You Can Now Try Apple’s Overhauled TV App (But There Are a Few Caveats)

New Apple Tv App Beta1 Credit: Apple
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[Update 03/28/19: iOS 12.3 Public Beta 1 is now available.]

You can now try out the updated and overhauled TV app on iOS and tvOS, just a few days after Apple first announced the platform.

To be clear, the TV app isn’t officially out yet. But the updated application has been included in the first beta versions of iOS 12.3 and tvOS 12.3, which were seeded to developers on Wednesday.

Currently, you need to be a registered Apple developer to access it. But we expect a public beta version of iOS and tvOS 12.3 to debut in the near future. You can sign up for Apple’s public software testing program here.

The revamped TV app, which Apple unveiled on Monday during the “It’s Show Time” keynote, features a number of upgrades over the previous version. Content is now much simpler to navigate and sift through, and finding things to watch should be a lot easier.

There are new What to Watch and For You sections that’ll recommend content. The first is curated by humans, while the latter relies on a machine-learning algorithm. Both will pull content from more than 150 streaming apps, meaning that users won’t need to jump between apps to actually watch their favorite shows and movies.

Some of the categories have been shifted around, too. On the iOS version, for example, the bottom tabs have been streamlined to Watch Now, Library and Search.

The new TV app also has a feature called Channels, which are essentially premium shows that users can pick and pay for.

Some options include HBO, Starz and Showtime — and users only need to pay for the networks that they want.

Of course, in the latest betas, Channels isn’t quite functional yet. When users tap on a piece of content in iOS 12.3 or tvOS 12.3 beta 1, they’ll be transferred over to that network’s actual app.

Similarly, Apple’s own Apple TV+ original content service will eventually be included in the new TV app, but not until the fall.

As far as a release date, Apple previously said that the revamped TV app will be available in May. That pretty much confirms that the final and public version of iOS 12.3 and tvOS 12.3 will be coming that month, though we don’t know exactly when.

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