HBO Max to Completely Overhaul Buggy Apple TV App By End of Year
HBO Max will release a completely rebuilt Apple TV app by the end of the year to overcome a variety of issues users have experienced with the current version, according to a new report.
Shortly after Warnermedia removed its HBO Max offering from Apple TV Channels in May, an update to its subsequently released tvOS app essentially broke several features of the service.
In June, HBO Max dropped the native tvOS video player in favor of a custom video player, which introduced issues with fast-forwarding and rewinding video in the app.
Recognizing its mistake, HBO quickly reinstated the native tvOS video player UI. However, problems with playback control remained, while users have continued to report other issues to do with subtitles and audio description.
According to HBO Max execs who spoke to Vulture, these remaining errors should be corrected for all Apple TV users "within days," while subscribers can expect the rollout of a completely new app to match the needs of the current service.
"We're going to replace every single connected TV app in the next four or five months," said an unnamed WarnerMedia exec. Apple TV customers will likely have to wait until the end of the year for the new app to appear, and an overhaul of the mobile and web-based apps is planned for early 2022.
According to the report, the problems started when the company launched a new $10 ad-supported tier and expanded its app to 39 new countries in June. Integrating commercials into what had been an ad-free platform required the introduction of a whole new layer of app coding, and that's when the widely reported bugs were established.
WarnerMedia has also admitted that the current HBO Max app wasn't built from scratch, and has been running on a retrofitted version of the old HBO Go and HBO Now services, which were designed for a very different product. Hence the decision to start afresh with a completely new app, which has been in the works since at least late last year.
Popular Stories
iOS 17.2 has been in beta testing for over a month, and it should be released to all users in a few more weeks. The software update includes many new features and changes for iPhones, including the dozen that we have highlighted below. iOS 17.2 is expected to be released to the public in mid-December. To learn about even more features coming in the update, check out our full list. Journal ...
Unidentified governments are surveilling smartphone users by tracking push notifications that move through Google's and Apple's servers, a US senator warned on Wednesday (via Reuters). In a letter to the Department of Justice, Senator Ron Wyden said foreign officials were demanding the data from the tech giants to track smartphones. The traffic flowing from apps that send push notifications...
Apple today released new firmware update for both the Lightning and USB-C versions of the AirPods Pro 2. The new firmware is version 6B34, up from the 6B32 firmware introduced in November. Apple does not provide details on what features might be included in the refreshed firmware beyond "bug fixes and other improvements," so it is unclear what's new in the update, but prior software releases ...
The iOS 17.2 update that Apple is set to release to the public in the near future will bring support for the next-generation Qi2 wireless charging standard to the iPhone 13 and iPhone 14 models. Qi2 was mentioned in the release notes for the RC version of the update that came out today. With the addition of support for the new standard, iPhone 13 and iPhone 14 models will work with Qi2...
Meta has revealed plans to end Instagram users' ability to chat with Facebook accounts later this month, rolling back a feature that it introduced over three years ago. In September 2020, Meta (then Facebook) announced it was merging its Facebook Messenger service with Instagram direct messaging, allowing Instagram users to chat with Facebook users and vice versa using the same platform....
Apple's Korean suppliers have begun developing smartphone under-display cameras (UDC), paving the way for the first iPhone with a true "all-screen" appearance. According to The Elec, LG Innotek has entered the preliminary development of the UDC, which sits under the display and does not result in a visible hole in the panel when the camera is not in use. A UPC differs from a typical front ...
Today we're tracking a collection of deals that are matching - or nearly matching - the same all-time low discounts we saw during Black Friday. This includes the AirPods Pro 2 with USB-C, 9th generation iPad, and M1 MacBook Air. Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the ...
Apple has asked the Indian government to exempt existing iPhones from new rules that require smartphones sold in the country to have a USB-C charging port, reports Reuters. India wants to replicate an upcoming European Union rule that requires all smartphones to implement the USB-C charging standard. However, according to a new report, Apple has told India its local production targets will...
Top Rated Comments
We developers think it’s the easiest way to fix all bugs, but unless the underlying structural problems (like bad QA, wrong priorities) are fixed, it typically ends up worse.
Fingers crossed, though.
I paused a movie last night and when I hit play again it started from a point 10 minutes earlier.
I remember the original attraction to cable was the limited intrusion of programming.