Apple TV Plus and the new Apple TV app, explained

Below are some of the Apple's busy and service-driven events: Apple TV Plus is a subscription service with only Apple originals. Unlike Netflix or Amazon Prime Video, you do not have access to a previous catalog of licensed programs or movies.

Apple TV Plus is not a separate standalone application. Instead, you'll succeed by using the Apple TV app, which will expand to many more devices in the coming months.

Starting in May, the Apple TV app will be able to stream (but not all) Apple's Apple TV shows and movies such as HBO, without sending you to a third-party video service.

But it was easy to miss some of these things or embarrbaded when Apple bundled these ads with a new credit card and magazine subscription service.

How do all these television stuff go together? Let me do my best to show it in a sensible way.

What is Apple TV Plus?

Apple TV Plus is a video subscription service that will feature Apple's growing list of TV shows and movies. When it launches this fall, Apple TV Plus will be the exclusive way to view this content. And Apple has invested heavily in training talented talent to produce programs that can match the best Netflix shows. Even Oprah is on board.

But Apple TV Plus is not its own app nor a separate experience. It will actually be accessible via the Apple TV app on iOS, Mac and other platforms. It will probably have its own dedicated tab or section of the TV app, but Apple has not explained this event in detail at today's event – and the Apple TV Plus website is extremely clear . During today's conference, we had the best preview of the Apple TV Plus series with flashy animations.

The service will be ad-free (since you will pay for it) and Apple plans to launch in more than 100 countries.

What is Apple TV Plus?

• A real competitor Netflix or Amazon Prime Video: As Peter Kafka had correctly predicted to recodingApple is not (yet) creating a full streaming service that mixes original programs and licensed programs as its competitors. Instead, the Apple TV Plus service focuses exclusively on Apple's own programming. There are no old items to scroll to infinity, unlike Netflix or Prime Video. No Hollywood movies or old television successes to speak of.
• On Android or Windows: Although it has announced a TV application for several platforms (including Fire TV), Apple has not indicated that the service and its originals would be available on Android or Windows. This is a huge hole if society hopes to make these prestigious shows accessible to as many people as possible. Native apps for these platforms, at least for the moment, do not seem to be in the cards.
• On the Web: The same goes for web browsers. Apple has made no mention of a way to stream Apple TV Plus via common desktop browsers such as Chrome, Firefox or Microsoft Edge.

When will I be able to watch Apple TV Plus?

Apple says that it will share price details and availability of Apple TV Plus this fall, but without being more specific than that. We have no idea of ​​the monthly cost of the Apple TV Plus nor the possibility of bundling it at a lower price with the other services of the company.

What is the Apple TV app?

The Apple TV app was first announced in October 2016 and launched on the fourth generation Apple TV and iOS devices at the time. It's now a pre-installed application on all iPhone, iPad and Apple TV devices.

Apple has positioned the app as a modernized TV guide: it's an all-in-one hub to find recommendations on which shows to watch. The "Watch Now" tab offers personalized choices tailored to your tastes and those of many popular video subscription apps.

Image: Apple

The Apple TV app also includes a sports component, offering live scores and notifications for in-game matches. Finally, it allows you to easily access your iTunes TV shows and your movie purchases or rentals. . Starting in May, the TV application will become the perfect place to perform the same digital purchases of movies and TV shows on Apple TV.

Does the Apple TV app cost money?

No, unless you pay for an Apple TV Plus subscription or an Apple TV Channel subscription (and none of these are available yet), the TV app itself is completely free to use.

Image: Apple

Soon you will be able to subscribe to networks like HBO and watch shows and movies directly in the TV app.

The TV app is therefore a useful resource for finding something to watch. But so far, the Apple TV app has always directed users to third-party applications for streaming. You can search for an HBO show in the TV app, but when you press play Game of thrones, you will be switched to HBO Go or HBO now. This gap between applications can be a little embarrbading and makes what Apple tries to make less transparent feel. It's about to change – in some cases.

Apple now says that customers will be able to watch content directly in the Apple TV app. But above all, this only applies to Apple TV channels which have been announced today.

What are Apple TV channels?

Apple will soon be offering optional additional subscriptions similar to those offered by Amazon with its main video channels. You will be able to pay for HBO, Showtime and other services using your Apple account. Now you can already subscribe to these networks on iOS and from their respective Apple TV apps, but doing so through Apple's new TV app has advantages.

On the one hand, you can share access to your Apple TV channels with up to six members of your family. Secondly, instead of having to watch the content of these channels in several different applications, everything will be visible directly in the TV application. Finally, you can download programs for offline viewing.

Apple has projected a slide of the Apple TV channels, and I put the fat hitters in fat (for most people, anyway):

• Acorn TV
• BritBox
• CBS All Access
• Cinemax
• CollegeHumor's Dropout
• Epix
• Eros now
• HBO
• Life Cinema Club
• Mubi
• MTV Hits
• Nickelodeon Hits
• noggin
• PBS Living
• Show time
• shudder
• Smithsonian Channel More
• Starz
• Sundance now
• tasted
• Faith and family
• Urban movie chain

It's a strange mix, but it puts at least Apple at par with Amazon. If you like TV shows from any of the above services, you can watch this content directly in the Apple TV app. Apple will offer superior picture and audio quality for all Apple TV channels because it directly manages channel streams instead of pressing HBO, CBS, Starz, and so on. Combine that with the ability to download content for offline viewing, and you can see why people might choose to start managing their subscriptions via Channels.

Pricing for different Apple TV channels has not been disclosed. According to rumors, Apple would offer a series at a reduced price, but the company has not deepened this issue today.

But you will still do some jumps

Other apps, even those with shows in TV apps like Hulu and Amazon Prime Video, will ask you to switch to their own apps to watch something. The Apple website is a little misleading, hinting that users will be able to "look at it easily" Hulu "inside the app". A spokesman for Hulu confirmed The edge that this is not the case.

Image: Apple

Where can I watch the Apple TV app?

Currently, the Apple TV app is available on Apple TV decoders (fourth generation and Apple TV 4K), as well as on the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. At today's event, Apple announced that the TV app will visit the Mac this fall. In addition, the company has confirmed that it will bring the TV application to Samsung smart TVs this spring and TVs from Vizio, Sony, LG and others "in the future". future."