If you own an older Apple TV, it might be time to upgrade. In a message to subscribers, Netflix has announced that the 2nd and 3rd generation Apple TV devices (the earlier, non-4K models) won’t be able to access the Netflix app after July 31, 2024.
That leaves four Apple TV models that support Netflix: the 4th-gen Apple TV HD and all three Apple TV 4K models. Apple stopped selling the Apple TV HD in October 2022, so if you need a new model, you’ll need to upgrade to the Apple TV 4K (3rd generation), which starts at $129. The 2nd-gen Apple TV was discontinued in 2012 while the 3rd-gen model remained on shelves until 2016.
To clarify: If you bought your Apple TV within the last 8 years you should be fine, and if you need a new one, the only model Apple sells now is the 3rd-gen Apple TV 4K which starts at a reasonable $129.
Netflix says it is ending support to “maintain the best possible Netflix experience,” so it’s not clear whether the app will stop working entirely on August 1 or if some features will be unavailable. The main difference between the 3rd-gen and 4th-gen Apple TV HD boxes is the chip (A5 vs A8), where the A8 is significantly faster and more capable.
The A5 chip is a single-core 32-bit system-on-a-chip while the 64-bit A8 has a dual-core CPU and quad-core GPU. The 1st-gen Apple TV 4K has an even newer chip, the A10X, which has a 6-core CPU and 12-core GPU.
Apple was expected to release a new Apple TV 4K in the first half of this year, but a new report claims that a new model “isn’t imminent.”