If you go into your Apple TV beginning today, November 3, you'll see a significant design change on the main page. Instead of seeing the familiar "Up Next" row at the top of the screen, you'll see a new featured section. Unfortunately, the difference could make finding your most important content a little more complicated.
First recognized by the Channels app developer, Jon Maddox, the design change puts the Apple TV app page more in line with changes recently made by Netflix and Hulu. Undoubtedly, Apple made this change to better advertise content viewers might not see otherwise. The "Up Next" row is now the second one you see.
Although some users seeing the change have suggested it was made only with the tvOS 16.2 betas, that doesn't seem to be the case. The image above was taken of the Apple TV app on the latest (non-beta) version of macOS 13 Ventura. Interestingly, the change hasn't (yet) been made in either the iOS 16.2 or iPadOS 16.2 betas.
This is the change Apple decided to make?
It's somewhat unfortunate this is the type of change Apple has decided to bring to its "hobby" device, as it's been a quiet year on the Apple TV front. Although we did see the recent launch of the third-generation Apple TV 4K (2022), there were few changes made in tvOS 16 when it launched in September, although more tweaks are coming.
The new Apple TV 4K (2022) comes with a faster A15 Bionic chip and support for HDR10+. There's also a thinner Siri Remote that includes a USB-C charging port for the first time. It's also at a price that makes sense. Early reviews have been positive.
It will be interesting to see whether the Apple TV app design is permanent or something Cupertino is only testing. In the meantime, stay tuned.
