In the past, the TV app was the first app I’d open when launching my Apple TV. Now I typically avoid it because it’s very cluttered with content I’m not interested in. The personalized Up Next section is now a minor aspect of the TV app when it was the main focus in earlier versions.
I installed the 17.2 beta and I hate the TV app even more. It doesn’t necessarily make sense from a design perspective with the side bar list of apps and individualized app sections. Since this is going to be the new direction for the TV app, at least create a section that is nothing but your personalized Up Next list with the full screen artwork. The new store section doesn’t provide the context/details that the two iTunes movies and tv apps do. Overall it just feels like a step back in functionality and simplicity.
I can see how Apple wants the TV app to be a fully unified experience but the way they’re doing it now isn’t as elegant and intuitive as one would expect from Apple.
Everytime they tweak it to put Apple TV+ content more in your face I use it less. I subscribe and quite enjoy a lot of the content on TV+ but I miss the old days where it integrated nicely and didn’t have the prominent promos everywhere. Now with the continued minimization of the continue watching I find myself using it even less and most of my interaction is via the carousel on the home screen and select stuff to continue from there.