Ah, it’s the weekend, which means you can spend a couple of days binge-watching your favorite shows. (Go outside? Ha!) If you have an Apple TV 4K box, you might find a surprise that makes it easier to access your Netflix account. According to various reports online, Netflix allowed its customers to connect their accounts to the Apple TV app. That means the Netflix shows you’re watching will appear in the Apple TV app’s “Watchlist” section.
Earlier this week, some Apple TV 4K owners in the U.S. saw a prompt to connect their Netflix account to the Apple TV app. Now, I wrote might, because 9to5Mac reports that this option is no longer available and the lucky few who were able to connect their Netflix account no longer have the functionality. The site says “someone jumped the gun,” presumably an Apple or Netflix employee, “and this rollout has been cancelled at this time.”
Furthermore, Mark Gurman at Bloomberg reports that the integration “is probably some sort of bug.” And The Verge reports that a Netflix spokesperson confirmed that it was an error and has now been rolled back. But it’s not exactly the kind of thing that could happen solely by accident.
The Apple TV app on the Apple TV 4K box allows access to several other streaming services, such as Disney+ and Amazon Prime, but not Netflix, meaning you always need to launch the app first. With this integration, the Apple TV app becomes a convenient point of entry so you don’t have the hassle of manually switching between apps. It also makes it easier to find your shows, because, admit it, you can never remember the service that the show you’re binging is streaming.
Netflix, however, has been a separate app on the Apple TV 4K, not allowing its content to be accessed through the Apple TV app. Could this false start be a sign of a new partnership that will benefit Apple TV users? We hope so.
Author: Roman Loyola, Senior Editor, Macworld
Roman is a Macworld Senior Editor with over 30 years of experience covering the tech industry, focusing on the Mac and other products in the Apple ecosystem. He is also the host of the Macworld Podcast. His career started at MacUser, where he received Apple certification as a repair technician (when Apple did that kind of thing). He's also worked for MacAddict, MacLife, and TechTV.