Apps Are there apps for surfing the Internet on Apple TV?

[twocircles]

Other than dedicated apps that go to Facebook or some other dedicated destination, is anyone developing an app that will allow unrestricted surfing of the Internet?

I currently have my “TV” connected to a computer. I like to be able to go to other web sites after I watch Netflix. Any chance of being able to do that on Apple TV?

 

[firewood]

Unlikely, as tvOS doesn't include the frameworks necessary to render web content. (No WebKit, etc.)

Instead, you can AirPlay to the tv from Safari running on your iPhone.

 

[bestshoppee]

Unlikely, as tvOS doesn't include the frameworks necessary to render web content. (No WebKit, etc.)

Instead, you can AirPlay to the tv from Safari running on your iPhone.

Unlikely, as tvOS doesn't include the frameworks necessary to render web content. (No WebKit, etc.)

Instead, you can AirPlay to the tv from Safari running on your iPhone.

 

[grouch]

on the current tvos beta there is not a web browser.

 

[twocircles]

I thought we might be able to use AirPlay.

I am mainly curious if this is a hardware limitation, an OS limitation or a software limitation. It sounds like it is an OS limitation, so it would take a jailbreak to make it happen.

I am not saying it would be worth it. I am just trying to get a feel for what Apple TV and cannot do.

So, for me, since I only subscribe to Netflix, this would basically be a Netflix box, so I would not have to have a computer tied up. But, if I wanted to go onto the Internet, I would have to sync a computer or iPad while I did that.

 

[Sparxxx]

Could be that something like this is coming:

 

[Smith288]

Could be that something like this is coming:

Uses illegal APIs that apple would reject. It would need to be an app that's written from the ground up like firefox or chrome browsers.

 

[dearfriendx]

AirPlay from your Mac? lol

 

[Hemel]

I would love to have a browser for the Apple TV. I travel a lot and take mine with me all the time and it sucks that if I need the Apple TV to access hotel wifi, I need to phone their tech services and get the Mac address added....

 

[SG94]

There is an app.
You run it on your phone but it streams over AirPlay full screen on your TV and the phone becomes the mouse/touchpad.

It's called Air Browser.
Best solution I have found to date.

 

[AtheistP3ace]

Would be really cool to have a native app for this without airplay or anything. Since there are no available frameworks does that mean it could never be done without apple or could someone develop it all from the ground up? Just a question to try and understand how this whole tvOS thing works. I'm not really sure what is possible with this new OS. Is it limitless and only thing stopping things from happening are apple approving it or someone not developing it?

 

[fitshaced]

Would be good to have the News App which you can add channels to for different sites. The News App really needs to be synchronized across devices, why didn't that happen?

 

[firewood]

Would be really cool to have a native app for this without airplay or anything. Since there are no available frameworks does that mean it could never be done without apple or could someone develop it all from the ground up?

Webkit rendering is a private API on tvOS. Apple won't approve apps that use a private API for distribution from their App store.

However, you could install Xcode on your Mac, register for a free Apple Developer ID, download source code for a tvOS browser (there's at least one on github), build the app, and install it on your own Apple TV using a USB-C cable.