Matthew DeCarlo
Life’s about to be pretty good if you own an LG smart TV. The company has announced that it will be bringing access to the Apple TV app through its webOS smart TV platform, meaning you’ll be able to watch content from Apple TV+ without piping it to your TV from a separate device.
And it’s not just the newest models that will be getting this update. The Apple TV integration will be available on OLED and NanoCell televisions from 2018, 2019, and of course, the latest 2020 versions as well. Speaking of which, LG has more than a dozen new OLED TVs at CES this year, including new 4K and 8K models that span in size up to 88 inches.
CES is full of TV announcements, but the Apple TV part is what really caught our attention. Apple announced last year that its video streaming service would be available through smart TVs from Samsung, Sony, Vizio, and LG, but so far we’ve only seen Samsung models receive Apple TV integration. Now LG makes two.
What’s more, LG could have limited Apple TV access to its most recent 2019 and/or 2020 smart TVs, which is what we witnessed when the company recently announced that support for AirPlay 2 and HomeKit would only be available on 2019 and newer TVs. But again, you’ll be able to watch Apple TV content on webOS smart TVs dating back to 2018.
When exactly you’ll be able to do that remains an open question, however. LG’s announcement simply says that it will be rolling out support for the native Apple TV app this year. We’ll go ahead and file that as “soon enough” considering devices such as Rokus only received the Apple TV app last October. After all, native access to Apple TV+ is probably the most attractive part of this announcement, but that video streaming platform has only been available since November.
Apple has been including a free year of Apple TV+ for anyone who buys a qualifying iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac, or Apple TV, so there are bound to be a ton of people on the streaming platform at this point. That offer even applies to refurbished iPhones bought through the iPhone Upgrade Program. If you haven’t gotten in for free, Apple TV+ costs $4.99 per month after a free seven-day trial and includes a library of both licensed and original content.
