. To be clear, Apple have no involvement in the development of the NOW TV app for Roku, so the scenario you laid out in your previous message that Apple is somehow withholding support for the NOW TV app on Roku to boost Apple TV/Apple TV 4K devices sales is factually incorrect, and not possible.

Hopefully, that has clarified things, and everyone can get back on topic and discussing our frustration that Sky are withholding the updated version of the NOW TV app for Apple TV devices.

[nst]

@Anonymous User 

You put that better than I did.. and im sure that @ukbobboy can see what the thread is about now.

Also, your last sentence perfectly encapsulates the problem that the AppleTV (set top box!) users are currently frustrated about.

Sky (NowTV) are responsible... and they are withholding it in the UK for some unfathomable reason.

[ukbobboy]

@Anonymous User  @nst  @Anonymous User 

Apple Guys

Thanks for clearing this up, it seems obvious that as the new (know nothing) guy in this thread I was taking about chalk and you guys were unified on cheese.

Just had a beer and listening to some dance music, so I feel better now and I'm a little more enlightened.

Cheers Guys

UK Bob

[Anonymous User]

Yes exactly right guys think there was some confusion there. Well I contacted marina Storti the MD of nowtv but no response bear in mind this was on Facebook. She also has a LinkedIn profile but you have to have premium to contact her.  No other place is there an email address of any sort. My guess is she got the message on Facebook and passed it down to Nadine who commented yesterday on here but that’s just a guess. Sadly we will be in the dark as to why nowtv will not produce an upto date app for appletv users. 

[nst]

I think we could all "understand" if there was no update to the AppleTV NowTV app at all...

We would then think that our AppleTVs were being dropped as a supported platform.. if not actively so then certainly passively.

However, the fact we KNOW that the AppleTV app has a new version - makes Nadine's reply look ill-informed at best.

It seems so simple to release this to the UK apple app store as they have done to Ireland and Italy...I just dont understand why.

Why cant "nadine" look into the subject properly.. and come back with something like "yes you are right we have an updated appleTV app that we have released elsewhere.  We are currently evaluating its performance before unleashing it on the largest user base i.e. the UK"

.. I would accept that Ireland and Italy are probably much smaller user bases that the UK and the they are basically doing free beta testing on the app right now.

[MrZippy]

Or this is an example of the right hand not knowing what the left hand is doing?

There is a universal iOS / TvOS app on the Ireland App Store, as I posted before. This is the SAME version number as the U.K. store release that isn’t universal, so no tvOS support. 

Is this just an error that the universal toggle equivalent in Xcode wasn’t checked when this app was submitted in the U.K.  store and we’re not raising with anyone who cares or understands this issue. 

Just a thought, I haven’t had chance but if you create an Irish Apple ID you should be able to install this free app, then see if it accepts a U.K. login, I suspect it might. 

[nst]

@MrZippy intersting point..

and who knows... you may well be right.  it could be just a mistake on their part.

having said that, enough of us are asking them whats going on so they have no excuse to have missed it by now.

[MrZippy]

Exactly, another point is there is no mention of tvOS support being added in the release notes of the Irish version. And I believe this is new, yet not clearly mentioned.