- Netflix on Apple TV no longer uses the tvOS video player
- This results in small but annoying changes to the interface.
- But it also means that some features are now missing from the app.
Netflix has changed the way its app works on Apple TV HD and Apple TV 4K streaming devices, and given how popular these devices are among home theater enthusiasts, it’s no surprise that many viewers are dissatisfied with the results of this particular update.
Instead of using the tvOS operating system’s built-in display and video player software, which ensures a consistent experience regardless of which streaming service you’re using, Netflix has decided to do things differently. Netflix has now replaced the tvOS player with its own custom player, and that player not only looks different, but it also doesn’t work with a bunch of streaming features that users have used for years and years.
Netflix isn’t the only streamer doing this; Disney+ also uses its own player. But the Netflix player removes some basic features when you skip or play shows, and some viewers don’t like the changes. (It’s also not the first time Netflix has stopped integrating with Apple technology; it already skips the Next section of the Apple TV app.)
Article continues below.
What has Netflix done to the Apple TV app?
The Netflix app update has changed some standard features. For example, when you click back or forward on your Apple TV remote, the standard behavior is that the program will go back or forward 10 seconds, and users are used to this.
Not anymore: as viewer iamonreddit explains, “it now stops and opens the frame picker, and then you have to click again. Didn’t they do any research or usability testing before releasing this? It’s not smooth at all either.”
According to FlatpanelsHD, there are plenty of other tvOS player features that aren’t now available in the Netflix app, including handy automatic subtitling that activates when you rewind or mute the show; the option to use the Enhance dialog; video/audio format information and details in the slide-out menu, the ability to double-tap and know when the show or movie ends, and even integration with the handy ‘Remote’ app on iPhone and iPad.
It may seem like a lot of fuss about nothing, but one of the reasons people buy Apple TV is because of its user interface: it’s a nice place to spend time. And when apps go against that, for example to offer the same experience you’d get on a Fire TV or an Android device, they make the experience on Apple TV worse – maybe not by much, but enough to be another irritant. And the irritants accumulate.
But it may not just be about the interface. Other Redditors shared their negative experiences with Netflix. “The new player is pretty bad. And 4K doesn’t look like 4K,” lusid1 posted. Leckie described “constant quality issues… things will randomly pixelate and I need to force quit the app… nothing else has problems and all the other apps work great.” And aisuperman is “about to unsubscribe from an app that has a video player from the 2000s.”
I think redditor b2717 put it very well: “for me it’s like someone moved all the doorknobs in my house to the other side, right next to the hinges. They may still technically work, but it makes using them more difficult and annoying. And each time I’ll be reminded how unnecessary it all is.”
This also comes hot on the heels of Netflix announcing another price increase in the US, including the second price increase on the Premium plan in just 14 months, so people will have already been wondering if they want to keep the service.
Reddit user motorik puts his opinion very simply: “The latest update to the Netflix app is ‘bad time to unsubscribe.'”
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