Apple TV app
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Apple TV (app & service)
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| Operator | Apple |
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| App launched | 2016 · streaming service (Apple TV+) November 1, 2019 |
| Renamed | "Apple TV" (dropping the +) in 2025 |
| Platforms | Apple devices · smart TVs · consoles · Android (2025) · web |
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Apple TV — the app and the streaming service, distinct from the Apple TV box that shares their name — is Apple's television venture: an aggregator app launched in 2016 and, since November 2019, an original-programming service that went from "why would Apple make shows?" to the Emmys' regular guest.
1 The service✎
Apple TV+ launched at $4.99 with a handful of originals and a strategy of prestige over volume: Ted Lasso became the pandemic's comfort show, CODA won Best Picture — a streamer first — and Severance grew into the flagship. Sports arrived with MLS Season Pass and Friday Night Baseball; the film side scaled to theatrical bets like F1. Price climbed with prestige, reaching $12.99 by 2025, when Apple dropped the "+" and made the service simply "Apple TV."
2 Position✎
The app is Apple's face of television everywhere — one watchlist across its own originals, the storefront's rentals (iTunes Store lineage), and connected channels, running on rival platforms from Roku to Android because television demanded Apple go where the screens are. The service remains the smallest major streamer by volume and the most awarded per show.