Where are iPlayer and ITV hub apps on new A90J 2021 OLEDs?

[Toadio]

All the common UK catchup tv apps appear to be missing for the tv and they cannot be installed from google play store.. spec clearly states YouView support and specifically iPlayer.. surely i cant be the only one that has noticed these are not there?!

[nepunch]

Dear HannahEd01

Thank you for trying to help.

I have installed the update. I now find that I can get Channelbox! That is an improvement! Some of the other Internet Data Channels are still unavailable though.

I note that is still no BBCi player , ITV Hub, etc.?

I will report back if I get any more freezing too.

I am afraid that the BBC red button instructions do not seem to apply to my model (SONY BRAVIA XR65A84JU ). Pressing either the red button or text button on the remote, while watching BBC1, etc, does not do anything. (see my earlier comments about “help” on the Sony web site relating to older models)

I am afraid that already have the manuals that you can downland. However, to my mind these are very much designed just to get your TV initially set up. In the other days you got a very thick comprehensive manual that covered all aspects of your TV. I am still trawling numerous web sites to find out how to do things.

Also, has anyone had any success side-loading BBCi player, etc. or using IPTV apps to install them?

[CyberWoogy]

@nepunch  You can sideload iPlayer but, there are two reasons why you shouldn't...

Firstly, the sideloaded version doesn't give you access to the BBC's HLG HDR content.

Secondly, and most importantly, there's no official download source for the APK and so you download unsigned APKs from third party sources art your peril.

[royabrown2]

@Hummmmmmy 

It depends. What make and model is your crystal ball? 😛

[nepunch]

Sorry, checked to day and have now lost Channelbox again. Can not get any of the other Internet Data Channels either?.

Is this just me, i.e. is my TV faulty?

[Leezy2]

We’ve just bought a X85J from Curry’s for my mother. We said to the guy we specifically wanted it for catch up services. He said IPlayer was currently not available but would be soon, and that everything else was available. He told us we could scroll back through the program guide to watch programs we’d missed. What nonsense I now discover. I’ll be back there ASAP with the TV back in its box. 

[HannahEd01]

Hey nepunch, try to reset the TV to factory reset.

[royabrown2]

@Leezy2 r

And get your money back, and then go and spend it with a retailer who knows what they are talking about, e,g. John Lewis or Richer Sounds. 

To be exact, the missing apps are the BBC iPlayer, the itv Hub, All4 and My5. There are also reports that YouView is missing as well, and cannot even be found in its new home of Live & Catchup TV.

What is true though, is that with YouView present and those apps present, you can indeed scroll back in the YouView EPG and play most, but not all, of the programmes that have been shown in the past seven days on the channels covered by the four apps.

But not possible at the moment.

You may find, though, that only 2021 TVs with Freeview Play will provide these catchup apps at present, so take care not to jump out of the Sony frying pan into some other manufacturer’s fire.

Or buy, or be given, an Amazon Firestick along with any catchup-less TV you might prefer, and get round the issue that way.

[Leezy2]

Returned to Curry’s last week, no problems at all. I went armed with a letter explaining everything and didn’t need it, member of staff was really helpful and couldn’t believe that the information they had online and in store was so wrong. Immediately gave us a full refund. 
we then paid a fraction of the price for a FreeSat recorder with built in on demand services which is working great, and much easier to use. 

[royabrown2]

@Leezy2 

Glad you fixed it.

But by my reckoning, she now has nothing to watch the programmes coming from the Freesat box on.

Or has she gone back to her old TV?

And are we saying that something like the Freesat box with her old TV was all she really needed, and the new TV (quite apart from it not having the catchup apps on it) was the wrong thing to buy?

Because an even smaller fraction of the price of the Sony TV would have got her an Amazon Firestick, which would likewise get her all the catchup apps.

Though I do expect being able to record on the Freesat box is something new and useful…..

[Hummmmmmy]

Does anyone have any further updates about when iPlayer might become available?