How to get Disney Plus on Apple TV

Michael

I appreciate the explanation. Frustrating all the same, Apple should consider giving a trade in like they do for the phones.

GC

OMG that is right! That is the most helpful suggestion yet! Thank you

I had feared this would only work on 4th generation or later, but I did an extensive Google search many times months before Disney+ released and there was never any mention in any search result that said you would need a 4th generation Apple TV or later. Every site said Apple TV, and that was it.

You can contact them at www.apple.com/feedback and make that suggestion but I doubt it is that easy, I'm sure Disney and Apple would need to agree on the advantage is to Apple and Disney doing so as well as the Ts & Cs.

I too am bummed. 3 3rd Gen Apple TV’s in the house and Disney Plus website was not updated until launch to specify support only for TVOS devices (Apple TV HD & 4K).

however you need to remember apps can be installed on newer Apple TV’s and not older devices. The 3rd Gen device “apps” are not native apps, but web apps. The new TV app from Apple that installed with the last update in April as well as the somewhat recent Amazon Prime are preloaded web apps. They are basically bookmarks to a website to access content from the web, not a direct app interface.

Disney would need to opt to create a web app for this purpose, but it seems unlikely especially as the majority of users have alternative options for viewing, including AirPlay from iOS or iPadOS devices. Why waste the resources in development, and more expensively support, for an old platform being phased out?

like I said, I am bummed but I can’t be mad. The devices I am using are from about 8 years ago so the inconvenience is on me, not the developer.

This answer is misleading. Apple pushes app updates even though there's no "App Store". 3rd Gen didn't have an Amazon Prime app.... until it did. Apple -can- decide to just push a Disney+ app as an update (as they have countless others)... The just presently haven't chosen to do so or those doing the dev haven't succeeded or haven't done the dev on a Gen3 compatible app.

Disney+ is supported on Apple TV HD (4th gen or later) and Apple TV 4K running tvOS 11.0 and later.

General Notes

• High-speed Internet is required
• HDCP and high-speed HDMI is required, with HDCP 2.2 required for 4K Ultra HD and/or HDR content
• For the best experience, we recommend using the most recent available operating system version

Unsupported Devices

• Apple TV 1st, 2nd, and 3rd generation devices are not supported.