4 things Apple TV+ needs to add before I unplug it for good

Summary

More integration outside Apple ecosystem is needed.
A dedicated remote finder button would be convenient.
Improved audio passthrough is expected in an upcoming tvOS update.

There’s plenty to love about the Apple TV 4K, and believe me, I do love it, but there is always room for improvement. I’ve had the opportunity to try out many streamers, including the Roku Streaming Stick, Roku Ultra, Google Chromecast 4K, and Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max. On the surface, they all do the exact same thing, but there are differences between them that stand out.

The Apple TV 4K might be the best performer of the bunch, but that doesn’t mean the other devices don’t do certain things better. With its high price, the Apple TV 4K is expected to be the best of the best, but it falls behind in several key areas. These aren’t dealbreakers for a lot of people, but you’d be hard-pressed to find people complaining about any of these possible changes. These aren’t all the changes I’d like to see, but they are some of the biggest ones I can think of that’d make my Apple TV 4K experience even better.

Brand: Apple
Bluetooth codecs: 5.0
Wi-Fi: 6
Ethernet: Gigabit (128GB model only)
Storage and RAM: 64GB, 128GB

Apple TV 4K and remote against a pink blurry background.

I tried to replace my Apple TV 4K and it did not go well

My Apple TV 4K is old, but there’s not a great option to replace it.

1

Less reliance on the Apple ecosystem

I want Apple to play nice with others

It comes as no surprise to many people that Apple likes people to invest in its greater ecosystem, but that’s something I haven’t done. The Apple TV 4K is the only Apple product I have, and it’s clear I’m leaving plenty on the table because of that. The Roku Ultra, on the other hand, doesn’t have limitations like that, and it’s something I hope Apple gets on board with.

If you want to stick to just watching shows and movies, you don’t need to worry about anything else. However, if you have hopes of integrating your Apple TV 4K into your smart home or making video calls, you’ll want to have more Apple products. It’s not the end of the world, but it’s an annoyance that other streamers don’t have.

roku-and-google-need-to-set-up-a-true-competitor

Roku and Google need to step up and create a true Apple TV competitor

Apple needs a stronger competitor in the streaming world.

2

An actual button to find my remote

This would be great

Let me be clear, I don’t tend to lose my remote nearly as often as I used to, so it’s not as much of an issue for me now as it was growing up. However, I still misplace my remote from time to time, and if that happens with my Roku Ultra, I can head over to the device itself and hit a dedicated button that’ll help me pinpoint the remote’s location.

If this same thing happens with my Apple TV 4K, I have to use an iPhone to locate my remote. Unfortunately, I don’t have access to an iPhone, so it’s up to me to locate my lost remote. It’d be very nice to not rely on another device entirely to find my remote, but that’s not how it works here. I would love for future Apple TV iterations to have an actual button for this, but I don’t feel like this will be the case, considering how many models there have been without this functionality. I won’t hold my breath for this one.

3

A better remote would be nice

It’s really not that great

Apple / Pocket-lint

The Apple TV is known for many things, but the remote isn’t typically one of them. The remote included with the 2nd-gen Apple TV 4K model and beyond is leagues better than what came before it, but there’s still a lot of room for improvement. Most smart remotes you see today have dedicated buttons to streaming services that let you hop right into apps. Apple’s remote has nothing of the sort, and while that’s a positive for some people, I think it’s something I’d like to have.

To be fair, it’s not like the Apple TV remote is bad, as it does what you’d expect it to, but I imagine there will be some changes in the future. The big one for me, as somebody with no other Apple devices, is that I had to buy a Lightning cable to charge it. That cord is only used with my Apple TV remote, and with Apple moving away from Lightning, this might be the last time you need that cable.

An Apple TV 4K and a Siri Remote on a table.

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4

Audio passthrough, and the future looks bright

This one seems like it’s going to happen

A fourth generation Apple TV 4K with its remote.

Apple / Pocket-lint

I have a receiver set up in my living room designed to give me the best audio possible, so it’s very annoying that the Apple TV 4K doesn’t let it do its job. Instead, the Apple TV 4K takes the audio and decodes it itself, and the results are mixed if the audio being given to it isn’t Dolby Atmos. More often than not, my receiver is left with less-than-ideal quality thanks to the Apple TV’s inability to pass the audio along.

As part of the upcoming tvOS 26 update, audio passthrough will become a reality. This was revealed in a beta build of tvOS 26, and it’s long overdue. My only hope now is that it won’t be locked behind a new Apple TV 4K model. I’m still sitting on a first-gen Apple TV 4K, and Apple has shown a tendency in the past to lock cool features behind newer generations.