Apple TV’s tvOS 17.2 beta adds a sidebar to the TV app
One of the worst parts of the Apple TV experience on Apple TV 4K hardware has long been Apple’s TV app. This is where Apple has tried to aggregate everything you can watch on your Apple TV, from Apple TV+ to any installed apps. (Another seriously messed up thing is that Apple has named countless things “Apple TV.” But that’s another problem for another time.)
With tvOS 17.2 – which was just released in beta to developers – it looks like Apple is starting to clean things up a bit.
Open the TV app and things will look mostly the same as before. Recommended shows and movies, with previews. A “Next” section to bring you back to whatever you were watching. But look a little closer and you’ll notice that the tabs at the top of the screen are gone (they were Watch Now, TV+, Sports, Store, Library, and Search), replaced by just “Watch Now.” icon in the upper-left corner. This points to a new sidebar that’s far more useful, though still a bit cluttered.
You open the sidebar with the Siri Voice Remote, basically by scrolling as far left as you can (you can also activate it by going up if you’re already in the preview at the top of the mess). This is one of those things that’s a little easier to do than it is to explain.
That sidebar is where you’ll find the tabs that used to be at the top of the screen. Interestingly, the MLS Season Pass has its own line if you’re a subscriber. And the search has reached the top. (It’s also weird using my first name and middle initial in that place, given that I don’t use my first name with Apple stuff.)
Look below that, however, and you’ll see a much deeper list of “Channels & Apps.” This is Apple’s new way of making it a little easier to sort content from specific providers, whether it’s a broadcast channel like ABC, a free ad-supported service like Amazon FreeVie, or premium services like Paramount+ and Max. You can’t rearrange the list at all, but long clicking on an item in the list gives you the option to hide that service so it’s no longer visible.
It’s part of Apple’s continuing effort to make the TV app the one app to rule them all, but it still has one major hurdle to overcome. If an app or service isn’t participating, you won’t see it – or its content – in the list, or in the app at all.
In other words, there’s still no Netflix in the TV app on Apple TV. at least not yet.
