As Apple gears up to launch its long awaited TV streaming service, in a weeks time, the company has brought the Apple TV app to Amazon’s streaming devices. The Apple TV app is now available on three different models of Fire TV devices — the Fire TV Stick 4K, the Fire TV Stick (2nd Gen), and the Fire TV Basic Edition — with support for more models coming soon.
The Apple TV app will allow you to watch shows from Apple’s streaming service, Apple TV Plus, which will launch on November 1st. But it also has perks for non-subscribers: it’ll let you stream any movies or TV shows you’ve purchased through iTunes in the past, too. You can also watch new purchases and rentals through the app, but you’ll have to make those purchases through another device with iTunes on it. You can’t do it straight from the TV.
Apple previously announced that the Fire TV would be one of several third-party platforms where its app would launch. It’s already available on Samsung TVs, and Apple said support for the Apple TV app is coming for LG, Sony, and Vizio TVs, too. Support for Roku devices arrived earlier this month.
While Apple is usually content to only serve customers who are willing to buy the company’s own hardware devices, things have been a little different when it comes to Apple TV Plus. Apple knows it needs to reach a large audience in order to make the $5-per-month subscription service into a worthwhile business, so it’s suddenly ready to extend access to iTunes purchases to wherever people watch TV. If the shows are hard to watch, people will be more inclined to choose other services.
