"The future of TV is apps." The new Apple TV raises the bar for TV boxes. Especially the new remote offers a whole new "navigation-feeling" to the user. But how do you build an outstanding app for the new Apple TV? We worked ad are working on several apps for Apple TV. From these projects we derived 8 guidelines for greater apps

1. Apple TV UX: 8 Guidelines for greater Apps

2. Best practice:
Using the TV itself is super easy and
almost the same for the past 40 years.

3. Best practice:
Using the TV itself is super easy and
almost the same for the past 40 years.
Even my grandma knows how to do it!

4. Best practice:
„The future of TV is apps.“

5. Best practice:
But how do you build an
outstanding TV App?

6. Best practice:
CELLULAR’s 8 Guidelines:

7. Best practice:
„Already little deviations to the standard Apple TV UI, can eventually
pose a bigger challenge for the development than an iOS app.“
SVEN JANSEN , DEVELOPMENT CELLULAR
STICK TO THE
APPLE GUIDELINES

8. Best practice:
Apple TV works different from other TV
boxes. The all new touch remote changes
the interaction with the box and implies
new UI principles.
STICK TO THE APPLE GUIDELINES
Best practice: Showtime
Recommendations
If you decide to deviate from the
guidelines, your layout needs to
create a new value for the user
Use interface elements from UI Kit

9. Best practice:
MAKE FOCUS OBVIOUS
„The speed of the Touch Remote is one of the best features on the new Apple TV.
Therefore, a clear focus is essential for a good orientation.“
TARA WESTON , CREATION CELLULAR

10. Best practice:
While using the Apple TV, the user sits
at a distance and needs to have a clear
view on what he is doing and where he
is navigating. Additionally, he is able to
skip through content extremely quickly.
MAKE FOCUS OBVIOUS
Best practice: ZDF App
Recommendations
Therefore content needs to
be clearly visible at all times
Add certain information when your
item comes on focus.
Apple for example is adding the title
Don’t let other content distract your focus

11. Best practice:
„Don’t see the focus as a limitation, but as a chance.“
JOHANNA OPPENHEIM , CREATION CELLULAR
DISCOVER THE FOCUS
AS A VALUE

12. Best practice:
Focus gains a totally new and higher
significance on TV and needs to be
rethought.
DISCOVER THE FOCUS AS VALUE
Recommendations
See, that focus on TV gives you a whole
new level to show information
Know, that focus on a TV Box works
completely different than a mouse over in
web and is of way greater importance
Distinguish which information need to
always be shown and which on focus
Best practice: Airbnb

13. Best practice:
„The remote does not support diagonal directions.
Therefore you should avoid diagonal routes for your user.“
THORSTEN JONAS , CREATION CELLULAR
NO DIAGONAL
NAVIGATION

14. Best practice:
Even though the touch remote invites the
user to make diagonal touch gestures,
the Apple TV does not support diagonal
navigation.
NO DIAGONAL NAVIGATION
Best practice: Movies
Recommendations
Build a structure that is easy to use
with up, down, left and right navigation
Arrange contents in vertical and horizontal
lines and avoid dimensional grids
If that’s not possible, change your structure
and stay with one of the templates

15. Best practice:
„Finally I can touch the TV without having to get up from the couch.“
JÖRN SIEDENTOPP , CREATION CELLULAR
USE THE
TOUCH PAD
WISELY

16. Best practice:
The new Apple TV remote works completely
different than all other remotes. It has a touch
pad, which enables a much faster navigation
and uses a floating instead of a fixed focus,
for example.
USE THE TOUCH PAD WISELY
Recommendations
Make use of animations as a result to
an user interaction to explain context
whenever possible
Support the users feeling of touching
the interface by providing teasers with
parallax effect

17. Best practice:
„Simplicity and reduction need to be the guiding
principles during the creation process.“
SIMONE BRAUNER , CREATION CELLULAR
REDUCE

18. Best practice:
The Apple TV impresses with its light and airy
design, which only works without overloaded
screens. Furthermore, no one wants to read
long copies on TV.
REDUCE
Best practice: Airbnb
Recommendations
Detect the essential information
Know at what point which
information is relevant for your user
Try to show as much information
as possible by using images

19. Best practice:
„Latency in visual feedback to touch input can harm the user experience extremely.
That‘s why we made every effort in optimizing the performance of the user interface.“
KAI HUPPMANN , DEVELOPMENT CELLULAR
PERFORMANCE DEFINES
THE QUALITY

20. Best practice:
The new Apple TV lives through its fluent
and vivid navigation. Every jiggle strikes even
more attention than on mobile devices.
People are used to having their TV work
perfectly at all times.
PERFORMANCE DEFINES
THE QUALITY
Best practice: Plex
Recommendations
Technology builds the basis
Improve the performance of your app
and make it work perfectly for your user
Performance is a feeling -
Use structure, UX, UI, and technology
to generate this feeling

21. Best practice:
„TV is great, because it is getting personal.“
GUNNAR HAMM, CREATION CELLULAR
BE EMOTIONAL

22. Best practice:
The TV is the flagship for big and beautiful
visuals. Make every screen a cinematic
experience
BE EMOTIONAL
Best practice: Yummly
Recommendations
Don’t try to fill every empty space
Use rather less content and arrange
it generously
Avoid tiny artwork, but use fullscreen
images to support the cinematic feeling

23. Best practice:
A TV app should be as easy
to use as the TV itself.
Naturally this leads to one principle:

24. Thank you.
CELLULAR
Hamburg, Germany
info@cellular.de
Thorsten Jonas
Head of Concept
tjonas@cellular.de
Tara Weston
Concept
Constantin Rueff
Design
Credits: Apple TV Product Photos by Apple, ZDF App Photos by CELLULAR