iPhone’s TV app gets 7 big features and changes in iOS 17.2 « iOS and iPhone :: Gadget Hacks

Apple’s iPhone TV app didn’t get any new features in the iOS 17.1 software update, but iOS 17.2 is a completely different story. Big changes to playback controls, channels, store content, and more.

Many of the new features and changes in the Apple TV app also make it to iPadOS 17.2 for iPad. Both iOS 17.2 and iPadOS 17.2 are in beta and won’t be available as stable releases until late November or December. If you want to try these features for yourself before everyone else, join the iOS 17.2 Beta or iPadOS 17.2 Beta.

1. New “Watch Now” and “Library” buttons

iOS 17.2 changes the appearance of some bottom navigation buttons. The Watch Now tab now has a TV icon instead of the triangle-in-a-circle play icon, but the old play icon is now sliding over the stacked icon in the Library tab, so it’s completely empty. It didn’t disappear.

2. New icons for TV channels

The My Channels section of the Watch Now tab is now called My TV in iOS 17.2, but that’s not all that’s new. Right off the bat, you’ll notice that the circular icon with the channel’s logo is gone, replaced by a large rectangular card with the channel’s logo and the cover art of the highlighted TV show.

3. Non-Apple subscriptions appear on TV channels

The first part of the new (My TV) section shows your most popular Apple TV channel subscriptions. But that’s not all. iOS 17.2 also includes other frequently used streaming video channels by subscribing to the channels directly or through your cable provider.

So if you subscribe to AMC+ and Paramount+ through Apple, have the apps installed, and subscribe to Disney+, Max, and Hulu through those services directly or via your cable subscription, you’ll see them together here. .

When I scrolled through the list, “Try more channels” became “More TV.” Infrequent Apple TV channels and services that you subscribe to, either directly or via a cable subscription, will appear here first. Then, as you scroll past all of these channels, you’ll see an alphabetical list of channels that you haven’t paid for.

Tap your profile picture and select Connected Apps to see a list of all your streaming channels. To remove one from the list in (My TVs) or the first part in (Other TVs), toggle the service off and select the option to save or disconnect the service without saving the playback history .

4. Information + Playback Controls to Next

When you play a video, tap the screen to reveal the playback controls, and new links for Info and Next will appear below the timeline bar.

Information includes content description, genre, run time, Rotten Tomatoes rating, Parental Guidelines rating, and more. There’s also a “Details” button that takes the video to picture-in-picture and opens a page of content in the TV app. Acts as a “play from beginning” button to resume media.

(Next) displays a vertical list below your saved cue videos. From here you can quickly jump to another video. You can also tap the ellipsis (•••) or long press on a title to access the show/movie page, share it, remove it from Next, or see the movie or all episodes. You’ll see options to mark it as watched.

5. Further playback control changes

Also, in the playback controls, you’ll notice that the AirPlay button is in the top left next to the picture-in-picture button instead of in the bottom right.

In landscape orientation, the ellipsis (•••) button at the bottom right disappears. Instead, you’ll see icons for individual features supported by the current media, such as playback speed, language, and subtitles. If an option is not available, not all icons will be displayed.

This change also applies to video players in Safari and third-party WebKit browsers.

6. Genre glyphs in the library

When you go to (Library) –> (Genres) in iOS 17.2, the blue text for each genre no longer appears. Instead, a new blue symbol will appear to the left of the black or white (depending on light/dark mode) text for each genre. For example, Kids & Family has a balloon icon, Thriller has a shark, and Horror has a Jason-inspired hockey mask.

7. Integrated store content

The Store section of the Apple TV app also has changes in iOS 17.2. Instead of tabs at the top for movies and TV shows that help you filter content by type, the tabs are gone and consolidated. Therefore, movies and TV shows occupy the same page slots and sections below, which are now expanded.

Additionally, when browsing collections in the Store, the back button now simply says “Store” instead of “Movies” or “TV Shows.”