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Anonymous User
Not applicable

Update Now TV app for apple TV

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.

2,755 Replies
nst
Elite

@MrZippy 

 

Given that, its a complete and utter mystery why they seem to be developing a new app for the UK.

 

1.  It should be a universal binary and therefore be updated every time the iOS version is (as its the same physical app)

 

2.  When there is an Irish universal binary - why on earth are we having to wait and get a new version and not just use theirs.  Mind you this has been asked over and over and its very odd.

 

 

The whole thing is very strange. 

Duncaw67
Scholar 3

Hi

 

@nst 

I wasn't part of the last beta trial for the Now tv app on Apple tv, but reading the threads here,trialiasts seem to have enjoyed using it before it disappeared without trace.

 

Let's hope this beta trial doesn't suffer the same fate, as I remember the old trial over ran, and this one seems to be going the same way, as you implied 3+ months and counting.

nst
Elite

@Duncaw67 

 

Thats as I understand it too - I wasnt part of it and only really came to these forums late last year when I decided to re-sign with NowTV mainly with the lure of "boost" to give me a service that was comparable in quality to my outgoing SkyQ box (though nowhere near 4K of course).

 

Seems there was a trial which disappeared into nothingness in the summer of last year  - although late autumn I believe is when the Irish and Italian versions of the updated app were released on AppleTV (just not the UK).  I assume this was the result of the summer trial?  Bit rude to get UK trialists to test an app that was never released to them.

 

Although this beta trial seems slow moving.... and it is to be honest - its still 'ongoing' as far as I can tell but no idea when it will be over and the app released.  Covid im sure has some bearing on things.  Of course we try to keep things a bit non specific where it comes to functionality and bugs... but i think its fair to tell you that the trial started late March and we only got the first revision (beta version 2) a couple of weeks back.

This has surprised me as when I signed up I was expecting something a lot faster moving with a lot more builds - however this is me as a ex-professional software tester speaking so my expectations were rather unrealistic.  We, the public trialists, are only here as blunt instruments using the app and reporting any faults.  We arent in the loop with regards to specific faults we report being fixed.

 

Anyway, yes its slow, but personally I wouldn't have thought this would disappear like the last one.. it just cant!

 

 

@Duncaw67 

Just searched my email history and the first trial started early August 2018 😮

Feels like it’s been going on (and off!) forever...

Duncaw67
Scholar 3

 

@dr_necessitor 

 

I've just seen your thread on the 2/8/2018 re: beta trial starting on Apple tv, how well was the app developed or was it just left to run it's course?

@Duncaw67 

how well was the app developed or was it just left to run it's course?”
Back in August 2018, it was the previous incarnation of the beta app, quite different to the current beta app (it looked to me as if it’s origins lay in a Sky Deutschland app of the time). Progress was similar (quite sedate, the odd questionnaire, a couple of updates I think) then it all went quiet, the build expired and there was an info & comms vacuum until this current trial came along. During all that, Comcast acquired Sky. Maybe that had some effect. I’ve never truly felt that Apple tv is a greatly important platform to Sky/NOW TV. It will be a hallelujah moment when (if?) an app eventually gets a public release!

nst
Elite

@dr_necessitor 

 

The question springs to mind... did you email them to ask what became of the trial you were participating in?

 

Strikes me as, shall we say, rude to engage testers and then allow it to dissipate like that.

 

Had I been in that trial id have emailed the trials manager to ask whats going on.

 

Having said that... I must say that the trials manager email was quite well manned in march, however my last two emails to them have gone unanswered.  Not a good sign but im sure theres a reasonable explanation!

Duncaw67
Scholar 3

 

@dr_necessitor 

Thanks for the update,but I wonder why the previous trial just disappeared,yet Ireland got a new updated app for Apple, and I believe the UK has a much bigger customer base and surely a updated app should be a gimme.

 

I got apple tv for all my streaming needs,especially for the bt sport on the big screen and I knew it had a Now tv app in the app store, but could not believe it was an 1.0 version from Oct 2015, but perseved with it till I was invited onto the beta trial in March, and it is so much better, even with a few bugs and no boost, and like you, I hope it will be rolled out universally for everyone!!!

Anonymous User
Not applicable

Couldn’t agree more with you, I’ve mentioned previously being invited on the trial and seeing the new version has made me use it a lot more even without boost etc
Duncaw67
Scholar 3

Hi

 

@Anonymous User 

I believe with the all threads on this platform that have been discussed over the years, the updated Now tv app should already be on Apple tv, and I hope we get word back from the trials manager detailing the next step  in the near future?

 

Anonymous User
Not applicable

Yep hopefully it will happen, it has gone a little quiet recently but perhaps there all starting to go back to the offices etc now it’s starting to ease and that’s the reason for the silence, or we can hope.
MrZippy
Expert 2

I wouldn’t hold my breath.

My last email to trials manager got a reply after 2 weeks and promised a new build in a few days, that was 2 weeks ago...

It’s a real shame.
nst
Elite

I do believe that things are moving, and I do believe that this app will get updated this time...

 

However response, engagement, and updates are glacially slow.

 

Not sure that covid is a huge contributor to the delay however it must for certain have had some effect on the development staff.  You'd have thought that software development is certainly something that could have been done remotely or from working from home though 

 

I find the lack of response lately to be frustrating but hope that things move along soon.

@nst 

Yes I did keep in direct email contact with the trials manager throughout the previous trial and also submitted bug reports. To be honest I’m not sure if she/he/they were just not allowed to reveal anything or simply were not privy to details (perhaps being merely a go-between rather than an embedded member of the team/project - this was definitely the case on various Sky trials thar I took part in several years ago).

@Duncaw67 

Don’t know, no reason was ever given. Something that happened towards the end of it made me think that the app had been ported from the Sky Deutschland app that was live at that time. When this trial started, I was slightly surprised to see how different it is to the previous trial app!

Anonymous User
Not applicable

Being a long time Apple TV user and having used NOW TV on various devices on and off over the years, I thought I would get myself a rolling monthly subscription, to cover the remainder of the English football season, which also coincides nicely with some F1 races.

 

Having fired up the App, it occurred to me that the TVOS version of NOWTV looks and feels quite outdated.

 

A quick google search brought me here....

 

4 Years, 1000+ posts

 

Just wow!

 

Nothing takes that long, surely

Enapace
Expert 2

Yeah it has been a long wait I'm really pleased to see we are approaching the end of the tunnel though just a bit longer. 

 

I think Late 2019/Early 2020 has seen big improvements to the NowTV platform as a whole though. More Channels being added, Initial Rollout of Red Button, 1080p and 50FPs.

 

Hopefully once the app is released it continues to get updated like the iOS/IPadOS App.

 

nst
Elite

@Anonymous User 

 

Well, the quick answer is you aren't actually looking at the TVOS app at all.  This app is a lazy port from the old models of the precious gen AppleTV (pre app store, TVOS, siri remote)

 

So its wildly outdated.  never even been developed for the platform.

 

Hence the interest and the exasperation of the long, long wait we have had to get a new actual TVOS app.  its coming.... sometime.

nst
Elite

@dr_necessitor 

 

I guess im just surprised that nobody had the courtesy to tell you that the trial was over and the version you had been testing was not actually going to be released to you.

Breaking_Bad
Scholar 3

We were told on 12th June in a private email that George is no longer the trials manager. This may explain the silence. 

Enapace
Expert 2

Have you been told who it is ?