HBO Max Updating Apple TV App With New Features and Improved Stability

[name99]

Have you ever used Peacock? That's by far the worst after Apple TV IMO.

There is only on winner in this contest, and it is Spectrum. Nothing comes close to as ****** as Spectrum on EVERY dimension.

Terrible UI? Check
Random hangs and UI freezes? Check
Start up the app throwing you into watching something (their moronic Channel 1) with no way to switch it off? Check.
Terrible quality (No 4K, no HDR, stereo only sound)? Check.
etc etc

Honestly, I don't understand who pays for this app apart from (the case I know all too well) old people sticking with what they know. Which doesn't seem like a great business plan going forward...

 

[nikhsub1]

my issue was almost every time opening the app up I got the 'please sign in with your provider'. must have had to log in via YouTube TV dozens of times to this app. hope this is fixed

Same here. The worst.

 

[srbNYC]

HBO Max is, without a doubt, the WORST app of all the streaming services.

I agree, at least of the bunch I have. I started this poll back in August (when they promised a revamp by the end of the 2021) and was really surprised it didn't "win."

 

[CarlJ]

Ah, “cross-platform”, usability’s most feared adversary.

It doesn't have to be, but yeah, often this is true.

 

[happygodavid]

I get the sense that many developers for ATV apps have never actually used an ATV before. It's as if they got the assignment from their higher-ups, and the only edict was, "We don't have an ATV app. Make one." Yes, HBO is awful, but it doesn't even come close to lighting a candle in the same horrific universe as the NFL app. NFL Game Pass is the only way I can watch my team, and I swear, I have never felt more frustrated by any ATV app, ever. Each year, they make one or two slight "improvements," only to never resolve something as simple as playback controls. It's a flip of a coin if a game is actually going to play the same day as the game. The eighth grade coding class they hired to create that app should be fired.

 

[Gator5000e]

How about adding Dolby Atmos to their content?

And Dolby Vision and UHD version of their movies and shows. That they release new series like Peacemaker and The Tourist as well as new release movies without 4K versions is embarrassing.

 

[MBAir2010]

who else cancelled their HBOd account because of Mojave (which rules)
problems and "It just dont work"?

 

[moabal]

It's out. Check again for the update.

They 100% got rid of momentum scrolling. Tested the old version. What a downgrade.

 

[Royksöpp]

4K pretty please, and with a cherry on top!

 

[Apleeseed84]

The only complaint i have from the HBO max is how you NEED to watch the entire episode past the credits to get it off your “watch“ list.

 

[seanrt]

Have you ever used Peacock? That's by far the worst after Apple TV IMO.

All the apps from NBC are horrible.

 

[B/D]

@JBaby

Updated manually (via the app Store).


It now uses the latest version of the tvOS native A/V player, and supports Atmos with Airpods and Homepods.


Disney+, your turn

 

[amartinez1660]

HBO streaming app needs all the help it can get; all of them all that I used, it is easily the worst.

It's still worlds better than Prime Video.

Haha. So true. THE WORST. A weirdly grouped sea of awful.

The latest Amazon Video update, it’s the devil in UX form…
Just hitting pause is met with a crap ton of info, buttons and things to navigate to instead of: a simple bar with the playhead, current time and time left. Hitting play again to resume leaves all of that for what seems forever, eating half of the screen with an overlaid very unpleasant half gray gradient. It feels like a “spawn a movie theater sight blocker person” button, that happens to be quite slow to get out of the way.

And because it takes too long and it covers too much of the screen you will be tempted to come back a few seconds, but it’s all weird, I don’t know what happens, going back 10s when on that state shows big thumbnails of where it’s going to go and pauses the whole thing again (but in a different way, selecting the massive thumbnail to resume playing disappears the UI instantly in this case).

Lately, such important front facing features are crafted so carelessly by brute-force throwing stuff at it where everything happens to stick…
This is plaguing everything: streaming services, games, basic software programs, ATMs navigation, even cars.

Today, every single time there’s an update or somerhing UI wise seemed to change, I brace for impact.

No logging in to multiple apps, managing user profiles, or setting up parental controls, utilizes Apple's streaming tech and servers, work with TV app on Mac.

[…]
ATVs "Up Next"/TV app feature is by far the best UI so far ever available on any platform.
[…]

Yes and yes.
And no, you are not alone at all in this, the up next is the single best and most used feature for me too.
Friday comes, the new show episodes you were watching appear there, finish them up, job done. Light browse maybe to queue some movies for later on, watch from there, from a single place.

Netflix is definitely avoiding displaying there on purpose for some reason, resulting in me watching Netflix things a total of never times for the last month.

 

[esaruoho]

Did they get rid of the sound bomb every time you back out of a show description?

That is the most annoying aspect of the app for me.

The sound bomb is the audio from the trailer of whatever show they are featuring at the top of the UI.

Can we just get the ability to disable auto play?

Hi, yes, it's in Account Settings (open the sidebar, scroll to the bottom left corner, click on the Cog, then go to the 5th tab which would be called something like "Playback".

There you can decide what the auto-preview does (play automatically with video only, no sound, OR don't play autopreviews automatically). And there's also a setting for disabling or enabling "binge on to the next episode of the series you're watching."

 

[esaruoho]

Plus, if you have "search" highlighted, you can't even exit out of the app! You have to go back up to your profile name to even exit the app.

Just checked from the newest version (52.15.0... on AppStore) and if I have highlight on Search keyboard and hold down the Back button, I get to the tvOS Home Screen, just as one would expect.

 

[esaruoho]

something all apps could do is to stop asking me "who is watching". i only got 1 profile, i don't understand why i need to see this menu every time.

Why if I’m the only person, does the app still make me pick my profile, before letting me go to a show that I just said I wanted to continue? ?

It seems that the "Who Is Watching?" screen is where one can edit current and add new profiles. Granted, it would make sense for it to be elsewhere, but at least this way the possibility is displayed every single time you launch the app..

 

[trip1ex]

Hi, yes, it's in Account Settings (open the sidebar, scroll to the bottom left corner, click on the Cog, then go to the 5th tab which would be called something like "Playback".

There you can decide what the auto-preview does (play automatically with video only, no sound, OR don't play autopreviews automatically). And there's also a setting for disabling or enabling "binge on to the next episode of the series you're watching."

Are we talking HBO Max and the same thing? Good to hear if that is the case. My app isn't updated yet afai can tell as I have no option to turn off autopreview.

Also the thing is I don't mind autopreview. What I'm talking about is really a bug with autopreview.

IT's not autopreview to loudly play the audio from a featured show at the top of the UI when you back out of a show description elsewhere in the UI.

 

[patsfan83]

Apple TV used to have such consistency. Feel like every app handles things different- especially turning on closed captions. Sometimes you swipe down and it's at the top, sometimes you swipe up and its on the bottom. So annoying.

 

[IlluminatedSage]

HBO MAX app needs sever upgrades and UI experience changes. Heard it was essentially a carryover from the prior HBO app, so thats why navigation and use is pretty poor. Content is great. but the user experience needs to do much better. Hope this upgrade helps

 

[esaruoho]

Are we talking HBO Max and the same thing? Good to hear if that is the case. My app isn't updated yet afai can tell as I have no option to turn off autopreview.

IT's not autopreview to loudly play the audio from a featured show at the top of the UI when you back out of a show description elsewhere in the UI.

I hope this screenshot will shed some light on the matter of the autoplay + "auto-binge or not". and nope, this version of HBO Max on tvOS does not play audio with autopreviews.

 

[esaruoho]

HBO MAX app needs sever upgrades and UI experience changes. Heard it was essentially a carryover from the prior HBO app, so thats why navigation and use is pretty poor. Content is great. but the user experience needs to do much better. Hope this upgrade helps

The new HBO Max tvOS app is now based on the acquired You.I platform/codebase and the old legacy HBO GO app and this are miles apart.
Btw, I was able to install the new app by deleting it from tvOS and then re-downloading. Even though it has only been deployed to 1% of the market as of yet. The "delete + download" seems to force the newest version.

 

[srbNYC]

Btw, I was able to install the new app by deleting it from tvOS and then re-downloading. Even though it has only been deployed to 1% of the market as of yet. The "delete + download" seems to force the newest version.

That worked. Haven't noticed much difference, but glad to have the new one. Thanks!

 

[GregorMae]

The scrolling is so slow and unintuitive … ??‍♂️

 

[srbNYC]

Some basic layout improvements are good - but again, SO basic, like proximity of continue watching and my list. Happy to have them nonetheless. Small buttons that expand when you use them seems silly.

 

[trip1ex]

I hope this screenshot will shed some light on the matter of the autoplay + "auto-binge or not". and nope, this version of HBO Max on tvOS does not play audio with autopreviews.
View attachment 1988625

Not really.

But per your other post where you mentioned that deleting the old app lets you download the new one, I can confirm that the "auto-preview" bug, or the "sound bomb" as I called it, is fixed.

You can keep auto-preview on and get no sound bomb.


edit: I just realized your screenshot shows a typo in their UI. Auto Play On has audio despite it saying "no audio." It just doesn't have the sound bug. I think that's mislabeled on their part.