Apple TV App Coming to Select Sony and Vizio Smart TVs Later This Year

[MacRumors]

In addition to select LG smart TVs, Apple today announced that its Apple TV app will be available on select Sony and Vizio smart TVs later this year. Apple shared the news in a press release highlighting the success of its various services.

When available, the Apple TV app will allow owners of newer LG, Sony, and Vizio smart TVs to stream Apple TV+ shows and movies, use the à-la-carte Apple TV Channels feature, access their iTunes libraries of movies and TV shows, and buy or rent more than 100,000 shows and movies from the iTunes Store.

The Apple TV app is already available on the iPhone, iPad, Mac, PC, Apple TV, select Roku and Amazon Fire TV devices, and select Samsung smart TVs.

Article Link: Apple TV App Coming to Select Sony and Vizio Smart TVs Later This Year

 

[Peza19]

Interesting. As new Sony TVs use Android TV I wonder if they’ll bring the app to the Nvidia shield?

 

[GDF]

What TV’s. Will 2019 A9G’s be supported, since they have Airplay and HomeKit?

 

[benshive]

Nice. I have a Samsung TV that added support for the app last year. I don't have an Apple TV so it's really convenient for watching their new shows.

 

[b25boxer]

Interesting. As new Sony TVs use Android TV I wonder if they’ll bring the app to the Nvidia shield?

My question exactly, I have three Sony TV's all with Android. I would love to ditch my non-4k Apple TV's and watch natively on the TV. Does the Samsung and Roku apps support 4k and Atmos?

 

[JohnApples]

Well shoot, that’s awesome. I was considering buying an AppleTV 4K for my Vizio as I’m not a huge fan of AirPlaying content to the TV, but this would negate that purchase.

Being able to natively access my iTunes content and ATV+ Right from the home screen of my TV would be very convenient.

 

[smaffei]

I would love to see Apple TV on the new TiVo Stream 4K device. TiVo has some really great patented tech for unifying streaming services into single experience (something Apple claims to do but not really well). And, TiVo's prediction algorithms for guessing what you may like based upon favoriting and past viewing history are top notch.

 

[gazwas]

Love to see the list of supported TV's however, still waiting for the Pie 9.0 update here in the UK which I imagine it runs on.

 

[SVTmaniac]

Later this year... the year has just started so that's a long way away. This should have been available to download on launch day.

 

[keithdoc]

Let's hope for a seamless experience, but I fully expect to suffer through a poorly designed proprietary interface with Sony (or worse, Samsung).

 

[The Phazer]

It'll be nice to watch

Let's hope for a seamless experience, but I fully expect to suffer through a poorly designed proprietary interface with Sony (or worse, Samsung).

Wha? You can pin the app to the top row and literally press enter. The UI in the app will be written by Apple. If it's poorly designed and proprietary it'll be on them.

Anyway, it'll be nice to access free 4K upgrades via iTunes on my TV without a separate box. Neat.
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Later this year... the year has just started so that's a long way away. This should have been available to download on launch day.

Given this has been announced so early in the year I think it's very (very) likely Apple signed an exclusivity agreement with Samsung until the end of 2019.

 

[Manzanito]

Still waiting for the firmware update that was to be released later last year on Sony tvs.

 

[nt5672]

Still waiting for the firmware update that was to be released later last year on Sony tvs.

We were seriously thinking of buying a 2019 Sony 950G, but nothing we could find indicates they have delivered Airplay 2 firmware upgrade yet and it was announced this time last year. Did we miss something?

 

[alexandr]

more and more good sony-apple news) hope this will be true to the smaller sized models, i don't want to go above 49"...

 

[jonnysods]

Excited for Vizio to bring the ATV app and Disney+ too!

 

[Alan Wynn]

Well shoot, that’s awesome. I was considering buying an AppleTV 4K for my Vizio as I’m not a huge fan of AirPlaying content to the TV, but this would negate that purchase.

There are three reasons to get an AppleTV: Privacy, Apps and HomeKit. Vizio and TCL (among others), sell your viewing data (it can be turned off, but is on by default), Apple does not. Apple Arcade has some great games that work very well on the Apple TV. I have also found that there are a lot of other apps with great AppleTV versions including Apple Music and iCloud Photos (many of these are in the exercise space: Daily Yoga and Streaks Workout are two of my personal favorites). Finally, an AppleTV can be a HomeKit hub, needed to give remote access to your HomeKit Home (HomePods can also serve that purpose).

If none of those reasons matter to you, the native app is useful.

Being able to natively access my iTunes content and ATV+ Right from the home screen of my TV would be very convenient.

One thing I really like on my AppleTV is the ability to view and search for most content via the speech interface, and to be able to watch most of it using the single TV app interface that keeps tracks of episodes and movies viewed. This is not just for Apple’s own content, but for every supported App (Amazon, HBO Go/Now, etc.), something that is not going to be supported on Android TV.

 

[Manzanito]

We were seriously thinking of buying a 2019 Sony 950G, but nothing we could find indicates they have delivered Airplay 2 firmware upgrade yet and it was announced this time last year. Did we miss something?

In Spain the firmware was officially announced on December the 11th. However, the announcement also stated that it could take weeks or even months for the tvs to receive the update.

Tech support told me that eventually the firmware will be available to download. No dates were provided.

 

[nt5672]

In Spain the firmware was officially announced on December the 11th. However, the announcement also stated that it could take weeks or even months for the tvs to receive the update.

Tech support told me that eventually the firmware will be available to download. No dates were provided.

Thanks,

 

[anup.chavda]

Love to see the list of supported TV's however, still waiting for the Pie 9.0 update here in the UK which I imagine it runs on.

Ask and you shall get! (I contacted Sony yesterday using their chat and I was told it would roll out fairly soon.)

Apple TV app - Devices

The Apple TV app and Apple TV+ are available on a wide variety of streaming platforms, popular smart TVs, and AirPlay‑enabled TVs.

www.apple.com

 

[BWhaler]

Shame the app is such a buggy disaster. It’s spreading the word, far and wide, that Apple software is terrible.

 

[lkrupp]

Shame the app is such a buggy disaster. It’s spreading the word, far and wide, that Apple software is terrible.

You should consider doing standup comedy. You’re really funny.

 

[sykeward]

We were seriously thinking of buying a 2019 Sony 950G, but nothing we could find indicates they have delivered Airplay 2 firmware upgrade yet and it was announced this time last year. Did we miss something?

I have an X950G in the United States and received the update in mid-December and it works pretty well. It was really poorly communicated, though.

 

[nt5672]

I have an X950G in the United States and received the update in mid-December and it works pretty well. It was really poorly communicated, though.

Thanks

 

[robbysibrahim]

Nice! This is expected if they want to play with the big boys.

Personally, I Cast (preferred) or AirPlay 2 my streams because I can't stand navigating a native TV app no matter the platform.

 

[JohnApples]

There are three reasons to get an AppleTV: Privacy, Apps and HomeKit. Vizio and TCL (among others), sell your viewing data (it can be turned off, but is on by default), Apple does not. Apple Arcade has some great games that work very well on the Apple TV. I have also found that there are a lot of other apps with great AppleTV versions including Apple Music and iCloud Photos (many of these are in the exercise space: Daily Yoga and Streaks Workout are two of my personal favorites). Finally, an AppleTV can be a HomeKit hub, needed to give remote access to your HomeKit Home (HomePods can also serve that purpose).

If none of those reasons matter to you, the native app is useful.



One thing I really like on my AppleTV is the ability to view and search for most content via the speech interface, and to be able to watch most of it using the single TV app interface that keeps tracks of episodes and movies viewed. This is not just for Apple’s own content, but for every supported App (Amazon, HBO Go/Now, etc.), something that is not going to be supported on Android TV.

I’m well aware of the AppleTV perks as I own a 4th gen for my bedroom TV.

But all I want for my living room TV is the ability to stream my iTunes movies without needing to fiddle with my phone.

For my purposes, a free update is much better than dropping ~$199 for another streaming box.