How the Apple TV could be better

In a keynote that lasted for nearly two hours, Apple couldn’t even spare a minute for its Apple TV streaming box.

Apple TV was a mere afterthought during the company’s WWDC developer conference, at which it announced major updates coming to iPhones, iPads, Apple Watches, and Macs later this year. The biggest changes coming in tvOS 16 this fall are some modest user profile improvements, richer on-screen exercise data for fitness apps, and a way for iPhone apps to show information based on what’s playing on the TV. Cue sad trombone.

That’s too bad. While I enjoy the Apple TV 4K and have one in my living room, Apple’s streaming box clearly has room for improvement. Here’s what I’d like to see from Apple if it ever decides to take tvOS more seriously:

Apps in the TV app

Today, the Apple TV 4K comes with two home screens. By default, clicking the home button brings you to Apple’s “TV” app, which includes an “Up Next” row of movies and shows in your watchlist followed by suggestions on what to watch next. Clicking the home button a second time takes you to a more traditional app grid, where you can launch apps for individual streaming services.

This bifurcated approach can cause confusion, which is why Apple should bring an app launcher into the TV app as well. Even just a single row for your favorite apps (as envisioned above) would help the TV app feel like a more complete menu for streaming.

I’m not saying the app grid should go away—and you should still be able to bypass the TV app entirely if you like—but the Apple TV ought to make clearer that the TV app is the best place to start.

An aggregated grid guide

Apple’s TV app does have a section for live and upcoming sporting events, but sometimes you just want to see what’s on your favorite channel—news, sports, or otherwise—without having to launch the app first.

To that end, Apple should take a page from Google TV and Fire TV by offering a live TV guide on its home screen, letting you preview what’s on services like Sling TV, Hulu + Live TV, or Fubo TV. The Apple TV 4K is such a speedy streaming box that it could have the best, most responsive grid guide around, if only Apple deigned to build it.

Enhanced picture-in-picture

Picture-in-picture is among the Apple TV’s greatest differentiators, letting you display video in a thumbnail view while watching videos or playing games in a completely separate app. So why isn’t Apple building on it?

In addition to picture-in-picture, Apple could offer Split View, akin to what’s available on the iPad, or it could let users save their favorite app pairs for faster access. Even better, Apple could let users launch picture-in-picture modes with Siri voice commands, building on what’s already a powerful voice assistant for the TV.

Simultaneous headphone and speaker audio

The Apple TV already has an excellent interface for routing TV audio to Bluetooth headphones, AirPods, and external AirPlay speakers. You can even select multiple AirPlay-compatible speakers, and the Apple TV’s audio will play across all of them simultaneously. Yet if you try to play speaker and headphone audio at the same time, it just doesn’t work.

I suspect that folks with hearing difficulties would love this capability, which would let them crank the volume on their headphones or earbuds while other people in the room listened through speakers. Apple’s in the best position to make this happen.

Netflix in “Play Next”

Netflix’s continued absence from Apple’s TV app continues to be a major annoyance. If you want to see what’s on Netflix, or even resume a show you’re already watching, you must return to Apple’s grid guide and launch the actual Netflix app.

This is probably Netflix’s fault, as other universal guides have limits on displaying Netflix content as well. But if Google TV is still able to include Netflix content in its “Continue Watching” row, Apple TV should be able to do the same for its “Up Next” row.

Maybe next year

Apple’s tvOS 16 isn’t entirely devoid of useful features. Most notably, apps will be able to tap into Apple TV’s support for user profiles, allowing them to automatically log into a specific one instead of showing a profile selection screen each time. HDR10+ support will also be helpful for those with compatible TVs, and more interaction between iPhones and Apple TVs could lead to some interesting use cases.

But none of those features help with the fundamentals of finding something to watch and enjoying a better experience while watching. We can only hope that tvOS 17 fares better.

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