- Netflix on Apple TV no longer uses the tvOS video player
- This results in small but annoying interface changes
- But it also means some features are now missing from the app
Netflix has changed the way its app works on Apple TV HD and Apple TV 4K streaming devices, and given how popular these devices are with home theater enthusiasts, it’s no surprise that lots of viewers are unhappy with the results of this particular update.
Instead of using the tvOS operating system’s built-in video player software and screen, which ensures a consistent experience irrespective of the streaming service you’re using, Netflix has decided to do things differently. Netflix has now replaced the tvOS player with its own custom player, and that player not only looks different, it also doesn’t work with a bunch of playback features that users have been used for years and years.
Netflix isn’t the only streamer to do this; Disney+ uses its own player too. But the Netflix player removes some basic functions when you’re skipping or playing shows and the changes aren’t going down well with some viewers. (It’s also not Netflix’s first time breaking from integrating with Apple’s tech — it already skips the Apple TV app’s Up Next section.)
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What has Netflix done to the Apple TV app?
The Netflix app update has changed some standard features. For example, when you click back or forward on your Apple TV remote, the standard behavior is that the show will skip backwards or forwards by 10 seconds, and users are used to this.
Not any more: as viewer iamonreddit explains, “now it pauses and brings up the frame selector, and then you have to click again. Did they not do any research or usability testing before releasing this? It’s also not smooth at all.”
According to FlatpanelsHD there are multiple other features of the tvOS player that are now unavailable in the Netflix app including the handy auto-subtitling that kicks in when you rewind or mute the show; the option to use Enhance Dialog; the info and video/audio format details in the slide-up menu, the ability to double-tap and find out when the show or movie ends, and even integration with the useful ‘Remote’ app on iPhone and iPad.
That may sound like a lot of fuss over nothing, but one of the reasons people buy Apple TV is because of its user interface: it’s a nice place to spend time in. And when apps go against that, for example to deliver the same experience that you’d get on a Fire TV or an Android device, they make the experience on Apple TV worse – maybe not by much, but enough to be another irritant. And irritants accumulate.
But may not just be about the interface. Other Redditors shared their negative Netflix experiences. “The new player is pretty bad. And 4K doesn’t look like 4K,” lusid1 posted. Leckie described “consistent quality issues… things will randomly go pixelated and I need to force close the app… nothing else has an issue and all other apps work great.” And aisuperman is “at the verge of unsubscribing to an app which has a video player from the 2000s.”
I think redditor b2717 put it very well: “for me it’s like someone moved all the doorknobs in my house to the other side, right by the hinges. They may still technically work, but it makes using them harder and more annoying. And every time I’m going to be reminded how unnecessary it all is.”
This also comes hot on the heels of Netflix announcing yet another price hike in the US, which includes the second price increase on the Premium plan in just 14 month, so already people will have been asking themselves if they want to keep the service.
Reddit user motorik puts their view very simply: “Latest Netflix app update is ‘time to unsubscribe’ bad.”
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