On Friday, Apple officially launched the fourth-generation Apple TV, which for the first time included an App Store.
While Apple includes a list of featured apps, there are currently no other methods for discoverability, and users can't browse categories or Top Charts to find other Apple TV Apps that haven't been explicitly featured.
Currently, the Apple TV App Store only shows what's featured. If your game isn't featured, it effectively doesn't exist. There's no way to browse genres, top lists don't exist (this arguably might be a good thing), and finding something that isn't featured requires typing its name in the search field. Siri search doesn't work on apps (yet?) so the amount of friction to download a game like Highway Rider which didn't make the feature cut is not only incredible but also has resulted in three sales. (Well, make that four, as I bought it.)
After some digging, SlideToPlay'sJeff Scott discovered that Apple was already publishing Apple TV top lists, even if they weren't yet exposed anywhere. Scott has now compiled a realtime list of the top overall Apple TV apps as well as individual category lists for both free and paid apps.
At the time of this writing, the overall top 10 apps include:
Top 10 Paid
1 - Beat Sports (Apple TV Only) 2 - SimpleX - for Plex (Apple TV Only) 3 - Galaxy on Fire™ - Manticore RISING (Apple TV Only) 4 - Lumino City (+ Universal) 5 - Alto's Adventure (+ Universal) 6 - Does not Commute TV (Apple TV Only) 7 - Battle Supremacy: Evolution (+ Universal) 8 - Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions Evolved (+ Universal) 9 - Shoot The Zombirds (+ Universal) 10 - Oceanhorn ™ (+ Universal)
Top 10 Free
1 - Rayman Adventures (Apple TV Only) 2 - Crossy Road - Endless Arcade Hopper (+ Universal) 3 - HBO NOW (+ Universal) 4 - The Nat Geo TV (+ Universal) 5 - FOX NOW (+ Universal) 6 - SHOWTIME (+ Universal) 7 - HISTORY (+ Universal) 8 - CNNgo (Apple TV Only) 9 - CBS (+ Universal) 10 - Asphalt 8: Airborne (+ Universal)
Games make up the majority of the top spots in the Top Paid listings, while media apps dominate the Top Free listings. At the moment, Jeff Scott reports there are presently 996 Apple TV apps in the App Store. The full list on SlideToPlay covers the top 200, as well as the breakdown within different categories.
Thursday November 13, 2025 11:35 am PST by Juli Clover
Apple today released new firmware designed for the AirPods Pro 3, the AirPods 4, and the prior-generation AirPods Pro 2. The AirPods Pro 3 firmware is 8B25, while the AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods 4 firmware is 8B21, all up from the prior 8A358 firmware released in October.
There's no word on what's include in the updated firmware, but the AirPods Pro 2, AirPods 4 with ANC, and AirPods Pro 3...
Saturday November 15, 2025 2:40 pm PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple is preparing for Tim Cook to step down as CEO of the company "as soon as next year," according to the Financial Times.
The company's board of directors and senior executives "recently intensified preparations for Cook to hand over the reins," the report said.
While the report said that Apple is unlikely to name a new CEO before its next earnings report in late January, it went on to ...
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MacBook Air (Early 2026)
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We're officially in the month of Black Friday, which will take place on Friday, November 28 in 2025. As always, this will be the best time of the year to shop for great deals, including popular Apple products like AirPods, iPad, Apple Watch, and more. In this article, the majority of the discounts will be found on Amazon.
Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors. When ...
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Starting with the upcoming tvOS 26.2 update, currently in beta, additional profiles created on the Apple TV no longer require their own Apple Account.
In the Settings app on the Apple TV, under Profiles and Accounts, anyone can create a new profile by simply entering a name and indicating whether the profile is for a kid. The profile will be associated with the primary user's Apple Account,...
Walmart's Black Friday sale has officially kicked off today, with an online shopping event that's also seeing some matching deals in retail locations. There are quite a few major discounts in this sale, including savings on headphones, TVs, and more.
Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Walmart. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us...
Thursday November 13, 2025 6:48 am PST by Joe Rossignol
iOS 26 extended pinned conversations in the Messages app to CarPlay, for quick access to your most frequent chats. However, some drivers may prefer the classic view with a list of individual conversations only, and Apple now lets users choose.
Apple released the second beta of iOS 26.2 this week, and it introduces a new CarPlay setting for turning off pinned conversations in the Messages...
Monday November 17, 2025 3:20 pm PST by Juli Clover
Apple provided developers with the third beta of an upcoming iOS 26.2 update, and there are still new features that are being added with each beta that we get. We've rounded up all of the changes that Apple made in beta 3.
AirDrop
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iOS 26.2...
What, so the category tab is missing? Apple will add it, it's probably missing since there isn't a ton of apps. They don't even need to update for that.
I own it, it's insanely fast, insanely smooth, and leaps and bounds better than the old one. For the love of God, I never had to do TV remote codes.... That's magical. Siri works well, it's easier to find content across apps.
The Netflix app isn't fully baked, but that isn't Apple. And Siri cannot control music, or find any to add. That's missing.
But other than that, it streams faster, better, navigating is leaps and bounds better, and it's just so smooth.
You people groaning don't own it, and you sure as hell are part of the **** show In this world.
I own the atv 2&3 (retired the 2) and a chrome cast and a fire TV. Chrome cast sucks (as does all miracast devices, AirPlay just rules) and the Fire TV search only does Amazon stuff, and is nowhere near as fast and smooth. The Siri controller is really the way to navigate tv. Apple nailed that.
It's a huge promising product with a lot of power. It's almost perfect right now.
There was a screen shot at the September event that clearly shows top charts and category options. Maybe Apple is waiting for more apps to be available to turn it on?
I have my complaints about this device by my god it's only been on sale for a few days. I think it's silly for developers to be freaking out about discoverability after only a couple days on sale. If a month from now we still don't have a good way to search for apps then yeah complain away.
They need to sort this quickly otherwise developers aren't going to bother at all and go elsewhere.
I guess a featured only section does encourage higher production values but the visibility is so poor that an indie developer is going to drown without a 5-figure marketing budget.
As a developer with a tvOS app in the store, this is totally unacceptable. My app effectively does not exist in the store unless you search for it.
Why should I even bother? I am assuming once they add categories that they will be sorted by newest -- meaning that the launch apps will just be very far back on the list.
