Netflix has once again made a controversial change to its Apple TV app. In recent weeks, the company has stopped using the native tvOS 26 video player in favor of a custom player similar to the one it uses on other TV platforms.
In practice, this makes the most common interactions more cumbersome and blocks users from using platform-specific Apple TV features.
Netflix’s Apple TV app is now very bad
The change began rolling out a few weeks ago, and user frustration is mounting. On Reddit, there’s a growing thread of Netflix subscribers saying they are canceling their subscription because of this change to the Apple TV app.
In a separate thread on Reddit, one user explains the cumbersome process of simply rewinding or fast-forwarding by 10 seconds:
Did Netflix mess up the app? There are two extra clicks for a simple 10s rewind or fast forward. Instead of it going back 10s in one click, now it pauses and brings up the frame selector, and then you have to click again. Did they not do any research or usability testing before releasing this?
The change also means you lose access to full payback controls using the Apple TV Remote app on your iPhone. You can’t enable Enhance Dialogue from the video player. That clever Apple TV feature that automatically enables subtitles when you rewind? Gone.
One of my most-used tvOS video player features is the ability to tap the Siri Remote to see when what I’m currently watching will end. It’s great for trying to decide whether you have time for one more episode before bed. That feature is gone in Netflix as part of this change.
FlatpanelsHD has a great roundup of all the features on Apple TV that rely on an app using the native video player.
Netflix hasn’t given any public indication of why it made this change. According to “sources within the company” cited by Vulture, Netflix’s motivation was consistency across platforms. Netflix largely uses a custom video player across all of its platforms, so the Apple TV was an exception until now.
My guess is that it has something to do with advertising, and Netflix thinks it can use its own video player for better or more “immersive” advertising opportunities.
Netflix’s switch to a custom video only further exacerbates the company’s poor support for Apple TV in general. The company, for example, does not integrate with Apple’s TV and therefore does not support system tvOS features like the universal “Up Next” queue. Its use of the native Apple TV video player was really its only redeeming quality on the platform.
The core functionality and controls that this change ruined aren’t minor. They aren’t things you’ll only notice occasionally. Netflix’s video player botches even the most basic of tasks, such as requiring multiple button presses to rewind if you happened to miss a piece of dialogue. Netflix has fundamentally made its experience worse, and you’ll notice every time you use the app.
The timing is also pretty poetic: Netflix started rolling out this change at almost the exact same time it announced yet another price increase.
Switching to their own custom video player also broke Netflix’s integration with the iPhone. Until last week, playing video in the Netflix app on Apple TV would put a live activity widget on your iPhone lock screen with the name of the current program, scrub location, and player controls. Now that’s gone.
This regression dropping the same week that Netflix announced price hikes makes me so angry that I’m giving even more thought to downgrading my family’s Netflix account from the $27/month Premium plan to the $20/month Standard plan. Sending Netflix only $240 per year instead of $324 will show them.
I no longer subscribe to Netflix, except for the “Netflix on Us” ad-supported plan I get for “free” through T-Mobile. I find the service doesn’t have much content I want to watch, and changes like this mean I definitely don’t want to give the company $27 per month.
Hopefully, Netflix sees the growing frustration from users and walks back this change. I wouldn’t hold my breath, though.
My favorite Apple TV products:
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