Apple and Netflix Must Do Right and Finally Make TV App Peace for accessibility’s Sake
The internet was abuzz on Friday when it appeared Netflix and Apple had buried the proverbial hatchet with regards to integrating with the TV app when it was reported—many times over, at that—Netflix material was miraculously appearing in the TV app’s Watchlist section. This part of the software is where Apple allows users to see which TV shows and movies are currently in progress; clicking on something will immediately take you to whatever app—Prime Video, for example—you used to play the content. Companies such as Amazon and ESPN, to name but two participants, must to elect to support said Watchlist integration. The main thrust of today’s jubilance over Netflix’s ostensible acquiescence is because the Los Gatos-based streaming giant is the elephant-sized sore thumb on the many hands of TV app supporters on tvOS.
Alas, The Verge’s Chris Welch dutifully reports the integration was “a mistake.”
“Netflix spokesperson MoMo Zhou has told The Verge that this morning’s window where Netflix appeared as a ‘participating’ service in Apple TV—including temporary support for the watchlist and ‘continue watching’ features—was an error and has now been rolled back,” he wrote earlier today in a followup story. “That’s shame. The jubilation in our comments on the original story was palpable.”
The point of the Watchlist integration is, of course, about greater convenience. It’s more convenient to have one’s still-in-progress watches, across an expanse of services, collated into one neat and tidy location. As I’ve argued innumerable times over the years, however, convenience and accessibility aren’t one and the same. Beyond sheer convenience, the reality is the TV app’s Watchlist feature is a de-facto accessibility feature; instead of app-hopping, trying to figure out which movie or television show streams where, it’s more accessible to launch the TV app to find it there. This is especially beneficial for someone with cognitive disabilities, as the mental load associated with trying to remember where—and how—to find a particular piece of content is the furthest thing from trivial. Do it enough and it sullies the overall user experience. It makes watching Netflix inaccessible if only because it’s highly plausible a person has trouble remembering that, for instance, A Man On The Inside is on Netflix. (A series, I should add, is set in San Francisco and well worth watching.) Personally, I have no such trouble usually remembering what streams where, but nonetheless appreciate the TV app integration for accessibility’s sake. I was as jubilant as everyone else at today’s news for that very reason, and it’s a major letdown to learn from Welch (and Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman) that the integration with the TV app indeed was a bug.
This news serves as yet another reminder that Apple and Netflix need to make up posthaste. Apple should pay Netflix whatever it takes to make the integration happen for its customers, myself included. Moreover, the news also is a reminder of how much work Apple should do in improving tvOS. As I said in the Six Colors Report Card, I’m still waiting for the company to give tvOS its iOS 7 moment. Which is to say, rethink and redesign it all to make it more than a static grid of app icons. There is so much potential for greater information density on screens as big as a television’s that Apple is seemingly reticent to tap. Of course, the grid of icons has its benefits too, but I’ve long maintained the tvOS interface is backwards. The stuff within the TV app—most notably the Watchlist—shouldn’t live in a silo. It should be akin to Google TV, easily discoverable and flanked by a bunch of content recommendations. By comparison, Google does this extremely well; I’m a happy subscriber to both YouTube Premium and YouTube TV and am really happy with the suggestions I get on what I should be watching. With the advent of Apple Intelligence a few months ago, there lies a huge opportunity for Apple to flex its AI muscle in this realm. In fact, spend a few minutes scrolling the TV app and you’ll notice there are a bunch of recommendations—in my case, most of them quite good. The problem is, again, this stuff is buried and siloed when it should be exposed and out in the open. Most people will claim it convenient, but the truth of the matter is it’s greater accessibility too. This is not an insignificant point for legions of people.
If only Eddy Cue would make the drive to Netflix headquarters with fat check in tow.
