After pushing an update to its Apple TV app that caused widespread playback issues, HBO Max has reverted back to the native tvOS video player.
The original update on June 5 led to numerous user complaints about functions including pause, fast-forward and rewind not working properly. Late last night, HBO Max pushed an update to fix the problems and offered a mea culpa.
“We just released an update to our Apple TV app, restoring the native tvOS video playback experience you know and love, with more improvements to come. Ensuring HBO Max viewers have a quality experience is our top priority and we missed the mark here. Thank you for your patience,” tweeted HBO Max’s official customer service account.
NEW: A WarnerMedia executive confirms the company will roll back to the native video player for HBO Max on Apple TV devices after fielding numerous complaints from customers regarding remote control glitches and other problems. $T
— Matthew Keys (@MatthewKeysLive) June 9, 2021
RELATED: HBO Max with ads caps video at 1080p, turns off downloads
Earlier on Tuesday, Andy Forsell, executive vice president and general manager for WarnerMedia’s direct-to-consumer business, confirmed the imminent return of the tvOS native player.
“No excuses from us. Good intentions, bad execution. We'll learn from it,” he tweeted.
Forsell further addressed how the broken playback controls managed to make it out to consumers, calling it the zillion dollar question.
“First priority is to deliver for users in addressing the issues, but in parallel we will also dive deep into that question. More to come,” he said in response to a tweet from Nilay Patel, editor in chief at The Verge.
The Apple TV app snafu popped up shortly after HBO Max customers experienced streaming issues on May 30.
Our team has resolved streaming issues with #HBOMax. You may need to close and reopen HBO Max, or sign out and sign back in.
— HBOMaxHelp (@HBOMaxHelp) May 31, 2021
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HBO Max last week officially rolled out its new ad-supported tier for $9.99 per month. In exchange for the lower cost, HBO Max with ads subscribers won’t get access to 4K video since resolution will be capped at 1080p. Ad-supported subscribers also won’t be able to download content for offline viewing.
As previously disclosed, Warner Bros. same-day premiere films debuting in theaters and on HBO Max throughout 2021 are not included in the HBO Max ad-supported tier, but will become available on both tier options when the films debut via the HBO service in the months following their theatrical releases as part of HBO’s output deal with Warner Bros.