Apple TV universal search integration expands to PBS and PBS Kids, suggests API now open

It appears Apple has made good on promises to roll out developer access to Apple TV universal search APIs, as tvOS now includes deep content links from both the PBS and PBS Kids apps.

The change was spotted on Saturday by AppleInsider reader Erik, who discovered a Siri query for "Curious George" surfaced the PBS Kids app as a viewing option alongside the usual iTunes and Netflix choices. A separate search for "Antiques Roadshow" returned a results page showing streaming availability through the PBS app, a separate title from PBS Kids.

Universal search is a tentpole feature for the fourth-generation Apple TV, a set-top box capable of streaming movies, TV shows, music and more from a variety of apps. With ties to Siri, universal search allows users to find content from multiple sources by typing in or speaking certain search terms. For example, a query for a popular TV series like "Scandal" returns a dedicated results page with matches from all apps and services through which that content is available, in this case iTunes, Netflix and Hulu.

Initially, universal search functionality was limited to iTunes, Netflix, Hulu, Showtime and HBO.

A month before fourth-gen Apple TV units hit store shelves, Apple CEO Tim Cook said the company would open universal search APIs to third-party developers in the near future, but declined to comment on an exact time window.

"I think that many, many people will want to be in that search," Cook said. "And that's great for users. Think about your experience today. Even if you're fortunate enough to have the content you want to watch in an app, you sometimes don't remember exactly where that show is, so you're going to Netflix or Hulu or Showtime. You shouldn't have to do that. It should be very simple."

49 Comments

Prof_Peabody 9 Years · 114 comments

About 8 years ago

All I care about is searching local content. This will likely NEVER happen, because Apple doesn't want you to have it.

elijahg 18 Years · 2842 comments

Great... But why the hell cant Siri/universal search find anything in my locally connected iTunes library? It's completely stupid. I ask Siri to watch something that's in my library and accessible through the "computers" app, and yet it directs me to buy it from iTunes or watch on Netflix.

The new new AppleTV is good but certainly not great IMO. I get weird lag quite often where things take a while to respond, the on-screen keyboard is a serious downgrade from the old one and locally stored TV shows are STILL listed really badly. On the first AppleTV (the Intel one) the seasons for a particular TV show were all grouped together. Now you have to scroll endlessly through X seasons of each show to find what you're after. It's stupid.

With 32/64gb available also, why can't we sync movies/TV shows to store on the box like the original could? Means you have to have iTunes running on a powered on Mac/PC to watch anything local. Totally ridiculous.

Soli 9 Years · 9981 comments

Prof_Peabody said:

All I care about is searching local content. This will likely NEVER happen, because Apple doesn't want you to have it.

That could lead to a roundabout solution using Plex, if the API is open, but I'd rather not fiddle with any circuitous method if I don't have to.

Putzy 8 Years · 8 comments

So how long before we start seeing a roll out on things like BBC iPlayer? I must say that the ATVs biggest downfall is the lack of apps that can use siri search. Hopefully it's not too long before everything is Siri-able

elijahg said:

Great... But why the hell cant Siri/universal search find anything in my locally connected iTunes library? It's completely stupid. I ask Siri to watch something that's in my library and accessible through the "computers" app, and yet it directs me to buy it from iTunes or watch on Netflix.

The new new AppleTV is good but certainly not great IMO. I get weird lag quite often where things take a while to respond, the on-screen keyboard is a serious downgrade from the old one and locally stored TV shows are STILL listed really badly. On the first AppleTV (the Intel one) the seasons for a particular TV show were all grouped together. Now you have to scroll endlessly through X seasons of each show to find what you're after. It's stupid.

With 32/64gb available also, why can't we sync movies/TV shows to store on the box like the original could? Means you have to have iTunes running on a powered on Mac/PC to watch anything local. Totally ridiculous.

Apple is de-emphasising the local library in favour of the cloud. I would expect they will never allow local searching because all their efforts are about driving folks to the cloud.

On another note ... the article says that the search for Netflix works, but it's never worked for me. My search finds absolutely nothing except what Apple has in the cloud. It directs me to the iTunes store every single time even if the movie is in Netflix or on my local iTunes or both.

Is this another one of those (many) features that works for the folks in California, so it's considered to be "done" already? Has this worked for anyone?