Build With Me · tvOS
Your Apple TV app, seen from the sofa.
No touch screen: a remote, a focus, and a display several metres away.
A tvOS app is built in SwiftUI or UIKit. Nobody touches it: people move through it with the Siri Remote, and the focus system highlights the selected item. According to Apple, people often sit 8 feet or more from the screen, sometimes for hours. TVML, the old template-based route, is deprecated since tvOS 18: Apple recommends SwiftUI or UIKit. Video and media apps rely on the system’s video playback and on the Top Shelf area of the Home Screen.
Platform briefPlanning brief — an overview verified on 23 October 2026, not a guided path. Bynilson has no Apple TV test device and does not deliver tvOS apps.
Checked on
In brief
- Input
- The Siri Remote, the primary way to interact with Apple TV
- Interface
- SwiftUI or UIKit; TVML is deprecated since tvOS 18
- Navigation
- The system’s focus engine, not touch
- Top Shelf
- Content on the Home Screen, through an app extension
Three ways to build
Learn, build it together, or have it built.
Learn and build
This planning brief and Apple’s official documentation: there is no Bynilson path for tvOS.
Build it together
No co-building: without an Apple TV to test focus navigation on, guidance would not be honest. The brief and the official resources remain available to you.
No guided path yet: the planning notes and the official documentation are on the page.
Have it built
Not offered: Bynilson does not deliver tvOS apps. The project builder can produce a roadmap and a brief to hand to a specialist studio.
Planning notes: no Apple TV test device at Bynilson, no tvOS delivery.
01 — Focus
Navigating by focus, with the remote
- The focus engine
- The system decides which item is selected and how focus moves; it highlights the item so people always know where they are. Your interface must offer obvious focus paths.
- The Siri Remote
- The primary way to interact with Apple TV: swipe, click, go back. Every screen must be navigable with the remote alone.
- No direct touch
- Nothing is tapped on screen: an item that focus cannot reach does not exist for the user.
02 — Living room
Interfaces for the living room
- A very large screen, watched from a distance: bigger text, fewer items per screen, strong contrast.
- Sessions that can last hours, sometimes with a picture-in-picture video alongside.
- Several people in front of one screen: apps that manage multiple profiles can speed up sign-in with the system’s services.
- The design principles are in the Human Interface Guidelines for tvOS.
03 — Video
Video, media and Top Shelf
Most tvOS apps are video and media apps. AVKit provides the system video player, with the controls people already know. The Top Shelf area, at the top of the Home Screen, shows your content — recently watched videos, for example — when someone selects your app, without the app running; you provide it with a Top Shelf extension bundled in the app.
SwiftUI
The interface, with focus handling built into the controls.
When: The default for a new tvOS app.
UIKit and the focus engine
Fine control of focus and interaction on Apple TV.
When: Existing code or custom focus behaviour.
TV Services (Top Shelf)
Content shown at the top of the Home Screen, and faster sign-in for multiple profiles.
When: Content apps that want to be found from the Home Screen.
TVML
The old template-based approach.
When: Never for a new project.
Not when: Deprecated since tvOS 18: Apple recommends SwiftUI or UIKit.
Frequently asked questions
Can I reuse my iPhone app on Apple TV?
Some of the logic and some SwiftUI views can be shared. The interface, though, is redesigned for focus, the remote and distance: a touch app does not carry over as it is.
Is TVML still an option?
Not for a new project: TVML is deprecated since tvOS 18, and Apple recommends developing with SwiftUI or UIKit.
How do you test a tvOS app?
Xcode’s tvOS simulator covers the interface and logic. How focus navigation feels, readability at distance and video playback are judged on a real Apple TV, with the remote.
Sources
- SwiftUI documentationAppleChecked on 23 Oct 2026
- About focus interactions for Apple TVAppleChecked on 23 Oct 2026
- TV Services (Top Shelf)AppleChecked on 23 Oct 2026
- tvOS for developersAppleChecked on 23 Oct 2026