It’s time for Apple to add this Fire Stick feature to the Apple TV 4K ‣ Diverse Daily

The last time Apple released a new Apple TV 4K was in 2022, and since then, the cost of streaming has risen sharply. Major streaming services like Netflix, HBO Max, Disney+, and YouTube TV have all raised prices multiple times over the past few years — including Apple TV, which Apple increased by $3 per month last year.

With all these price hikes, it’s no surprise that free streaming services like The Roku Channel, Pluto TV, Tubi, and Plex have surged in popularity. They offer hundreds of FAST (free ad-supported TV) channels, along with plenty of free on-demand movies and shows.

So, now you may be wondering, what does that have to do with the Apple TV 4K? Well, with Apple rumored to finally launch a new Apple TV 4K this year with promising hardware upgrades, it’s got me thinking a lot about what’s still missing from the Apple TV experience compared to other platforms like Fire TV, Roku, and Google TV. And the first thing that popped into my mind is free streaming.

Yes, Apple tends to focus on premium devices and services. But if it embraced free streaming like Amazon, Google, and Roku, it could make the Apple TV 4K — which I already think is one of the best streamers — even more compelling.

The Apple TV 4K needs a free live TV hub

One place to browse all the free content available

As someone who’s extensively used a Fire TV Stick 4K Max for streaming and tested multiple Roku devices and the Google TV Streamer, one thing I’ve consistently appreciated across all of them is their free content hubs, often built around live TV guides. It’s an incredibly useful feature for accessing free streaming, and unfortunately, one that the Apple TV 4K doesn’t offer at all.

If you’re not familiar with them, Amazon, Roku, and Google each have their own version of these free live TV guides.

On Fire TV Sticks, Amazon offers a live TV guide that pulls together free live TV channels from apps installed on your device, such as Prime Video and Tubi, making it easy to browse everything in one place.

Google TV takes a similar approach with Freeplay, its built-in live TV guide, which offers users over 250 free channels from Google and over 1,000 free channels from FAST services installed on your device, such as Plex and Pluto TV.

I think the Apple TV 4K would benefit greatly from a free streaming hub like the ones these other devices offer, especially for people who don’t want to keep paying for multiple streaming services…

Then there’s Roku, which arguably has the most recognizable free streaming hub with The Roku Channel, offering more than 500 live TV channels, plus a huge library of on-demand shows and movies, all completely for free.

Now, I’m not saying Apple needs to suddenly start signing deals and launch its own lineup of free channels — though that would certainly be interesting and a welcome move — but it would be nice if it took a page from Amazon’s Fire TV playbook and introduced a live TV guide that aggregates free channels from apps already installed on your device.

Better yet, this wouldn’t even need to be exclusive to a new Apple TV 4K, since it would be a tvOS feature that could also launch on older models.

Free live TV isn’t impossible on the Apple TV 4K

You can watch free content now, there’s just no hub for it

Although the Apple TV 4K doesn’t yet offer a built-in free live TV guide, you can still stream plenty of free content on it.

All you need to do is download a free streaming app from the App Store, such as Pluto TV, Plex, or Tubi. Once installed, just open the app, and you’ll have access to free movies, shows, and live TV channels in no time. Plus, some of them don’t even require an account.

Prime Video now offers some free content as well, even without a Prime subscription.

The one major free streaming service notably missing from Apple TV is The Roku Channel, since its app is currently limited to Roku devices, Samsung smart TVs, and Fire TV devices.

Ultimately, I would love to see Apple one day launch a free streaming hub of its own on its Apple TV devices, where you can easily see all the free live TV channels available on your device in one convenient place. But until that day comes, if it ever does, you can still stream free live TV channels on an Apple TV 4K; you just need to look across different apps to find them all.