I use both and I haven’t found it too confusing, to be honest. I just think of it as Apple TV (streaming device) gives access to Apple TV+ (streaming service).
I’m sorry, I’m not clear on what you are talking about. Apple TV, the device? Apple TV, the app? Or Apple TV+, the streaming service? :)
It makes for great sentences like: The other day I was using Apple TV on my Apple TV to watch a show on Apple TV+. Which just rolls of the tongue and is sure to cause no confusion. /s
Apple TV is mostly associated with the hardware streaming boxes they've been releasing for a long time, Apple TV the app is just an app that performs a similar task on non-TVs. TV+ is available on both of them. Still, there's a bit of confusion around the naming.
Those marvellous marketers at Apple sometimes hit it out of the park and sometimes trip over themselves when it comes to naming. For their media services it's unfortunately the latter.
Here's the straightforward guide to everything named Apple TV:
Apple TV – the separate hardware box that runs tvOS, connects to your TV and enables you to view streaming apps developed specifically for this platform on your TV
Apple TV app - an application that runs on the Apple TV hardware box, iOS, macOS and third party TV platforms (Google TV, WebOS, Tizen)
Apple TV+ - the Apple streaming service that provides access to Apple Original TV and Movies that is accessible through the Apple TV app on all supported platforms
Apple TV Channels – third party streaming services (such as Paramount+) that can be subscribed via the Apple TV app whereby the subscription management and streaming data is handled by Apple and not the third party steaming service
I guess this is subjective, but I don't see the behaviors as "wildly" different.
In all cases, the Apple TV app is where you go to access the Apple TV+ service and as much other available content and video services as can possibly be presented to you on the given platform. The fact that this is different depending on your device and subscriptions is a little bit weird, but it doesn't change that much, at least for me.
It is, but if you define the Apple TV app as a sink that aggregates all content available on your platform, then it makes sense that it is different on each one. Since the way the app works is that it bounces you to the source.
To me there is the device, the app and the streaming service. The Channels is just a feature of the app. I agree that the naming is not ideal, but that is on par for course with Apple nowadays.
Actually it's more that Apple TV is both a piece of hardware and an iTunes-like service, while Apple TV+ is a subscription service akin to Netflix.
The Apple TV hardware and the Apple TV app on your iDevice can both be used without paying a subscription. The hardware has all other streaming apps a la Roku, and both it and the app on your iPhone can be used to purchase and watch TV shows and movies.
I think this is confusing, but the Apple TV app is different than the streaming service Apple TV+. The app is meant to be a centralized location for access to all TVs and movies across all services. It also keeps track of your progress on watching things and tells you when new episodes release.
I just fired up my AppleTV4k, navigated to my Apple TV app, so that I could view my AppleTV+ service.
I'm not really sure what you're on about, but all of the names you boldly claimed are not named what you say they are named. Right there on the app is the apple logo in front of the letters TV, aka AppleTV. Launching that app in the left hand menu, it clearly states Apple TV+ as an option. The logo on the device is the same as the logo on the app. So if you're stipulating it is read as Apple TV for the device, why would it also not be read the same way for the app using the exact same logo?
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