Acorn TV: Brilliant Hit Series 12+

Better than American entertainment.

I want to be honest! Back in my days we couldn’t wait for the newest James Dean, John Wayne, Robert Redford, Paul Newman movie to come to the theaters. I always thought Germany does not have anything to offer that could stand with it. By now I live over thirty years in the US. And truth to be told, our entertainment has nothing to offer today. I watched far too many shows and German movies on You Tube or any other foreign movie that trump what we have to offer. „Flipped“ is one rare exception lately. But all we can show off with is staged, trivial, dramatic and predictable. While European movies may be considered slow, they take time to flesh out the characters so that you really get deep into the story. For that I love Acorn or Britbox or any other of them. Even my daughter who is not much into what I’m watching admitted that the acting is more true to how people in reality act than all the shows that she ever watches.

Worst App Ever

I’ve been using various computer apps for some 35 years, and the Acorn TV app for the Apple TV is the worst app I’ve ever had to use.
To begin, the menu system is completely illogical and user hostile. Unlike, Netflix, with the Acorn app for Apple TV once you have selected the program you want (not always easy with the execrable new Apple TV remote), you then get to try and figure out which episode is next in the queue because Acorn doesn’t bother to queue up the next one. You still have to figure out which one it is, with no clues whatsoever.
Just finding the program itself is sometimes a challenge. If you go to the recently watched list, and click on the program you want, rather than bringing up the overview screen for the program (from which you can at least begin your search for the next episode to watch), it just starts the episode you’ve already watched. And if you hit the go-back button, it just bumps you back out to the home screen rather than the more logical overview screen for that program.
To top off the fun, it will, as often as not, simply refuse to play a program no matter how many times you hit enter on the pad portion of the remote. I end up AirPlaying it from my iPad.
The Acorn App for the Apple TV is completely broken. Which is a shame because the app for the iPad and iPhone — a completely different app — is quite good, And the programming is brilliant. If you can get it to play. Shameful!

Developer Response ,

Thank you for taking the time to post this review. We understand your concerns, and our new Apple TV app will be released this summer, incorporating user feedback. We are glad you are enjoying Acorn TV programming, and we thank you for your patience as we continue to improve your experience.

Worst customer service ever

After months of happy viewing, something went wrong. I began to get double billed for my subscription, billed by my subscription through iTunes, and then billed directly by acorn. I never signed up directly with acorn, only with iTunes. So I canceled my subscription with acorn, considering that I already had in place an iTunes subscription. Well this is when the horror started. The app indicates that my subscription is canceled, but my iTunes subscription is active. I have been struggling with this for months and I cannot get a straight answer out of their customer service desk. They simply refuse to understand what I am talking about. There is no way to include screenshots when trying to send them messages. And yes there is no restore a purchase link on the home screen. I personally don’t think you can pay for your subscription through iTunes. I think you can download the app from the iTunes Store, but you have to pay acorn directly. The iTunes subscription does not work with this app. I talked to Apple at length about this problem and they are as mystified as I am. It almost seems like there is a scam or some sort of bait and switch problem. There is no Acorn customer service phone number, impossible to speak to a live person, and you will never ever make any sense out of whatever robot you interact with at the help desk.

Developer Response ,

Thank you for your review. Our apologies that you are experiencing issues with our app. Please contact our customer support team and they will help you right away with any technical issues: support@acorn.tv. We are constantly working to improve the user experience and we value your feedback!