Roger Fingas
Long in the works, Walmart will finally launch a native Apple TV app for Vudu, its video streaming service, on Aug. 22.
An app has been rumored since March, and was confirmed in June without a firm release date. The app will become "widely available" next Tuesday, Variety said. Vudu is U.S. only.
While not allowing people to buy or rent movies directly, the app should otherwise support watching any movie or TV show in a person's library, as well as free, ad-supported titles. Purchases will include access to bonus features like deleted scenes.
To date, the only way of watching Vudu on an Apple TV has been AirPlay and the service's iPhone and iPad app.
The launch comes ahead of an anticipated fifth-generation Apple TV, which could be revealed as soon as next month. The device should add support for multiple HDR formats and 4K video — both of which are still missing from the iTunes Store, despite being present on rival services like Vudu and Netflix. Apple may be preparing to upgrade iTunes content shortly.
Stephen Silver
Christine McKee
Charles Martin
Amber Neely
12 Comments
Forget about Malwart. I'm still waiting for the Amazon app that was announced!
Great news! Now Apple needs to release a 4K Apple TV that supports Dolby Vision. Dolby Vision titles on Vudu look pretty awesome. The good thing with Vudu is if you redeem digital codes for 4K movies you've purchased, you will get the 4K digital copy on Vudu.
that's great, but I'm not sure why both the Vudu and Amazon Prime videos are okay on the iPad, including ordering, but the Vudu app on Apple TV was first delayed and now apparently excludes ordering. Doesn't Apple take the same cut either way?