Replace, February 14th: Netflix confirmed to The Verge that the Apple TV app integration was inadvertently rolled out and that it has been rolled again. Our authentic story follows.
Some Apple TV 4K customers within the US are being prompted to attach their Netflix accounts to the Apple TV app. This would seem to sign an finish to the streaming service’s longtime refusal to have its content material aggregated into third-party platforms. Customers who hyperlink their accounts are ready so as to add sure Netflix originals like Squid Sport and Stranger Issues to their Apple TV app watchlist, with exhibits additionally showing within the Proceed Watching part.
The Verge has additionally verified that Netflix is now listed as a taking part service inside the Apple TV app alongside the apps that have been already supported, although this isn’t but mirrored on Apple’s web site. The combination seems to nonetheless be within the strategy of rolling out — your entire Netflix catalog isn’t out there but, and solely US-based customers have reportedly been capable of get it working. Apple and Netflix each have but to announce the replace.
Providing a common watchlist from many alternative streaming providers is a flagship characteristic of the Apple TV app, because it lets customers sustain with the most recent content material and choose up playback the place they left off. However Netflix has historically rebuffed these convenience-focused efforts — and never simply from Apple: it has additionally been absent from Google TV.
Apple and Netflix have been at odds on this for so long as they’ve been streaming opponents. Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings stated in 2018 that the corporate wouldn’t combine with the Apple TV platform as a result of “we want to have our prospects watch our content material in our service.” Netflix was additionally among the many firms to bypass in-app subscriptions to evade paying Apple’s charges earlier than the iPhone maker later softened its guidelines round permitting builders to immediately hyperlink to their very own sign-up web sites outdoors the App Retailer.
