Dutch developer jvanakker has hacked the new Apple TV to run a native tvOS web browser using a private API based on Apple's UIWebView class, sharing the code on GitHub as a fork of developer Steven Troughton-Smith's tvOSBrowser project. The demo video below shows Apple's website running on the fourth-generation box.
The simplistic tvOS web browser allows you to scroll through pages with the Siri Remote, and pressing the center of the touch surface brings up a cursor for clicking. Pressing the Menu button returns you to the previous page, while the Play/Pause button allows you to input URLs, according to GitHub.
Apple does not allow Apple TV apps to have UIWebViews, so this web browser would not be approved on the tvOS App Store, but the project is a good proof of concept. Apple TV users interested in testing the web browser can follow iDownloadBlog's guide to sideload the app using Xcode and modify a tvOS file to build it successfully.
Earlier this week, it was discovered that tvOS also includes support for iOS-like folders.
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Top Rated Comments
Even this browser looks like a miserable experience.
Plus, it would let developers deliver additional awful experiences to users: apps could launch out to the web browser for certain things; or even just not MAKE an app and decide AppleTV users can just go to the site.
I think Apple made the right call. Tech nerds like me want a bullet list of "everything a person can think of," but some things are just poor, and not worth the complexity of including. Every feature has a cost—skip this one.
It's also possible Apple has a browser coming... but I really hope not!