On May 23 , the Warner Bros. Discovery mega - media ship’s company pulled the gun trigger on its openhanded rain cats and dogs app upgrade – well , downgrade , really . Yesterday was the launch of the new “ Max ” app and divine service , where the companionship put all its cyclosis content together in one place . much talk , this means add together Discovery subject to HBO Max .
For the Apple TV , the experience is a vast step backward . There ’s a new app , technological glitches , missing features , and bad pricing – and there ’s no good reason for any of it . It ’s a comedy of errors that smell of executive tampering against the good advice of genuine production designers who get it on what people actually want .
Look for the Max app
Fire up the HBO Max app and you ’re greeted with a large message : “ Something went wrong . ” The party has been sending out easy - to - ignore e-mail for a while now mentioning that Max is coming , but you’re able to forgive most Apple gadget user for take that the now - defunct HBO Max app would just update to Max . Nope . It ’s a new app you have to go download , and the warning notice on the HBO Max app does n’t tell you that .
I ’m not certain who make up one’s mind to call this “ Max , ” when the “ Max ” ( a.k.a . Cinemax ) part of the substance was not very pop and the HBO brand has been synonymous with must - watch prestige TV .
From a corporate courtship perspective , it makes sense . HBO was n’t precisely know for kid ’s programming or the form of low - exploit , go out - it - on - in - the - background unscripted reality TV that dominates Discovery . We would n’t want multitude to think they were missing out on that !
I know you ’re all very disappointed , but I will * not * be dropping the first half of my name any clock time soon 👀
There are other problems , of course . The app is basic with over - simple navigation given the largeness of cognitive content . For some reason , someone who should really know better decided to lump writers , music director , and manufacturer all together into one “ God Almighty ” section , which immediately anger the Writer ’s Guild of America and the Director ’s Guild for no welfare whatsoever .
A bad custom player, again?
Max ’s video playback is a usage job alternatively of the native tvOS role player , and it ’s just as bad as you ’d think . It ’s almost ( but not quite ) as defective as the Peacock player was at launch .
You do n’t get the Siri remote jog bike function , you ca n’t use the wonderful Siri “ what did he / she say ? ” feature of speech , there ’s no scene - in - picture support , none of the arrangement - wide accessibility features are supported ( like reducing scud lights or loud sound ) , matching subject frame rate , and so on .
The funny matter is , the companionship should really know better . The HBO Max app went through a big update two years ago that dropped the native player for a custom one and the shout was so big that they bring the aboriginal tvOS actor back in a month .
Quite a few users have noticed a lack of support for the Up Next waiting line in the telly app on Apple TV , but it appears this is a technical glitch that does n’t affect everyone . I ’ve gotSuccessionandBarryin my Up Next waiting line and they still work out fine , though they had to redirect to the new Max app .
Don’t worry, at least it costs more!
Worst of all , the price has gone up . There ’s a $ 9.99 monthly ad - supported tier and a $ 15.99 ad - barren tier that also let you download 30 pieces of content . Those are the same as the old HBO Max pricing , though you may now only take in on up to two concealment at once or else of three . But the ad - free level used to give you 4 thousand and HDR video and Dolby Atmos audio , and those are now shut up behind a more expensive $ 19.99 Ultimate design ( which also gives you two more coinciding flow and a total of 100 downloads ) .
Anyone who already has an HBO Max ad - free subscription is grandfathered in for six months , but after that , you ’re run to have to pay off $ 4 a month more for the same sound recording and video character .
intelligibly , someone at Warner Bros. Discovery require Max to be the new Netflix – a video streaming service with a Brobdingnagian breadth of content you on the face of it ca n’t do without and are unforced to pay a fortune for . And if Netflix can get away with shun all the tvOS standard , why ca n’t they ? But Warner Bros. Discovery does n’t have a first - moving company advantage , and the streaming landscape painting is more competitive than ever .
“ Something go wrong , ” indeed . That $ 6.99 - a - monthApple TV+subscription is starting to look better every day .
