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Anonymous User
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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 2,755
Anonymous User
Not applicable

@commanda6 Thanks - yup, I remember that issue, I'll have a play with the date and time setting (i'll switch from the current automatic to manual and see how it goes). I'm a tad skeptical about it working as all other live channels work fine and it's just the movies that seem to be locked to a specific date and time from about a week ago.

 

@Anonymous User I'm confused to why this is an Apple issue, could you get the team to expand please? The app is listed as being developed by Sky, not Apple. I've worked on products (iOS apps) in a simialr ecosystem and as far as I'm aware its the developer who have to solve problems with specific apps. If I were to contact Apple about a problem with an app that isn't officailly listed as being developed by Apple they would tell me to contact the developer in question. In fact Apple actaully tells you contact NowTV if you follow the procedure suggested in the link you have provided: https://support.apple.com/en-gb/ht204153  

SeeMoreDigital
Legend 5
Legend 5

The 'app' that Sky provides is the basic 'front-end'. Everything else, such as the GUI layout, the links to the NOW TV content, the stylizing, even the content images is controlled by Apple!

Anonymous User
Not applicable

I find this very hard to believe?!  I develop apps for Apple devices for a living and it seems you are suggesting Apple has developed this app for you?

 

i'm looking at the App Store right now and it says developed by "Sky UK Limited".  This looks very much to me like Sky have altered the content delivery but not updated the Apple TV app!  In fact it says "Last updated 27 Oct 2015".  In app development world, that's a lifetime!!

 

At best Apple may have changed how the innards of their systems work but it doesn't mean it's Apples responsibility to update the millions of apps on the App Store for everybody.  It means the developers (that's Sky by the way) have to update your app to new standards which shift constantly.

 

Pull your finger out Sky, sort your app out. If you need a hand send me the source code and I'll finish the job for you 🙂

SeeMoreDigital
Legend 5
Legend 5

If any of you guys accessed NOW TV content using say, a NOW TV branded 'black' or 'smart' box or an LG or Samsung television you will see that the UI layout and way all the content is presented looks entirely different to how it looks on an Apple device.

 

This different 'stylization' is carried out by an Apple nominated third-party, which is not under NOW TV control.

Anonymous User
Not applicable

Apple and NowTV colaborated to develop the app for the AppleTV 2nd and 3rd generations which didn't allow for third party apps. This was then ported for the tvOS when the 4th generation was released which allowed for third party app developers at which point responsibility for the app falls to the content owner (NowTV). NowTV have so far failed to update this port with a redesigned app specifically for the 4th generation AppleTV. So @SeeMoreDigital has a point when saying that Apple developed the app (although it was in conjunction with NowTV/Sky).

 

However, content and descriptions are provided directly by NowTV/Sky themselves, not passed to Apple to upload or to put onto the AppleTV. So while Apple may be considered partially responsible for some bugs (although I would argue that NowTV's failure to release an updated app after over a year means that it is now their responsibility), incorrect episode titles, descriptions, missing episodes or permission errors would most likely originate from carelessness at NowTV when uploading content.

 

 

After a year and a half though, NowTV should also have released a new app for the AppleTV and stop relying on the one from over a year ago designed for an old system, so I refuse to give them a free pass on the other bugs too.

SeeMoreDigital
Legend 5
Legend 5

@Anonymous User wrote:

However, content and descriptions are provided directly by NowTV/Sky themselves, not passed to Apple to upload or to put onto the AppleTV. So while Apple may be considered partially responsible for some bugs (although I would argue that NowTV's failure to release an updated app after over a year means that it is now their responsibility), incorrect episode titles, descriptions, missing episodes or permission errors would most likely originate from carelessness at NowTV when uploading content.


For whatever reason Apple have decided that NOW TV's UI is not the look they want their customers to see on Apple devices. So they've taken it upon themselves to 'Appleize' it, which obviously means it's up-to Apple to make sure the links to NOW TV's content actually work.

 

Sufficed to say, these 'broken' or 'non viable' links to NOW TV's content very rarely happen when the same content is accessed using non Apple devices!

Anonymous User
Not applicable

@SeeMoreDigital wrote:

For whatever reason Apple have decided that NOW TV's UI is not the look they want their customers to see on Apple devices. So they've taken it upon themselves to 'Appleize' it, which obviously means it's up-to Apple to make sure the links to NOW TV's content actually work.

 


That's not the point @SeeMoreDigital. Even if Apple was 100% responible for the creation and maintenance of the app, becasue Sky published it to the App Store, and are listed as the developers, it's Sky/NowTV's responsibilty to contact Apple to resolve the issue!

 

For the customer it's irrelevant who does the fix. As the app is listed as being Sky's it is therefore Sky/NowTV who the customers should be contacting. To give an anaology, say your train timetable doesn't match up with the actual train times in any way shape or form, who would you make a complaint to? The train driver? The compnay who makes the trains? The graphic designers who made the printed timetable? No, you contact the train operator and they resolve the issue. It may be out of their immediate control, but they'll esclate it to the correct people and eventaully it will be resolved by one of the various third parties involved. Same thing here. I pay for a service within an app which is officailly listed as being provided and developed by Sky/NowTV, so that's who I have and will be contacting.

 

If Apple have to make the fix, that's cool. However it's not for us, the customer, to contact Apple to do so though. 

 

PS. any NowTV staff reading, there has been no changes to the AppleTV settings, hardware or software in the run up to this issue occouring. No other app or section within your app has been affected. It's just that one Live Movies section of the NowTV app.

SeeMoreDigital
Legend 5
Legend 5
For the last time. The app (the front end) and the UI that accesses the content behind the app (the back end) are totally separate things!

Anyway as all we're doing is going round in circles I'm out. And good luck to you!
Anonymous User
Not applicable

@SeeMoreDigital wrote:
For the last time. The app (the front end) and the UI that accesses the content behind the app (the back end) are totally separate things!


Exactly @SeeMoreDigital, you're spot on! They are seperate and one isn't talking correctly to the other at the moment. That's what we're saying! However the front end which the customer accesses is officailly listed as being a Sky developed app, not an Apple one, regardless of who actually built it: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/now-tv-watch-latest-movies/id734383600?mt=8

 

If Sky can't (or don't have access to) fix it, and it's something Apple has to do to the app, that's totally ok. However there is no documentation on the app store, Apple's site or NowTV's site prior to @Anonymous User's reply that says 4th Gen AppleTV customers should contact Apple about any specific probelm with the app. Further the link supplied by Eddie, if followed, actually leads me to a page which state I should contact NowTV to resolve any issue! Going in circles, indeed!

 

I have submitted feedback to Apple via other means (not Eddie's link) - but am pretty sure what their answer will be, contact the developer.

Anonymous User
Not applicable

@SeeMoreDigital I'm sorry, I wasn't clear. When Apple and NowTV co-created the original app, the system on the 2nd and 3rd gen AppleTV had fewer features and didn't have as much flexibility. So yes, there were fewer options for the appearance of the app which was built into the system. So updates for bugs in the 2nd/3rd gen app do need to be done in conjunction with Apple and NowTV together, but are always going to look different from other NowTV apps due to the constraints of the platform.

 

The 4th Generation AppleTV uses a different OS, one adapted from the iOS used for iPhones and iPads (although they have 'skinned' it so the OS looks very similar to the older generation for consistency). This new tvOS allows developers a much greater level of customisation. Should NowTV get round to updating the app for the current AppleTV then they have that flexibility to keep UI consistency between platforms, in much the same way that the iPhone app can largely resemble the Android app. However because NowTV have ignored the Apple TV since the 4th generation was released we are left with a bad port of the old AppleTV's NowTV app which means that the 'Appleised' (as you call it) user interface has been carried forward. NowTV have the freedom to bring this in line with other platforms and are now responsible for repairing any bugs in the app and Apple's role is significantly reduced from the role they played in apps for the old system. Now Apple's level of responsibility for the NowTV app is more along the lines of Microsoft's level responsibility for Adobe Photoshop on Windows - it is their role to provide a stable platform, but they have less say in how developers choose to use the platform.

 

In short, the 'Appleised' UI is a hangover from an older platform. If NowTV wanted to bring the app for the current generation AppleTV in line with the interface for other devices, they have the freedom to do so. The reason many of us AppleTV users are frustrated with NowTV is that given the freedom to release a better, more stable app, NowTV have instead ignored us content to leave us with the badly ported old software (which does appear to be much more stable on my father's 3rd generation AppleTV which the app was originally designed for).

 

I hope this clears up any confusion you may have on why we are holding NowTV responsible for the 'Appleised' app - certainly I hold NowTV and Apple jointly responsible for flaws with the older system's app, but not for the newer AppleTV.