What you need to know
- The Google TV app is now available on iOS.
- Google's current Play Movies & TV iOS app will automatically update to become Google TV.
- Watchlist, recommendations, ratings, highlights, and Assistant are all porting over from Android to iOS.
Google TV's personalized show recommendations are no longer exclusive to Android devices. On Wednesday, Google shuttered the Play Movies & TV iOS app and replaced it with the new Google TV iOS app.
iPhone owners can now list their favorite streaming apps and receive personalized recommendations of what to watch across them. They can also manage their Google TV watchlist and use their phone as a remote on Google TV devices like Chromecast with Google TV or Android TV sets.
Google frequently makes its apps available on iOS, making Google TV's prior absence notable. It ensured Chromecast owners with iPhones couldn't easily check and manage recommendations except on their TV sets.
Google's announcement post (opens in new tab) explains that both iOS and Android users will be able to check personalized recommendations, add shows and films to their Watchlist, rate content to improve recs, check their personalized Highlights — a brand new feature on the Android app — and use your phone as a remote to control your Android TV. It's unclear if this feature will differ from how you use an Android phone to control it.
We also aren't sure yet how far the Google TV iOS app lags behind the Android app in new features, though the inclusion of Highlights is a good sign. Google has made some significant updates to the app in recent weeks, including personalized profiles and unique screensavers based on your Watchlist.
Google has also promised it will let you cast from Android phones to the Google TV app on televisions, so we can hope you'll be able to do the same from your iPhone.
If you want to start building up your Google TV profile, you can download the Google TV iOS app (opens in new tab) at that link.
Affordable Google TV on any set
Chromecast with Google TV offers 4K HDR10+ streaming and Dolby Atmos / Vision at an affordable price, either through native apps or via casting. Plus, you get all of Google's smarts as it recommends shows and films to watch across all of your favorite apps. It was harder to recommend to iPhone owners before, but the Google TV iOS app means you can better curate results.
