Which part of Airwave is this for?
A TV / player client (Apple TV, Fire TV, Android TV, Roku, webOS, browser)
What problem does this solve?
Somewhat less intuitive navigation.
What would you like to see?
I have a suggestion for making playback and guide navigation more intuitive. I compared several other live-TV apps, including my cable provider’s app, and they generally provide a clear path from the guide back to the channel that is already playing.
Current behavior
- Pressing Back during full-screen playback opens the guide and places the active channel in the mini-player.
- Pressing Back again from the guide stops playback.
- Pressing Back once more exits the app.
When the guide is open, returning to the current channel requires one of two less-obvious actions:
- Navigate back to the playing channel and select it.
- Hold Select/OK to focus the mini-player, then press Select/OK again to restore full-screen playback.
Proposed behavior
- Keep the existing behavior where Back from full-screen playback opens the guide.
- Back should unwind any open guide details or navigation levels first.
- At the guide’s main level, Back should move focus to the side navigation menu without stopping the active channel.
- Add a "Now Playing" item to the side menu. Selecting it would restore the currently playing channel to full-screen without retuning or restarting playback.
- Back from the side navigation at the application root would retain the normal tvOS exit behavior.
I don’t think stopping playback needs to remain bound to Back. Leaving a navigation layer should not unexpectedly terminate the active stream. Playback cleanup can remain tied to Airwave’s normal explicit Stop/Close action and application lifecycle handling.
The existing hold-Select shortcut for focusing and restoring the mini-player could remain available as a secondary shortcut.
This would preserve Airwave’s current full-screen-to-guide interaction while adding an obvious, non-destructive route back to the active channel. It would also feel consistent with the side-navigation model used by Plex and several other live-TV applications.
I'm referring specifically to Apple TV navigation but it's similar in Roku as well as others where applicable.
Which part of Airwave is this for?
A TV / player client (Apple TV, Fire TV, Android TV, Roku, webOS, browser)
What problem does this solve?
Somewhat less intuitive navigation.
What would you like to see?
I have a suggestion for making playback and guide navigation more intuitive. I compared several other live-TV apps, including my cable provider’s app, and they generally provide a clear path from the guide back to the channel that is already playing.
Current behavior
When the guide is open, returning to the current channel requires one of two less-obvious actions:
Proposed behavior
I don’t think stopping playback needs to remain bound to Back. Leaving a navigation layer should not unexpectedly terminate the active stream. Playback cleanup can remain tied to Airwave’s normal explicit Stop/Close action and application lifecycle handling.
The existing hold-Select shortcut for focusing and restoring the mini-player could remain available as a secondary shortcut.
This would preserve Airwave’s current full-screen-to-guide interaction while adding an obvious, non-destructive route back to the active channel. It would also feel consistent with the side-navigation model used by Plex and several other live-TV applications.
I'm referring specifically to Apple TV navigation but it's similar in Roku as well as others where applicable.