[19][20] On iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, Vision Pro, and Apple TV devices it can also index and access content from linked apps of other video on demand services.

The app was released in the United States in December 2016 for iPhones, iPod Touches, and iPads and was rolled out to other countries starting in late 2017.

It aggregates television shows and movies from the iTunes Store with content from installed partner apps, and can track progress across devices using the same Apple ID.

[30] TV received a major redesign following Apple's March 2019 media event, which refocused it as a hub for Apple-distributed video streaming.

[39] Apple announced in January 2019 that the TV app would be made available on non-Apple platforms for the first time.

[4] The app also launched on select 2020 Sony Bravia Android TV models on October 14, 2020.

[26][1] As an aggregation service, the TV app pulls content from a variety of sources and streaming platforms for viewing.

[58] Support for Netflix is limited; their television shows and films will appear in search results and play, but other features like curation and progress tracking are unavailable.

[61] Partners include Cinemax, Boomerang, Discovery Channel, Motor Trend, Tastemade, Starz, MGM+, Showtime, Paramount+, Nick+, BET+, PBS, Curiosity Stream, Mubi, Globoplay, BBC Select, BritBox, AMC+, Allblk, Shudder, and Acorn TV.

[64] AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson, during an on-stage discussion with CNBC's Andrew Ross Sorkin at a fintech event, pushed back on the suggestion that content providers like AT&T's HBO would "not have the same level of access to the data" captured from Apple TV Channels that they currently receive through their own apps and websites to "see what everybody's really watching and be able to make certain decisions", instead insisting that AT&T's digital distribution deals provide it "access to data ... critical to advertising delivery, [ ] critical to marketing".

[67] The service, known as MLS Season Pass, launched on February 1, 2023 as a channel in the Apple TV app.