Apple updates TV app so people can watch original shows and host of other channels on iPhones and Macs

Apple has announced a complete update for its TV app – as well as changes that will bring it to other company's smart TVs.

The update brings the company's new streaming service, known as Apple TV+, to all of the supported devices. But it also allows for new ways of watching content from other companies, too, allowing people to watch video from companies such as HBO or Amazon Prime.

Unveiling that Apple TV+ service, it said it had worked with the likes of Steven Spielberg, Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston among others.

"I'm so grateful to be here today," Spielberg said at the launch event. "This is my first time at Apple, the place where imagination and technology join forces."

In addition to that original content, deals with third-party companies will allow their video to be part of the app.

That will mean, for instance, that anyone using an Apple device will be able to open up the TV app and see a whole host of shows. That will include recommendations for series that you have started but not finished, as well as recommendations for new ones.

Those shows will be pulled both from Apple's own shows – if a user is a subscriber – as well as to any other companies they subscribe to.

The subscriptions themselves will be made easier through a new tool called Apple TV "channels". People will be able to sign up to the HBO "channel" through the app and then add it to their account, using their Apple login, it said.

The new TV app won't only be limited to Apple's own devices. It will also come to smart TVs made by companies like Samsung, allowing people to get access both to Apple TV+ and the other new features even if their device is not made by Apple.

That marked a major change of strategy for Apple, which has always limited its apps to its own devices. But it described during the launch event how it was focusing on services, in an attempt to encourage people to sign up to subscription services to make more revenue from people who own its devices.