I just completely removed all versioned beta criteria for the public beta link. If you were trying to get access on an iOS device and were unable to download it from TestFlight earlier, give it another try.

https://testflight.apple.com/join/NdaJfb9n

Thanks!

First off, happy Friday!

Beta 1.11 Build 3 is probably the biggest feature set introduction since launch.

There's a lot here, and I hope you can take the time to read through everything. That way you know what to test, and explore!

And please do chime in and share your feedback. It seems to be a little quieter lately. Maybe that's a good thing because there's less to report, but with a large release like this, there's bound to be issues. Even if you're not experiencing a bug, let me know what new additions you're enjoying!

The Biggest News

• iPhone and iPad interfaces are here! Even though this is build 3, it's the first build to include support for more than the Apple TV. I've done quite a bit of testing on my own, and I've made many tweaks and improvements to Auto transcoding over the past month so devices gracefully handle switching from Wifi, 5G, and LTE. I'm sure you'll all find things that need fixing since this is the first release, but I'm super excited to get this out to you all!

Other Cool New Features

• Weather on 20 is a new 24/7 weather channel, on you guessed it, channel 20. There's current weather conditions, extended forecast, and almanac screens. Each has a wealth of weather information. The background color is dynamic to match weather and day/night conditions, and the soundtrack comes from your own Plex music library, with a preference for jazz and easy listening if those exist in your music library.
• There's a new profiles tab bar item for fast user switching. You'll see your profile photo and name right next to Guide and Settings.

Some Smaller Feature and Updates

• The static effect got a lot fancier. There are now 4 static options. Auto (the new default), Day, Night, and Off. Auto uses sunrise and sunset data from the weather channel to toggle between Day and Night mode. Day is the classic static look you're familiar with. Night substitutes the white color in the static for a darker blue color pallet, which makes night viewing less straining on the eyes when channel surfing. Off gets rid of the static, and instead displays light gray "Tuning In" text on a dark background.
• There's now a date and time widget in the guide. It's enabled by default, but can be turned off on the Guide settings screen. Handy for not losing track of time.
• You can now enable channel logo overlays when in fullscreen mode, just like real broadcast TV. It's a small change, but it's nice to have a subtle visual indicator always visible to let you know what channel you're on. This setting is under Settings > Playback > Live TV > Channel Logo Overlay.
• Additional guide scheduler fixes have been added to build 3. There were some regressions while making the guide more random in previous builds. I've added a ridiculous amount of new tests to catch future regressions, and I believe the issue is fully fixed now. Sorry about that!
• The ML classifier has been updated to version 2.10 after some additional training data was added. I created a report to find weak spots in the training data, and worked to build out the weak areas. The classifier is now trained on over 300,000+ media items, and you should see more movies and tv shows appear as the model gained confidence in new areas.
• The Guide now defaults to not muting the video preview. I ran a poll and the majority agreed it was confusing when sound wasn't playing on initial launch. There's still the option to disable this under Settings > Guide > Mute Guide Preview.
• When you subscribe or buy Bunny Ears TV+ Lifetime, the subscribe button moves to the bottom of the Settings screen to get out of the way.

Feature Recap

Some of these were added over the last couple of builds, and I haven't heard much about it. Recapping here incase you missed it. Try out the new functionality and share your thoughts!

• Streaming Quality is Bunny Ears TV's take on transcoding and a number of new settings were added. There are 4 quality profiles you can customize. Cellular, 5G, Wi-Fi, and Ethernet. Wi-Fi and Ethernet disable transcoding so it behaves like the app does today. The goal is always on device playback because the difference in speed is noticeable, but cellular and 5G enable transcoding by default so Blu-ray remuxes stream smoothly when away from home. You're able to customize everything to fit your needs and network speeds.
• There's also a simple Playback Reliability setting under Streaming Quality that allows you to easily adjust buffer and connection retry settings for better resiliency on unstable connections.
• Ad Bumpers recently got a ton of new functionality. In addition to now supporting Playlists, Collections, and Libraries, you can also create multiple Ad Bumper groups and assign them to channel packages. This allows you to show kid friendly ads on family channels, and more adult themed ads on other channel packages. There's a lot of customization here, so share how it's working for you!
• Every Profile has multiple settings that allow you to tailor the guide for who's watching. Select Content Restrictions, choose to allow or block unrated content, and even hide or show music channels per profile.
• Audio Sync now detects offset more accurately. More of you should no longer require an audio offset at all, but if you do, there's a new UI that allows you to make adjustments in realtime to really dial in the offset. Smaller 10ms increments were added as well for even better accuracy.
• There's a new Chapters button when in full-screen for media with chapters. Every chapter has a screenshot, and this new feature allows you to quickly jump to major sections in a movie or TV show.
• Custom Channels now have more icons to choose from, perfect for Holiday channels, or whatever else you can think of.
• The Settings screens in general received some TLC. I've reorganized some settings and worked to add more consistency between the screens.

Thank you all for your interest in and support of Bunny Ears TV! This build is only the beginning. Please share what you love, what is not working, and what you would like to see improved. I truly value your feedback and will continue using it to make the app better.

Have a great weekend and happy watching!

Version 1.11 build 1 is now available to beta testers with Plex profiles, parental controls, improved ad bumper breaks, audio calibration, external subtitles, and major reliability improvements.

Thank you to everyone who has tested Bunny Ears TV, reported bugs, and shared ideas. Your feedback directly shaped this release.

What’s New

Plex Home Profiles and Parental Controls

Bunny Ears TV now supports Plex profiles with a Who’s Watching screen.

You can select a profile at launch, switch from the guide, use Plex PIN protection, and keep settings synchronized for each profile. The active profile remains local to each device, so switching on one device will not interrupt another.

Profiles can also be limited to Little Kids, Older Kids, or Teens content, with additional controls for unrated content and music channels.

More Flexible Ad Bumper Breaks

You can now create bumper groups from Plex playlists, collections, or entire libraries.

Each group can be assigned to specific channel packages, with one to five clips per break. This now makes it possible to give different channels their own commercials.

Audio Sync Calibration

In addition to new audio syncing logic under the hood, I've added a new full-screen calibration tool that uses synchronized flashes and beeps to help correct audio that plays ahead of or behind the video.

Offsets can be adjusted from negative 1000 milliseconds to positive 2000 milliseconds, with changes applied immediately so you can easily make adjustments until the on-screen flash and beep align perfectly.

External Plex Subtitles

External Plex subtitles are now supported, including forced and SDH tracks.

More New Features

• Choose between the classic TV static transition or a cleaner black change effect.
• Music channels now create more balanced queues with better artist variety.
• Subtitle preferences are remembered separately for each Plex server.

Guide and Scheduling Improvements

The guide received a major reliability pass.

• Movies and episodes should no longer be shortened.
• Programs and bumpers crossing midnight are scheduled correctly.
• Guide extensions no longer lose the end of programs or bumpers.
• Shuffled channels should avoid long runs of the same show.
• Bumper and custom-channel changes regenerate the guide more reliably.

Syncing and Plex Improvements

• Switching Plex accounts should no longer allow old account activity to affect the new one.
• Empty or replacement iCloud accounts are handled correctly instead of being mixed with old local data.
• Guide conflicts, missing data, interrupted deletions, and corrupted guides recover more safely.
• Bunny Ears TV is better at recovering Plex connections and server tokens.
• Plex Relay, HTTPS, Docker, private addresses, IPv4, IPv6, and plex.direct connections are handled more carefully.
• Plex errors now provide clearer messages based on the actual problem.
• Changed shows and albums refresh more reliably.

Playback and Stability Improvements

• Audio synchronization now uses a more accurate system clock.
• Canceling a library load should no longer leave the app stuck.
• Incomplete onboarding returns to library selection.
• Signing out now provides visible cleanup progress.
• Expired Plex sign-in requests stop correctly.

Family Sharing Update

This build includes the correction needed for Family Sharing with lifetime purchases. Unfortunately, the fix cannot fully take effect until version 1.11 is released publicly.

I apologize for the mix-up, and I appreciate your patience while I get this corrected.

Thank You

Version 1.11 is a major foundation for what comes next, including the full Bunny Ears TV experience on iPhone and iPad!

Please keep reporting anything that feels confusing, inconsistent, or broken. Every report helps make the public release better.

Thank you for supporting Bunny Ears TV, and have a great week!

UPDATE: The new build has been submitted and is waiting on review from Apple.

Happy Friday!

You may have noticed the r/bunnyearstv subreddit has been extra busy the last few days.

I made a post on r/appletv the other day that became the top post of the day and reached 240K views! Simply amazing. So if you're new here, welcome!

While amazing, a fresh wave of users also uncovered some unresolved issues. I hope to have the next beta release out today, but at the latest it'll be tomorrow. If you are new here, I take bug reports and feedback very seriously. If you've already made a purchase and are experiencing an issue, don't worry, we'll get it taken care of. All I ask is that you're a little patient as I work through it all.

Now, onto the fun part! Here's a quick overview of what's on the way:

Fixes:

• Can't load library (this is rare, but obviously a blocker for those affected)
• Audio not playing issues (also rare, but very frustrating)
• Audio sync issues (especially for HDMI ARC and AirpPlay speakers such as HomePods)
• Large library fixes (sync stalls)
• Family Sharing (lifetime purchase was not sharing correctly)
• Missing meta for playlists and collections
• Purchase issues (the fix is to expose the actual issue returned from the App Store instead of generic messaging)
• End of video restarts (this is a part 2 fix)

There have also been many requests for some new features. Some small, some large. I implemented some of the easy ones, one that should clear up confusion (ad bumpers), plus a couple that will align so well with the iPhone and iPad support that's coming soon.

New features coming:

• Profiles! (with an on/off setting to enable or disable profile prompting when the app opens, and a fast user switching menu shortcut)
• Major Ad Bumper enhancements (playlists, collections, and libraries support, PLUS you can create multiple ad bumper groups and assign them to channel groupings. This will allow you to have kid friendly ad bumpers for the kid channels, and possibly more adult oriented bumpers for the mature channel packages)
• Audio sync is getting a more dynamic settings screen (a flashing circle and a tone that play allow you to easily make adjustments live to dial in the sync that works best for your set up)
• A toggle to enable/disable static during channel tunes
• New custom channel icons (lots of new icons, including holiday icons, and an 18+ icon for custom "adult" channels)

Still tons of features to work on, but after I work through some of these bugs, I'll be focusing iPhone and iPad support.

Thanks so much for all of your support. There's so much to look forward to with this app thanks to you all!

I’m the creator of Bunny Ears TV, a tvOS app for people who use Apple TV and have their own personal media library.

I choose the Apple TV as the launch platform due to the neural engine, which I don't see a lot of people talk about.

The app uses this hardware to turn your personal media library into automatic virtual channels thanks to a custom trained machine learning classifier. It scans all of your movies, TV shows, and music, then assigns all of it to highly curated movie/tv show channels, in addition to music stations.

So far there are 425 movie/tv show channels and 65+ music stations.

I just posted my first demo/promo video in r/bunnyearstv, and I’m branching out to gather feedback from additional Apple TV/Plex users.

I’m the creator, so I’m happy to answer questions and to hear your thoughts.

Thank you for your time!

Miss the simplicity of channel surfing, but still want to watch your own Plex library? My app creates always-on TV channels (highly curated using custom ML training), a live guide, and a cable-style browsing experience from the movies and shows you already have.

I just launched on Product Hunt and would love your feedback, support, or a vote if it looks useful.

So far I’ve been very disappointed with this launch. I’ve received many messages from beta testers confirming they voted to show support, but I’m not seeing their votes or comments on my PH launch page. I believe many created new accounts so the platform is not counting them which is too bad. I’ve built up quite the following, and it seems like none of their votes count.

Product Hunt has really changed it seems. Besides priming my community earlier, are there any other steps I should be taking to have a fair shot?

Still hoping some seasoned account holders find the product today and vote.
https://www.producthunt.com/products/bunny-ears-tv

Hey everyone!

After a lot of late nights, a lot of beta builds, and a lot of wonderful feedback from you all, I'm excited (and honestly a little nervous) to share that Bunny Ears TV is officially available on the App Store for Apple TV.

Before anything else... A HUGE, heartfelt thank you to every single beta tester. You filed bugs, sent screenshots, and shaped so many features in this release. Seriously, thank you!

To recap what features the app has launched with:

Bunny Ears TV turns your Plex library into a live and modern cable TV experience. You get a real channel guide, you flip through channels, and you join shows already in progress, just like plopping down on the couch and turning on the TV. No browsing, no decision fatigue, no "what should we watch tonight" spiral. Just turn it on and there's always something on.

A real channel guide. A scrollable grid of channels and time slots, with a now-playing preview up top. Flip through, see what's on, and tune in with one click.

Hundreds of channels, built automatically. Your movies and shows get sorted into 425+ highly curated channels (comedy, action, drama, sitcoms, holiday, and lots more) by a custom ML library trained on almost 250,000 movies and TV shows. These channels go way past simple meta filters, and you don't have to organize anything. It just works with the library you already have.

True channel surfing. Content plays from the "live" position, so you join mid-program like real TV. Channel changes are instant, with a quick flash of static as the video file loads. And every Apple TV in the house shows the same thing on the same channel at the same time, so the living room and bedroom are always in sync.

Plays basically everything, without stressing your server. Everything is remuxed on the device itself, so a huge range of video and audio formats play directly on your Apple TV. No transcoding on your server, which means even a modest little box can feed multiple TVs without breaking a sweat.

DVR mode. Pause live TV (complete with a nostalgic VHS static effect), skip back and forward, restart a program from the beginning, or jump back to live. Totally optional if you prefer the pure "you watch what's on" experience.

Custom channels. Turn any Plex playlist, collection, or library into its own channel with a custom name, icon, and color. Kids channel, Halloween channel, comfort-show channel, go wild!

Channel packages. Subscribe to bundles of channels (Basic, Comedy, Drama, Action, and more) so your guide only shows what you actually want to flip through.

Music channels. Your music libraries become channels too, with album art and track info, like the cable music channels of old.

Ad bumpers. Point the app at a playlist of short clips and it'll play them between programs for that authentic broadcast feel.

Whole-home sync. Settings, favorites, custom channels, and the guide itself sync across all your Apple TVs through iCloud. Set up one Apple TV and the others practically set themselves up. There's even a "Continue Watching?" prompt if you started something in another room.

Little touches. Favorites, guide filtering, a channel surfer overlay for browsing without changing the channel, audio and subtitle pickers, and a bunch of small quality-of-life things the beta testers pushed me to get right.

Get it

You'll need an Apple TV 4K and a Plex Media Server.

Grab it here: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/bunny-ears-tv/id6760790460

Happy Friday, beta crew!

This build includes some great new additions, a first look at the Bunny Ears TV+ subscription page, and a big round of reliability improvements.

New full-screen controls

• Channel Surfer is a new UI element that pops up and lets you quickly view the previous, current, and next channels' information before tuning in. You're able to see channel icon, number, and name. Plus, you can see what's currently playing on each channel, and see program start and end times. Once you select a channel, it quickly fades away.
• Player controls now behave more predictably when in full-screen. I really hope you're all happy with the controls.
  • First, all banner buttons are now aligned in a single row. This makes it much more obvious that left and right gestures move between the available buttons.
  • When the banner is visible:
    • Swiping up and down no longer confusingly changes channels. Instead, focus moves to and from the unified button row and the timeline scrubber.
    • Speaking of the timeline scrubber, when focused on the scrubber, swiping left and right quickly skips forwards or backwards in 15 second increments. Clicking the scrubber allows you to move the scrubber around on the timeline to jump exactly where you'd like to go.
  • When the banner is not visible:
    • Swiping up and down still allows quick access to channel surfing, and automatically brings up the new Channel Surfer UI.
    • Swiping left and right quickly skips forwards or backwards in 15 second increments
• New on-screen messages provide clearer feedback when skipping, seeking, or changing channels.

Introducing Bunny Ears TV+

There are still a few edge cases to work through, but I think it's about time to go live. Going live does not mean the work stops, in-fact it means the opposite. Bringing in funds will help me continue to take this app where I want it to go.

I'm a perfectionist, and I could honestly keep this in beta all year. I'll always work to fix all bugs, but I need to put a line in the sand, and I believe the app in its current state is working pretty well. Especially after these new additions and improvements.

• TV+ unlocks premium channels, DVR, custom channels, and ad bumpers.
• Monthly and yearly plans include a 14-day free trial. Available plans are $2.99 monthly, $17.99 yearly (I upped this from my original $14.99 a year announcement), or $29.99 for lifetime access.
• TestFlight users can enable the beta unlock to test every TV+ feature without making a purchase while in beta.
• Importantly, premium settings and channel selections stay saved if access expires, so everything returns if you subscribe again.
• The purchase, restore, and subscription screens have all received a newly designed screen in Settings.

Guide and custom channel improvements

• A new Custom Channels First option keeps your custom channels at the top of the guide while preserving their existing order.
• The custom channel editor has been redesigned with simpler screens for schedules, artwork, colors, and programming options.
• Swapping channel numbers and reorganizing custom channels should now save more reliably.
• Cross-device guide syncing is safer during temporary network or iCloud problems.
• Brief system overlays and screensaver transitions should no longer unexpectedly move the guide when the app resumes.

Plex and library improvements

• A malformed Plex item should no longer cause an entire playlist, collection, or server list to disappear.
• Plex server discovery now gives up faster when the network is unavailable.
• Search and filtering work more consistently with international titles and characters.
• Episode ordering is more reliable when Plex metadata is incomplete.
• The Latin Pop music channel should now find the music it was intended to play.
• Storage problems now produce a visible warning instead of silently leaving you with an empty guide.

Fixes and polish

• Reaching the end of DVR or time-shifted playback now returns you to live TV instead of leaving the player on a frozen frame.
• Accidental channel changes and play or pause presses are blocked while scrubbing or using an overlay.
• Playback buffering, audio responsiveness, timeline updates, and the VHS pause effect have received performance improvements.
• Channel surfing and the Now Playing banner should no longer interfere with each other.
• Signing out and switching iCloud accounts now clear and separate account data more safely.

Things I would especially love tested

• Channel Surfer and full-screen remote navigation
• DVR seeking, scrubbing, and returning to live TV
• TV+ purchase, restore, beta unlock, and subscription screens
• Custom Channels First and channel number swaps
• Music channels, especially Latin Pop

Thanks for continuing to test Bunny Ears TV and report the strange little corners that still need attention. Have a great weekend and happy channel surfing!