Fox Now App No Longer Supports Third-Generation Apple TV

Sunday June 20, 2021 3:43 am PDT by Tim Hardwick

The Fox Now app has removed support for the third-generation Apple TV, with the app now only compatible with fourth-generation and later models of Apple's set-top box.

fox now app
Existing installs of Fox Now on third-gen Apple TVs no longer work, and the app has been removed from home screens, preventing users on the older hardware from accessing Fox live and on-demand content like TV shows and sports.

First spotted by Appleosophy, the change follows a Fox Now announcement in May that it would no longer support the third-gen box from June 17. Similar moves to drop third-gen support have been made by other streaming apps this year, including YouTube and CBS All Access.

While native third-gen ‌Apple TV‌ support has dropped, the Fox Now app is still available on iPhone and iPad, which means anyone with one of these iOS devices can still AirPlay Fox Now content to their ‌Apple TV‌ for watching, albeit indirectly.

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Top Rated Comments

ururk

68 months ago

I can understand companies no longer pushing updates to older software versions for older hardware but I don't see why it necessitates the complete removal of the software from said hardware. With the understanding from the customer that it is no longer supported and thus newer features would be absent, why are older software versions (that don't carry any known security vulnerabilities) not simply left installed but without updates on this older hardware.

The same goes for the removal of YouTube and other popularly used apps on previous models of Apple TV, to which I say Why? Why not keep a working product installed until a security vulnerability is discovered or until a TvOS update breaks it. How does Fox profit from a customer having to purchase a new Apple TV?

It might not be as simple as leaving off newer features - an upgrade to an app might change what websites the applications connects to for content, or authorization protocols might have changed. There could be some underlying API's that they want to use that aren't available with older hardware (or TV OS).

And, if it changes enough that launching will result in a crash or broken content, their support lines will be inundated with calls from confused consumers.

As for being automatically removed from the home screen (if I'm understanding that correctly), then that's terrible and at a minimum it should display a message when you go to launch the app.

Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)

InGen

68 months ago

I can understand companies no longer pushing updates to older software versions for older hardware but I don't see why it necessitates the complete removal of the software from said hardware. With the understanding from the customer that it is no longer supported and thus newer features would be absent, why are older software versions (that don't carry any known security vulnerabilities) not simply left installed but without updates on this older hardware.

The same goes for the removal of YouTube and other popularly used apps on previous models of Apple TV, to which I say Why? Why not keep a working product installed until a security vulnerability is discovered or until a TvOS update breaks it. How does Fox profit from a customer having to purchase a new Apple TV?

Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)