Single sign-on sort of is the holy grail of the internet. The idea is you've got one master sign on that feeds into all kinds of apps and services. There's a decent chance you've used this before with your Google or Facebook credentials, or even your Amazon account. Instead of having, say, an all-new registration with The Washington Post, you instead log in using your Amazon account information. Or you signed up for this website using your Google account — saving you the trouble of having to give yet another website your email, and coming up with yet another strong password.
Single sign-on is a good, important thing. And it's supported on by Apple on Apple TV, as well as on iOS. (We're focusing on Apple here — Android TV has its own thing via Smart Lock.)
There are a few parts to this puzzle. First, you'll need to have some sort of TV provider — whether it's old-school cable, or new-school streaming service — that works with Apple's single sign-on scheme. If you use, say, PlayStation Vue, you log in to Apple TV with those credentials. And then other apps can allow you to use that one, single sign-on to sign in with them . So because I have an HBO subscription through PS Vue, I won't have to log in to the HBO Go app separately. It'll just work. It doesn't get you new services — if you're not subscribed to HBO, you won't suddenly have access to HBO. It just makes it easier to sign in to those other apps.
Make sense? Again, here are the important parts:
- Apple's single sign-on process — what it is and how to use it.
- A content provider that works with Apple's SSO. (Click here to see that list.)
- And, finally, you'll want to know what other apps work with your SSO provider of choice.
Here, now, is that list.
Apps that work with Apple's single sign-on for Apple TV and iOS
- A&E (iOS only)
- ABC (iOS and tvOS)
- AHC GO (iOS and tvOS)
- Animal Planet GO (iOS and tvOS)
- Bravo Now (tvOS only)
- Cartoon Network (iOS and tvOS)
- CNNgo (iOS and tvOS)
- Comedy Central (tvOS only)
- Cooking Channel (iOS and tvOS)
- Destination America GO (iOS and tvOS)
- DIRECTV (iOS only)
- Discovery GO (iOS and tvOS)
- Discovery Life GO (iOS and tvOS)
- Disney Channel (iOS and tvOS)
- Disney Junior (iOS and tvOS)
- Disney XD (iOS and tvOS)
- DIY Network (iOS and tvOS)
- E! Now (tvOS only)
- ESPN (iOS and tvOS)
- Fox Business (tvOS only)
- Fox News (tvOS only)
- FOX NOW (iOS and tvOS)
- Freeform (iOS and tvOS)
- FXNOW (tvOS only)
- Hallmark Channel Everywhere (iOS and tvOS)
- HBO GO (iOS and tvOS)
- HGTV (iOS and tvOS)
- History (iOS only)
- Investigation Discovery GO (iOS and tvOS)
- Lifetime (iOS only)
- NBC (iOS and tvOS)
- NBC 10 Philadelphia (iOS only)
- NBC 4 New York (iOS only)
- NBC 4 Southern California (iOS only)
- NBC 4 Washington (iOS only)
- NBC 5 Chicago (iOS only)
- NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth (iOS only)
- NBC 6 (iOS only)
- NBC 7 San Diego (iOS only)
- NBC Bay Area (iOS only)
- NBC Boston (iOS only)
- NBC Connecticut (iOS only)
- NCAA March Madness (iOS and tvOS)
- Pac-12 Now (iOS only)
- Science Channel GO (iOS and tvOS)
- STARZ (iOS and tvOS)
- SYFY (tvOS only)
- Telemundo 39 (iOS only)
- Telemundo 40 (iOS only)
- Telemundo 47 (iOS only)
- Telemundo 48 (iOS only)
- Telemundo 51 (iOS only)
- Telemundo 52 (iOS only)
- Telemundo 60 San Antonio (iOS only)
- Telemundo 62 (iOS only)
- Telemundo Arizona (iOS only)
- Telemundo Boston (iOS only)
- Telemundo Chicago (iOS only)
- Telemundo Denver (iOS only)
- Telemundo Houston (iOS only)
- Telemundo Las Vegas (iOS only)
- Telemundo Now (tvOS only)
- TLC GO (iOS and tvOS)
- Travel Channel (iOS and tvOS)
- USA Network (tvOS only)
- Velocity GO (iOS and tvOS)
- Watch Food Network (iOS and tvOS)
