Apple TV Is Being Let Down By Maverick Developers
Users want a consistent experience across their streaming apps
I’m spending a couple of weeks back at home in the UK as it’s my birthday, my fiancee’s birthday and our engagement anniversary. Before the pandemic (should that now be an accepted time indicator like BC and AD — BP: Before Pandemic?), I used to come home every couple of months for a weekend, but the days of cheap flights have gone the way of face masks and COVID test kits, and now I come back for longer but less frequently.
When I come home to the UK, it’s an occasional opportunity to stock up on new tech. Prague is far from a tech backwater, but some of the sexier gadgets don’t make landfall for quite a few months after they’re available in the UK. This trip was no different, and I took the opportunity to upgrade my Apple TV from the HD to the latest 4K version. I don’t use a TV per se in Prague, only the Apple TV, and it was my saviour during the lockdowns. I’ve always been a big fan, and while there are some things about TVOS that I still find awkward, by and large, it has got better and better over the years.
The biggest problems with the Apple TV are the
- lack of consistency between the third-party streaming apps
- absolutely terrible user interfaces on third-party streaming apps
This was highlighted when trying to set up the new Apple TV as a clone of the older one. I use a number of third-party streaming apps; BBC iPlayer, ITVX, All4, My5, Acorn, NOW TV, BritBox, YouTube, Amazon Prime and Disney. Between them, they cost a significant amount in monthly subscriptions, but that’s a different story (one subscription to rule them all would be a utopian solution, but I suspect I’ve got more chance of living on Mars!). But back to the set-up process…
Apple makes migrating from one Apple TV to another quite simple (as long as you have the One Home Screen option set on the source ATV). This pretty much replicates the whole setup and allows the transfer of all apps, libraries, and many settings. However, once the transfer is complete, you next need to manually sign in to all your streaming apps. Of the ten apps I mentioned, there were at least five different ways to sign in. Some needed a normal username and password (some allowed me to use the iPhone as a keyboard, others didn’t), some needed me to log in via the app on the iPhone, some allowed me to scan a QR code, some offered multiple methods, others only one. The whole process took about thirty minutes in total (having to look up passwords that are only needed once in a blue moon was included in this time), but it wasn’t about the time; it was the sheer frustration of not having a single mechanism that was consistent. I could only thank goodness I didn’t have subscriptions to other streams like Netflix etc.
Once the Apple TV is up and running, the inconsistencies between different providers become even more profound. And those inconsistencies occur across apps and even within the same app. Given the (apparent) prominence of UX and UI designers in the tech world (not to mention the salaries on offer), I wonder who the heck some of these organisations actually have on their books. You’d think that there might be a standard way to actually play a show after you’ve selected it, but each provider seems to have their own idea of how play, pause, skip and fast forward should be implemented (and which buttons to use on the ATV remote).
You’d think that there might be a standard way to display how a show or series of shows might be displayed so you can choose which episode you want to watch — BBC iPlayer shows some shows by most recent episode first in their display. For others, you must scroll across dozens of episodes (or series) to find the most recent. ITVX recently had a complete makeover, including the name and logo, but on the Apple TV version, they’ve done away with the categories (although they are still available on the iPhone app), making it largely impossible to find something to watch unless it’s presented on the home screen or you know what it’s called!
Apple publishes quite lengthy documents about developing for their platforms https://developer.apple.com/tvos/ although I don’t have a developer account, so I can’t access the details for the SDK, some of the design guidelines are in the public domain https://developer.apple.com/design/human-interface-guidelines/platforms/designing-for-tvos/
When it comes to creating apps for the iPhone, Mac or iPad, I’m less bothered about the consistency of appearance. As long as the basics align with Apple’s User Interface guidelines, I’m generally OK. But the Apple TV platform, especially for streaming video, is all about homogenising the user experience. In this instance, part of the approval process for an app submitted for use on Apple TV should be about ensuring the consistent use of the TVOS design and operational guidelines, and apps that choose to go off and deliberately do something different should be rejected. This is even in the interests of the organisations responsible for building the software. Every deviation from a standard creates more risk, more expense, and potentially more development time. Not to mention more disenchanted users.
Apple, please start rigorously enforcing your development standards, at least for streaming apps. Third-party streaming app developers, please stop trying to reinvent the wheel and think about the people who actually want to watch your content, not work out how to work the controls every time they change the app!
I am a semi-retired independent management consultant specialising in organisational change management and better Ways of Working. I’m from the UK but based in Prague in the Czech Republic. I mainly write about developing better ways of working, working in the Apple ecosystem, and my adopted home in Prague. I’m still fairly new to Medium (so please be gentle with me!), but if you’ve enjoyed this, please check out some of my other articles or even follow me if you’d like to be notified when I publish new material