HBO announced that it will remove support for older 2nd and 3rd generation Apple TV devices today. Starting on April 30, the HBO Now and HBO Go apps won’t be supported on the older hardware and the apps will soon disappear entirely.
According to support documentation HBO released alongside the announcement, the premium content creator wants to ensure "the best streaming experience" for its customers – and that will no longer be possible using the now 10-year-old innards of the 2nd Generation Apple TV.
If your back is up against a wall and this is your only streaming device, HBO recommends using AirPlay as the way to display shows like Westworld and Game of Thrones to the biggest screen in your house, using an HDMI cable to connect your phone, tablet, or computer to your TV or, if that won’t work, casting the content if your TV supports it.
Thankfully, it doesn’t seem like this will affect a huge majority of users: according to some of the latest numbers we have from the US on streaming player usage, Roku still dominates the space, with Amazon in a close second and way down the list sits Apple – and most of those users have probably upgraded to the new Apple TV HD or Apple TV 4K, neither of which will be impacted by today’s announcement.
That said, it’s always a bummer if you’re in the group of people affected by obsolescence but, on the bright side, now is as good of a time as ever to upgrade to the higher specced hardware.
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