Apple tv+ is SO frustrating

Ok, just to set the record straight, we have been Apple customers for at least 10 years and we have about 20 Apple devices. We purchased an Apple tv+ box a month ago, and I have been “fighting” with it ever since.

First it came up with an error message that said it couldn’t load the content for a particular show (that we had already watched 6 or 7 episodes of). For that, we unplugged the unit and plugged it back in again, and then it was fine.

Then it wouldn’t display the show we’d been watching to our recents list, and I had to go find it. When I found it, every episode was ticked so obviously the app thought we’d seen them all, and didn’t display it, so then I had to figure out what episode we were on, and fiddle around to get back to the right episode.

Next we paused a show and after a few minutes it shut itself off. When we restarted it, once again it did not go to our show so I went on a hunt to find it.

Another issue is those “skip” buttons. They stay on the screen for all of a couple of seconds, so sometimes I’m just not fast enough to grab the remote and although we are so-called “binge watching” several episodes in a row, you STILL have to go through all the skips and intros. 5-10 seconds on the screen would make it doable (no…I don’t sit like a zombie with the remote in my hand….just ”waiting”….to click on skip buttons).

Also, the skip buttons come up immediately, but then “skip intro” button comes on the screen a few minutes into the show, once you’re settled in and have laid the remote back down. So sure enough, I often can’t quickly determine and grab the proper remote (amongst the 4-5 remotes we have to use for TV, Telus, home theatre volume, etc) to madly grab it and click it in time.

Sometimes you don’t even get a skip intro or….or…..the skip intro doesn’t do anything.

Next is the “next episode” button. I quickly learned you have to wait for it to change the episode by itself, it’s a useless button, even though it comes up highlighted leading you to believe you should click on it. Clicking on it only brings up the ending of the last episode as it runs out the credits.

Now today once again that first error message came up about being unable to load content for a brand new show, so once again we did the unplugging and now it works.

Lastly, the remote is so sensitive, it can be hard to control and get to where you need to go, it jumps all around the screen if you don’t hit the wheel on it absolutely perfectly, side or up/down. Even when you do click properly, clicking on the right icon on the screen can be very tricky because it jumps around to another icon.

We love Apple so had really high hopes when we bought Apple tv+. Apple being a tech company, I thought it would be better than any of the other remotes we have to use. Unfortunately I can honestly say it’s the worst. I shudder every time I have to pick up and use the remote, ready for a battle.

Yes you have to pay for a lot of movies…..they aren’t included in your Apple tv+ subscription, not great but understandable if it’s a first-rate movie. However there are a LOT of great shows that are included.

But the constant glitches and trouble-shooting drives me stark raving mad. Every day is a surprise. And remember, we’ve only had this for a month. What a piece of garbage, we are SO disappointed.

This review shows my device as Apple Watch. It is not, it’s and LG smart OLED TV. There were no options to change it properly.