The best Apple TV apps you need to try in 2025
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When I first started using Apple TV, I really didn’t think much about it. I mainly used it to stream from my MacBook or iPhone. But over the years, I’ve tested a bunch of Apple TV apps, and some totally changed how I use the service. This list is all about the ones I’ve personally tried and keep coming back to — the apps that really work for me in 2025. Thought I’d share, in case you’re looking for some good ones too.
App | What’s best for | Category |
YouTube | Watching videos, channels, and personalized playlists. | Entertainment |
Disney+ & Hulu | Streaming current TV shows, movies, and exclusives. | Entertainment |
Plex | Streaming your personal media collection from a home server. | Entertainment |
TED | Discover inspiring talks and explore new topics during dinner or free time. | Education |
Masterclass | Learning from the world’s best instructors with immersive experiences. Watching on the big screen enhances the experience. | Education |
Kitchen Stories | Quick, easy recipes perfect for busy nights. | Food & Cooking |
The Cooking Channel | In-depth cooking shows with recipes you can save. | Food & Cooking |
Grubhub | Order food directly to your TV for lazy nights. | Food & Cooking |
Zova | Personalized workout routines for different goals. | Health & Fitness |
Calm | Guided meditation, breathing exercises, and sleep stories. | Health & Fitness |
How to download apps on Apple TV
Before diving into the best Apple TV apps list, let’s review how to actually get those new apps to your Apple TV in the first place:
Turn your Apple TV on.
Navigate to the Apple TV App Store.
Find the app you want to download.
Choose Get/Buy.
After the installation is complete, you can find the new app on your Home screen. So which are the best TV apps to download by category?
Top entertainment TV apps
When it comes to entertainment, you probably don’t need to be told to install Netflix and Amazon Prime — those are a given. But what are some other apps that are just as fun?
1. YouTube for watching videos, channels, and personalized playlists
Most people don’t know that YouTube has a dedicated Apple TV app that can sync with your account and show your Watch Later list, channels, and likes. In fact, it’s one of the best free TV apps currently on the platform!
2. Disney+ & Hulu for watching current TV shows, movies, and exclusive premieres
If you’ve already binge-watched everything there is on Netflix and looking for some diversity, explore the offerings by Disney+ (The Mandalorian, Boy Meets World, The Simpsons) and Hulu (It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Parks and Recreation, Arrested Development) — both services have dedicated apps in the Apple TV App Store.
You may also like: “The top 5 tools to watch movies with friends online.”
3. Plex for accessing and streaming your personal media collection
Those who have extensive media collections saved on a server at home would love to find out that Plex also has an Apple TV app available for download. Now you can stream any video or music file from your server right to your Apple TV.
Top education TV apps
The popularity of online education has exploded in the last few years, with people excited to learn everything from starting their own business to sewing to graphic design.
1. TED for inspiration or exploring new topics
Not sure what to study but after some new knowledge? Download the official TED app for the perfect dinner time companion.
I personally remember a time when I was really interested in TED Talks about productivity and mindset. I spent hours watching different lectures, and it completely changed how I approach my daily routines.
You may also like: “Best background noise for focus, concentration, and creativity on a Mac.”
2. Masterclass for mastering new skills
Once you’ve decided to specialize, try a course on Masterclass, where the world’s best instructors teach foundational skills in their respective fields (e.g. Gordon Ramsay cooking class).
For me, I really love watching Masterclass on the big screen through Apple TV because it’s just so much more immersive. It adds a whole new experience, especially when watching cooking classes. Seeing the dishes, ingredients, and techniques in full detail makes it so much easier to follow along. Honestly, it feels like I’m right there in the kitchen!
Top food TV apps
It seems like “What’s for dinner?” is always going to be a nagging question in our lives. If you need a quick answer, check out the apps below.
1. Kitchen Stories for quick and easy recipes
Kitchen Stories offers simple, step-by-step recipes that you can follow in just a few minutes, perfect for busy weeknights or when you want quick ideas.
2. The Cooking Channel for in-depth cooking shows
For those who love longer cooking sessions, The Cooking Channel provides in-depth shows and tutorials. It also allows you to save your favorite recipes for future reference, making it a great resource for food enthusiasts.
3. Grubhub for food delivery at your fingertips
On lazy nights, instead of cooking, you can order food directly through your Apple TV using Grubhub. It’s perfect for a cozy night in, offering a variety of restaurants and quick delivery options right to your living room.
Top health & fitness TV apps
If you think about it, Apple TV is the ideal distributor of fitness-related content.
1. Zova for personalized fitness programs
With an app like Zova, you can follow customized workout routines tailored to your goals, whether it’s strength, flexibility, or cardio.
2. Calm for guided meditation and relaxation
Don’t forget to wind down after a busy day. Calm offers guided meditations, breathing exercises, and sleep stories to help you relax, reduce stress, and improve your sleep quality. It’s a great companion for your post-workout or evening routine.
Additional Mac apps for you daily routine
Want to become a power users? Here's the list of the apps I use in a daily basis and recommend you to try.
Stay focused with Silenz
Silenz is the most advanced sound control app for your Mac. It lives in your menu bar and automatically adjusts the sound in your headphones to match the environment. Just tap the Control key twice to hear what’s going on around you. At the same time, you can fine-tune the volume in all the apps and your system separately, adjusting it to your own flow.
Watch any media with Elmedia Player
Elmedia Player is your feature-packed media player. You can open media files of any format, watch online content without ads, and stream every file at once. In addition, you can embed external subtitles in your preferred language and even search for them within the app. On the playback side, Elmedia Player uses hardware-accelerated decoding for HD videos to avoid lags in video or sound.
Get detailed weather forecast with Forecast Bar
Forecast Bar is one of the most hyperlocal weather apps you can find anywhere — and it’s available for your Mac as well as Apple TV. At a glance, you can see the weather right at the moment in your vicinity, detect rain or sunshine, predict upcoming snowfalls, and tailor it all right to how you want to see it in your daily weather report. Another unique feature is the ability to trace the weather up to 70 years in the past or future and see how it was changing on a macro level.
Download and check out Silenz, Elmedia Player, Forecast Bar and other Mac apps for seven days at no cost from Setapp, and see how different your Mac experience can be. Then find them on Apple TV too along with the best TV apps featured above.
Add the top apps for your Apple TV and Mac
All the apps listed above are basically must-haves for your Apple TV. But sometimes, you want to stick with your Mac, right? Similarly, if you’re looking for great apps for your Mac, there are thousands of options for every category and you’d normally have to spend dozens of hours figuring out the best ones for you. Is there an easier way?
Setapp is an ever-updating collection of more than 260 top-of-the-line Mac apps in every category imaginable, from text editors (Ulysses) to backup managers (Get Backup Pro) to organizers (Bartender). Every app on Setapp has been vetted by professionals to excel at its task and fare well against all the competitors. In a nutshell, using Setapp is like browsing the App Store that only features 5-star apps.
Best of all, even though each app on Setapp would be pricey in the real world, Setapp gives them all to you at once with a single low subscription fee — and you have a seven-day trial to test them all without limits.
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