HBO Max ditches tvOS API for homegrown solution, chaos ensues

A recent update to the HBO Max app on tvOS has reportedly introduced a number of bugs and broken compatibility with key Apple TV platform features like Siri integration.

HBO exited Apple TV Channels after HBO Max launched last year, but the company continued to use Apple's tvOS API as a software backbone. That changed on Wednesday when HBO switched to homegrown player software as part of an app update.

The new HBO Max app is apparently bug-ridden and makes for what Screentimes calls a "horrifically bad" experience.

For example, users are no longer able to access certain Siri prompts like "What did he/she say?," an automatic rewind feature that plays back a portion of a movie with closed captioning. According to the report, nearly all Siri commands are non-functional.

Siri Remote support was also broken with yesterday's update. Users can no longer skip forward or backward with a quick tap of the remote's directional pad — or trackpad, for older devices — and touching the same interface no longer displays a show's timeline. Pausing and scrubbing through a content timeline causes the timestamp marker to move only to the start or end of a show.

Display quality is also affected, as SDR content is "forced" into what appears to be a poorly interpolated HDR mode that blows out brightness and renders colors incorrectly.

HBO has not commented on the release or its decision to move away from Apple's API.

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46 Comments

earthkid 35 comments · 4 Years

About 3 years ago

So is that mean SBOL or HBO mac don’t want Apple users to use their service? Innoway, they’re kind of saying if you are Apple user I don’t want you to use my service.

9secondkox2 3124 comments · 8 Years

Either this is a poorly thought out strategy to get HBO customers to be dissatisfied with Apple TV

or

Its an engineer or more who has a distaste for Apple personally and sold the board on going a generic coding route.

Either that or a new lazy/incompetent dev team.

Either way, it’s all bad news.

HBO needs to fix this ASAP.

Apple doesn’t look bad for this. HBO does. It reflects poorly in their brand and standards.

fastasleep 6450 comments · 14 Years

Haha I was wondering what the fuck was going on last night. Tried going back ten seconds in Mare of Easttown and tapping didn't work, scrubbing would cause the marker to slowly and uncontrollably scroll left or right. Force quit the app twice before giving up and just watching from the first spot I could get back in. This, as described in the source:

"Pausing and then scrubbing forward and back has a massive bug, and the timestamp needle flies off in either direction with no way to slow it down until it hits the start or end."

Great job, HBO.

sdw2001 17459 comments · 23 Years

fastasleep said:

Haha I was wondering what the fuck was going on last night. Tried going back ten seconds in Mare of Easttown and tapping didn't work, scrubbing would cause the marker to slowly and uncontrollably scroll left or right. Force quit the app twice before giving up and just watching from the first spot I could get back in. This, as described in the source:

"Pausing and then scrubbing forward and back has a massive bug, and the timestamp needle flies off in either direction with no way to slow it down until it hits the start or end."

Great job, HBO.

I was watching that show last night as well. I had some weird artifacts and such…some glitches, but as I use my phone as a remote I don’t recall scrubbing or other issues.

9secondkox2 said:

Either this is a poorly thought out strategy to get HBO customers to be dissatisfied with Apple TV

or

Its an engineer or more who has a distaste for Apple personally and sold the board on going a generic coding route.
Either that or a new lazy/incompetent dev team.

Either way, it’s all bad news.

HBO needs to fix this ASAP.

Apple doesn’t look bad for this. HBO does. It reflects poorly in their brand and standards.

Occam’s Razor would suggest it’s neither scenario. I’d guess it was straight incompetence in design and testing. They wanted to do their own thing…it probably came from a hubristic tech team….and they f*cked up royally. And yes, it’s a terrible look.