That is correct. TVOS and iOS have shared components but all UI elements are essentially separate apps. As we have progress to the tvOS version of Swiftfin, I will make updates to this discussion to keep everyone in the loop.

The feature is important to us, and we’ll include it in the next release if timing allows. However, our focus is getting the many improvements we’ve already completed into tvOS as quickly as we can. It’s on our radar, and we want to see it done, but we won’t hold up the release if it’s not ready in time.

That's all I mean by our "Nice to Have" section.

There is also always Infuse as the alternative for the whole Apple ecosystem which is feature complete with jellyfin including the latest skip intro feature while also supporting dolby vision and atmos. The latter won't be properly supported by this app for a long time or probably never.

So, I just wanted to jump back to this because I was looking at this on my end. It looks like the reactive home screen work is already done on the development branch. I can't really tie it back to an exact PR when it was changed, but it does appear to be working appropriately.

So, this should be in the next release!

There is also always Infuse as the alternative for the whole Apple ecosystem which is feature complete with jellyfin including the latest skip intro feature while also supporting dolby vision and atmos. The latter won't be properly supported by this app for a long time or probably never.

Why do you say that, never?

I think actually the most impactful changes would be to fix/finish the user sign in/selection views, which can supersede #1113. I haven't been in that area for a bit to see what's missing, but it should have mostly matching functionality of the iOS by the end.

Sounds good, I'll take a look at the iOS sign-in and work on getting tvOS up to date.

It looks like PIN codes were removed from the server side and web earlier in the year, how do you feel about that being removed from Swiftfin?

Those are pin codes to log in and potentially get an auth token. The way I've implemented it is solely for local device access, users still require going through full user server authentication.

Although, I'm less worried about tvOS immediately receiving that feature, if that slows down development.

@chickdan just as a heads up I touched the sign-in flow just a little bit on the iOS side: #1357. The only impact should be localizations!

I have a functioning version of this done but there's a wider discussion that needs to take place:

#1177 / #1407

For libraries in 'Media', the filter logic already exists from the iOS side. For the Home Screen "Movies" and "TV Shows" that doesn't exist. I haven't dug into it too much but I think our ability to filter on 'Item Type' is significantly limited compared to a Library. The groundwork for this should be completed by: 1408, 1409, & 1411. Once the filters exist on all of the tvOS Library Views, this should just come down coming up with a good design for it.

So, I'd love to say it's in the work but we need to make sure we have our UI and design down for this first. If we dive into this too ad hoc we'll likely end up having to rework it a couple of times so planning it first will be a priority. You can follow from the PRs I listed above.

Indeed I have been looking at the PR.

To be honest, releasing an update, even one with "just" the media part and current updates would help, I understand that you might want to hold off and polish the tvOS version a bit more, but it's a double edged sword, releasing, even calling it an alpha/beta, as you did with the current version, also gives feedback and finds bugs etc.
Anyway, its the age old debate between releasing more often or holding off until it is more polished...

Thanks for your work, wish I could help, but I'm afraid i'm not an Apple dev and I try to stick in my lane...

That is correct. "This Should Improve/Solve These Issues" was the title I chose as I believe many of these issues are resolved by #519 but we'll want to validate as that change makes its way into tvOS. My guess is that ~95% of these will be resolved by that original refactor but we want to make sure we don't close out anything related to these until #519 is available on both platforms.

Ah I understood it to mean "This should [be] improve[d]" instead of "This should improve [based on already-committed changes]." Gotcha!

Ah! That's on me, I worded that poorly. I've updated my verbiage to more accurately describe what I meant!

Or can we get an invite to TestFlight version for Apple TV if there is one?

New ios versions are also expected. I even visit github often.

Just due to the nature of being a volunteer driven project, it's always difficult to give estimates. Especially with the holiday, it's hard to lock down that person X will be able to get done with Y since there are a lot of other obligations this time of year.

This being said, I can give you a rough roadmap of where what needs to be done to get this ready. From there, following individual tasks should help with estimating the 'progress' we have towards release.

Please note, everything being worked on is being done by volunteers. Please direct any questions about our tvOS release to this discussion as reaching out / pinging developers directly only adds additional overhead to their existing work.

1. Video Player Manager Refactor #1203 is our big highlight feature. This is a very large enhancement and touches a lot of places in Swiftfin. Implementing this correctly takes time and testing to make sure we aren't introducing any unforeseen issues that hamper playback.

2. Once the playback manager is complete, the tvOS player UI needs to be updated. This was done for iOS here but unfortunately at that time, there were iOS UI components that Apple just did not provide for tvOS. As a result, the tvOS player UI is incomplete. Swiftfin now targets a later version of tvOS which introduces some of those UI elements and allows us to complete this. That being said, the VideoPlayerManager changes will require player changes, so it's more prudent for us to wait for that to resolve rather than having to change the player UI twice.

3. Sign-in flow needs to be completed prior to release and we're discussing this here: Swiftfin tvOS - Status Update #1294 (comment).

4. Views and State management can be worked on prior to the VideoPlayerManager. I have this on my list of items I want to work on after I wrap up iOS/iPadOS Admin Functionality where we need to ensure that all tvOS UI have proper handling for all fringe cases.

Once we have these 4 wrapped up, we should be in the area to look at releasing a TestFlight for this version but, depending on timing of the other items, we may hold off if there are any other tvOS features close to completion when the 4 big items wrap up.

But please remember, this is a rough estimate and these items are subject to change.

EDIT: Crossed off two items that are done. If we find anything weird with those before the release, we may revisit those changes. For now, I am marking them of the list!

Hi,
I appreciate the job your doing.
I have a question, you mentioned in #2 that Swiftfin targets a later version of tvOS due to missing UI components, do we know which tvOS release should we expect to have this?

Hi,

I appreciate the job your doing.

I have a question, you mentioned in
#2 that Swiftfin targets a later version of tvOS due to missing UI components, do we know which tvOS release should we expect to have this?

Currently, tvOS 17 is our targeted version.

At this time, there is no TestFlight for tvOS as our tvOS build is in a non-shippable state. Our current TestFlight is for iOS/iPadOS 1.3 only. When we have a TestFlight available for tvOS, we will make sure to update this post to announce it.

It's possible to install it yourself from the sources, but it's complicated (you need a Mac and a membership to the Apple Developer Program).

I've added a couple of the Quality of Life items to this original post. Pickings are a bit slim right now since we're approaching the next release. I think most new features rely on #1203 as a blocker so it's best to hold off on some of the more 'major' changes until that is completed. The items I added above should be good standalone QoL changes.

I think the biggest impact item is related to the PagingLibraryView for the "Scrolling Focus Bug". What's going on is that the FocusState gets lost when the getNextPage is called. The result is that, when a new page of data loads, focus jumps to the top item that currently exists in the view. There are some hacky solutions we can do on the Swiftfin /SwiftUI level but the ideal solution is to work out how to resolve this on the UIKit side for the package itself here: https://github.com/LePips/CollectionVGrid

That being said, that's a lot more technical of an item so I don't really expect anyone to work on that. If you are familiar with UIKit it's a great place to make an impact but if you're more on the SwiftUI side, it would make more sense to focus on the other QoL changes I added as well!

Feel free to reach out if you have any questions!

Thanks I have a working tvOS build now. I will admit UIKit is not something I dabble in a heap but more than happy to take a look at this issue. Let me digest it and I will reach out if I have any questions

I didn't want to open an issue for this but have a question, whenever I try to add a local package version of CollectionVGrid I get a bunch of errors for tvOS (see below)

Is there anything happening in the Xcode project that may be getting over written by changing out the package dependency here?

Sorry to have led you astray! I would say the other QOL items in the main post would be a better place to work for now. I haven't had a chance to specifically look into that but since it's "outside" Swiftfin the configuration / testing isn't going to be documented the same. I can look into that but I'm traveling this week so I don't want to leave you waiting for me to find some downtime haha

haha nah that's alright. I will take a look at some of the other things and go from there.

if it is any help I was trying to test the removal of this line as the docs read to me like it was removing all of the data from the collectionView so it might when you take a look

https://github.com/LePips/CollectionVGrid/blob/c0b9c2dc8ce6ac3b78e7901d173744221a6fcc70/Sources/CollectionVStack/UICollectionVGrid.swift#L161

crash after initial login (requires app restart / might be debugger attach related)

This one would be good to have. I haven't been able to reliably recreate it so if we have steps documented for that it would be helpful.

native player / Swiftfin player

Anything player related is expected and part of why there is a lag between iOS and tvOS. The player UI in on the list but after #1203. No ticket required this should fall under that + #818

When scrolling through a library via Media -> Library, the name stays on screen and covers the posters/labels

We have that in a TODO under PagingLibraryView but an Issue wouldn't hurt!

changing settings under the customize section require an app restart

Which settings? All of the grid/library ones are live updating: #1408. But I don't think much has touched the previous settings so there's a good chance those need some love.

Unless 'Show recently added' is unchecked the last added show appears near the top of Home, it currently only has 1 season with 1 episode as it's still airing.

That's more on the API side so I'm hesitant to touch it until after #1463. That being said, it's worth an issue to document but hopefully 10.10 gets us more in line with expectations.

The top bar clips over the 'Next Up' posters (when set to landscape) - For shows that have watch progress you cannot navigate from the episode -> season -> other episode (also not when going media -> show -> season -> episode)

That deserves an issue but I know there is a grander HomeView rework that's eventually going to happen. So this likely happens then.

video

That interaction is because the FocusGuide wants to put you onto the next up episode. That version of CollectionHStack has a scrollTo function that doesn't scroll since the elements were made unique. Since it doesn't scroll, the FocusGuide is trying to move you to an episode that hasn't been rended into a real, tangible button. Updating CollectionHStack should resolve that. Interestingly, this issue is also: #1266. It should be resolved here:

#1446 (comment)

But I can confirm and look at making sure that package is the latest version.

Thank you for testing and the feedback!!

crash after initial login (requires app restart / might be debugger attach related)

This one would be good to have. I haven't been able to reliably recreate it so if we have steps documented for that it would be helpful.

Done, #1477

native player / Swiftfin player

Anything player related is expected and part of why there is a lag between iOS and tvOS. The player UI in on the list but after #1203. No ticket required this should fall under that + #818

OK, Let's ignore this for now. On the note of a player, I did see there is a VLCKit alpha buuld for 4.0! Once it exists alpha it's probably worth update as IIRC there are some security issues in the currently used version.

When scrolling through a library via Media -> Library, the name stays on screen and covers the posters/labels

We have that in a TODO under PagingLibraryView but an Issue wouldn't hurt!

Done, #1478

changing settings under the customize section require an app restart

Which settings? All of the grid/library ones are live updating: #1408. But I don't think much has touched the previous settings so there's a good chance those need some love.

e.g. 'Show recently added' (for sure), I think the Poster/Horizontal toggles too but will test those again next time.

Unless 'Show recently added' is unchecked the last added show appears near the top of Home, it currently only has 1 season with 1 episode as it's still airing.

That's more on the API side so I'm hesitant to touch it until after #1463. That being said, it's worth an issue to document but hopefully 10.10 gets us more in line with expectations.

Is it the result of the query? Or does the UI expect more than 1 item but there is just one in my case?

The top bar clips over the 'Next Up' posters (when set to landscape) - For shows that have watch progress you cannot navigate from the episode -> season -> other episode (also not when going media -> show -> season -> episode)

That deserves an issue but I know there is a grander HomeView rework that's eventually going to happen. So this likely happens then.

I noticed 2 points sort of got merged so I did one for both, not sure which of the two you wantend but the response can technically apply to both.

#1480
#1479

video

That interaction is because the FocusGuide wants to put you onto the next up episode. That version of CollectionHStack has a scrollTo function that doesn't scroll since the elements were made unique. Since it doesn't scroll, the FocusGuide is trying to move you to an episode that hasn't been rended into a real, tangible button. Updating CollectionHStack should resolve that. Interestingly, this issue is also: #1266. It should be resolved here:

#1446 (comment)

But I can confirm and look at making sure that package is the latest version.

Thank you for testing and the feedback!!

Thank you for making those issues!

e.g. 'Show recently added' (for sure), I think the Poster/Horizontal toggles too but will test those again next time.

Gotcha. That will need to be part of the broader HomeView changes as well but it's not a bad item for us to keep tabs on.

Is it the result of the query? Or does the UI expect more than 1 item but there is just one in my case?

We don't really touch the queries that get returned from Jellyfin. I'm not saying it's the API's fault or this is desired behavior. More just, I don't want to touch the API and what gets returned until after we update the API to 10.10. Where possible, it's best to avoid working on the same item twice haha.

On the note of a player, I did see there is a VLCKit alpha buuld for 4.0

Unfortunately, VLCKit 4.0 has been in alpha for about 2 years now. I hope they're close to a release but from what I have seen the API can still change pretty dramatically between alpha versions so it would be tough for us to target. If there is a formal release, it can be looked at but for now targeting alpha would be fairly tedious to maintain.

Thank you for making those issues!

e.g. 'Show recently added' (for sure), I think the Poster/Horizontal toggles too but will test those again next time.

Gotcha. That will need to be part of the broader HomeView changes as well but it's not a bad item for us to keep tabs on.

Found another one that is 100% requiring a restart, checked it while testing the crash fix Days in next up.

Edit: Oh no! I just tried again and this time Show recently added worked and Days in next up worked too... I wonder if it is because I changed em one by one this time vs both at once.

Edit: Heh... after another full reset, Show recently added separately seems to work. But Days in next up doesn't. Doing them both at once also doesn't. I don't like that.

Is it the result of the query? Or does the UI expect more than 1 item but there is just one in my case?

We don't really touch the queries that get returned from Jellyfin. I'm not saying it's the API's fault or this is desired behavior. More just, I don't want to touch the API and what gets returned until after we update the API to 10.10. Where possible, it's best to avoid working on the same item twice haha.

On the note of a player, I did see there is a VLCKit alpha buuld for 4.0

Unfortunately, VLCKit 4.0 has been in alpha for about 2 years now. I hope they're close to a release but from what I have seen the API can still change pretty dramatically between alpha versions so it would be tough for us to target. If there is a formal release, it can be looked at but for now targeting alpha would be fairly tedious to maintain.

Oh bummer, I saw 3 alpha release this year so I assumed they were close.

Well... I think the settings don't show any effect because it looks like the Home tab is not refreshing at all.

I watched some stuff on my phone but the home in swiftfin tvos is still showing the old up next. Force restarting refreshes.

Unfortunately, the App Store version and our current version are almost two different apps. When 1.0.1 came out, we had less than 500 entries. Today, we just broke 1,500!

Now, not all of those made it into Swiftfin and not all of them ended up impacting tvOS but the point stands: things have changed a lot!

You are welcome to build our Main branch and test our changes there but that is a more involved process than TestFlight. Our main branch is also still missing some crucial changes so a TestFlight is still out of the question.

I'm still working a guide for helping new folks contribute to Swiftfin. I'm hoping to knock that out before May but no promises. Until then, here are some more evergreen opportunities we're always looking for help with:

Do you know a second language? Please help us translate Swiftfin!

Are you technical or a good problem solver? Please help our other Jellyfin users on our Forum!

Are you a good writer? Or, are you very comfortable using Swiftfin? We'd love to expand out our documentation to help people better use the app.

Finally, at the time of writing this, we have 192 open issues. Every night I try to go through one or two of those to check if they are still valid or if they can be closed out. I've already gone through and tagged all of the playback issues, which don't need any further testing since we have a pretty big playback change on the way that will likely resolve a lot of of these. But, it's a great help to confirm that issues are still issues and, if not provided, what steps need to be performed to recreate these issues.

For any issues/documentation, we are primarily looking at iOS/iPadOS right now.

Otherwise, we hope to have a TestFlight out in the not so distant future. We won't commit to a firm date, or even use the word "soon", but I'll make sure to put an announcement on this discussion when the TestFlight becomes available.

I'm still working a guide for helping new folks contribute to Swiftfin. I'm hoping to knock that out before May but no promises.

Look at that! It's still before May!

Please find a more in-depth guide here:

#1503

Maybe as a suggestion to the otherwise excellent updates, both in the thread and at the start, is to list the "still missing crucial changes before TestFlight" so the "impatient ones (yes, guilty)" have an indication of what is still left to do...

Thanks for the work done !

All of the items are listed in the task section of my main post. I'll reiterate below for clarity.

Video Player manager needs to be completed so we can complete the player UI. Those are the biggest two items but the player manager is essentially THE feature of Swiftfin so it's important to do it correctly. These things take time so please continue your patience as we work on this.

Hi, please see our help wanted page here: #1503

I try to update this when there are items that would be good for new folks. Not all of these are specific to tvOS but iOS and tvOS share data components so there is an overlap.

There are two outstanding items that need to be resolved before this can be released. Please see the list in the main post for more details. Additionally, the "Edits" section of the main post is updated as things change. Please find my last update on May 19th with similar information.

As we approach a release, I will update this post with more detail.

There are two outstanding items that need to be resolved before this can be released. As a result, 1.3 is not available for tvOS. My unofficial goal would be to be ready by 1.4 but this primarily hinges on our 2 outstanding tasks. So, if #1203 requires more time to do properly, it may need to wait until after 1.4.

Let's say 1.4 for now and I'll make a post if it looks like we'd need to wait longer.

Please see the list in the main post for more details and the 2 items that we still need to complete. Additionally, the "Edits" section of the main post is updated as things change. Please find my last update on May 19th with similar information.

As we approach a release, I will update this post with more detail.

Edit: I've updated the main post to make this more front and center.

aaaaah, I woke up seeing the release email, and I'm like, praise the heavens! But it was just a prank for tvOS 😂

Please take your time - I don't like to think strangers are spending less time with their families and friends to update an app that is one of several options for Apple TV users. That said, I'm excited for when it's done. Currently using Infuse for TV viewing, and I'd love to have nothing but FOSS from server to client.