Apple TV

Stay up-to-date on the latest Apple TV news and learn how to get the most out of your device with our comprehensive tutorials and guides. Discover new features, troubleshoot issues, and explore the best apps and games for your Apple TV.

Cook on how new Apple TV will fix a ‘terrible, broken’ process of watching television

Christian Zibreg ∙ October 20, 2015

Apple's fourth-generation set-top box, the $149 Apple TV, is launching next week and it won't be just a hardware upgrade. For the first time since the Apple TV's 2007 debut Apple is providing a software platform to enable third-party experiences on your big screen TV.

Discussing the sad state of the television industry and talking about how Apple can improve a “terrible, broken” process of watching television during the Wall Street Journal’s WSJ.D Live conference in Laguna Beach, California last night, Cook said that Apple's new tvOS platform represents a “foundation” for the kinds of experiences his company aims to deliver to consumers.

Apple TV 4 orders go live on October 26th, and ship at the end of next week

Jeff Benjamin ∙ October 19, 2015

Mark your calendars, ladies and gentlemen. Orders will go live for Apple's highly anticipated Apple TV refresh on Monday.

At the Wall Street Journal backed WSJDLive conference in Laguna Beach, Calif., Apple CEO Tim Cook was interviewed about a variety of different topics, including Apple Watch, CarPlay, Apple Music, and of course, the Apple TV 4.

In the interview, Cook spilled the beans about the Apple TV 4th generation order date and shipment time frame...

CBS chief again says the network intends to sign up for Apple’s TV service

Cody Lee ∙ Updated July 25, 2019

CBS's Les Moonves on Wednesday reiterated that the network intends to sign up for Apple's upcoming TV service. During an interview with Bloomberg, the CEO again indicated that recent discussions with the Cupertino company will probably lead to a content deal.

“Apple is having conversations with everyone about doing their own streaming services,” Moonves told the hosts of Bloomberg TV. “We have had those conversations, as have the other networks. Do I think something will happen? Probably, but I do not know when.”

New Apple TV and iPad Pro launching online in late-October, in-store sales from early-November

Christian Zibreg ∙ October 8, 2015

The fourth-generation Apple TV set-top box and the 12.9-inch iPad Pro tablet with Apple Pencil are due to hit retail tories in the first week of November after launching online toward the end of this month, according to reliable sources who spoke to 9to5Mac's Mark Gurman.

“The revamped Apple TV set top box and iPad Pro will both begin showing up in Apple Retail Stores for sale during the first week of November after going on sale via Apple’s website in late October,” wrote the publication.

How to send video wirelessly from your Mac to TV

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated May 30, 2017

Since OS X 10.9 Mavericks owners of the Apple TV have been able to wirelessly mirror their Mac screen to the big screen TV with an AirPlay feature called AirDisplay. There was just one slight problem: you couldn't stream individual videos without mirroring the whole screen.

Apple has solved this annoyance with OS X 10.11 El Capitan, which introduced richer AirPlay support permitting you to send video from Safari and other apps to the Apple TV.

Apple promises to open up universal search on Apple TV

Christian Zibreg ∙ October 5, 2015

When the new Apple TV launches toward the end of this month, it will allow viewers to use their voice to search movies and television shows across iTunes, Netflix, Hulu, Showtime and HBO. Fans of the device were initially concerned that the new box would offer preferential treatment to the aforesaid services. Thankfully, that won't be the case.

As CEO Tim Cook noted in an interview this weekend with BuzzFeed News's John Paczkowski, the new box will allow apps beyond launch partners to expose and make their content discoverable and searchable via iOS 9's universal search feature.

It's a crucial confirmation: content from other broadcasters and studios such as NBC, Disney and CNN must be exposed through the Apple TV's Siri-based search if the device is to streamline the user experience.

Review: CiderTV doubles as gesture-rich Apple TV remote and volume control for your television

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated March 17, 2019

I was researching software remotes for the Apple TV the other day and stumbled upon CiderTV by Aivee Apps. But wait, doesn't Apple's own Remote app for the iPhone and iPad get the job done?

Er, not quite. It's buggy, slow and just a pain in the you-know-what. I want a solution that goes beyond Remote's basic functionality, with features like richer gestures and DLNA volume control for compatible TV sets.

That way, I wouldn't have to constantly juggle between the tiny Apple TV remote and another one for my TV. CiderTV does just that—and then some more—and is available at no charge.

Apple bans iFixit from App Store over tearing apart unreleased 4th generation Apple TV

Christian Zibreg ∙ October 1, 2015

Those prolific electronics wizards over at iFixit have found out the hard way that breaking Apple's NDA has consequences. The site fell out of favor with Apple after posting a teardown analysis of an unreleased 4th generation Apple TV with Siri Remote.

According to iFixit itself, not only has Apple yanked their iPhone app from the App Store but also banned their developer account. iFixit's Apple TV unit was obtained as part of development kits provided to some developers who were selected to take part in Apple's early access program.

Teardown: new Apple TV + Siri Remote

Christian Zibreg ∙ September 22, 2015

Following the teardown analysis of Apple's fourth-generation iPad mini, repair wizards over at iFixit have torn apart the new Apple TV and its Bluetooth-based Siri Remote with touch trackpad.

The new box has a high repairability score thanks to a fairly modular design and just a few major components, which simplifies repair. It's also a half-inch taller and more than fifty percent heavier than the third-generation model.

On the inside, it features a beefier heatsink and power supply to support the speed monster that is the dual-core A8 microchip with 2GB of RAM, clocked at 1.8GHz.

More details on the new Apple TV revealed

Jeff Benjamin ∙ September 18, 2015

Apple TV dev kits are trickling into developers who participated in the dev kit lottery last week. Apple is providing some developers with an early look at the new Apple TV hardware by giving away full blown developer kit models, which come complete with a new Apple TV, Siri remote, and all of the other accessories necessary to use the next-gen set top box.

Although the verbiage surrounding the dev kits made it seem as if developers should be extra hush-hush about the kit, many new details have started to leak out about the 4th generation Apple TV. What can we expect from Apple's upcoming streaming and gaming device?

Provenance classic game emulator launches for Apple TV, and iOS devices

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated April 30, 2018

A week ago, we told you about Provenance, a then upcoming emulator that would be one of the first of its kind for the new Apple TV. Today, Provenance officially launched for the Apple TV and it also works with other iOS devices.

Provenance is a multi-emulator, meaning that it can emulate games from a variety of classic platforms. Users can look forward to emulating their favorite NES, SNES, Genesis/MegaDrive, Sega CD, Master System, GameBoy & GameBoy Color, and GameBoy Advance games.

Want to see what Provenance looks like on the big screen? Check here for more screenshots.

Apple’s 200MB initial download limit for Apple TV can be a good thing for gamers if developers adapt

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated June 12, 2018

Earlier this week, I discussed why Apple's move to require developers to support the Apple TV remote in its games was actually a positive move for gamers. Today, I'd like to briefly touch on another controversial subject regarding the new Apple TV—the 200MB initial download limit for apps.

Knee-jerk reactions aside, it's now much more clear what Apple's 200MB limit entails. No, it doesn't mean that a game can only be 200MB in size, it simply means that the initial bundle—the portion of the app that's required for a user to start using it—should be 200MB or less. iMore's Serenity Caldwell does a great job of explaining this in detail.

To assist, Apple is employing a recent technology called on-demand resources. This isn't completely new, as Apple revealed this strategy at WWDC 2015, and it's available for use by developers in iOS 9. The difference is, the Apple TV will require developers to use on-demand resources if its apps are larger than 200MB in size—and, as we know, many are.

While this may seem overly restrictive at first glance, it's definitely not as bad as it's been made out to be. In fact, I think that it will largely prove to be of notable benefit to gamers.