The Explore Freeview Play TV app is rolling out its latest update, with users now able to access a number of new features to make finding your favourite shows or catch-up content even easier.
This new update – which should be available with immediate effect – comes with a new look and offers up a few ways to hopefully make navigation a few clicks quicker than it might have been before. The layout doesn’t change a great deal, but the distinctly darker appearance coupled with some larger images is designed to make things that much easier to see (or “showcase” as Freeview puts it).
Other than the aesthetics, which you're free to compare to other similar on-demand services at will, the most notable additions come at the top of the page, with the new Box Sets and My Show tabs added to your options. Box Sets does exactly as you’d expect, by grouping together all of those binge-friendly shows that you’ll find scattered across the 80+ TV channels Freeview Play has on offer, not to mention the 40,000 hours of on-demand content (coupled with access to 10 dedicated players including BBC iPlayer, ITV Hub, All 4 and My5).
The new My Shows feature finally lets you gather together your very own watch-list, much like you would on Netflix or Amazon Prime. To help you cherry-pick what makes the list, Freeview Play has added some new recommendation genres to filter your many options, with Food, Music and Arts, Science and Nature, and History joining the usual suspects. According to the press release, the update should be available “from today onwards”, so UK users should see the new features in place right away.
Since its launch in 2015, Freeview Play has since passed over 11 million users, with the company’s Owen Jenkinson commenting on the new additions: “We are continually evolving and adding new free features so we can provide excellent value to consumers.”
If you have a compatible Smart TV (and the likes of LG recently signed up to at least another five years of support), then you can find the newly updated Explore Freeview Play on Channel 100 – with various set-top boxes also packing the app if your TV doesn’t have it. You can find out more on its availability and content via the Freeview website.
They might not exactly be game-changers, but these new updates look like a sensible evolution of the Freeview platform – and let’s not forget that it is all free as well. So, any Freeview Play users happy with these latest changes, or are they any other areas that you’d like to see improved in its future updates?
SOURCE: Freeview (via press release)
IMAGES: Freeview