AI illustration, created with DALL-E (OpenAI)

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Attention! Apple TV+ is now called ... Apple TV

14-10-2025

Translation: machine translated

Apple has done it again: the Apple TV+ streaming service is now simply called Apple TV. That sounds harmless - until you realise that Apple TV already exists. Several times.

Apple TV+ is now simply called Apple TV. The renaming was mentioned in passing in the press release for Brad Pitt's new Formula 1 film «F1 The Movie». It states that the film will be streamed on Apple TV from 12 December 2025. Not on Apple TV+, but on Apple TV.

The problem: Apple TV is already ...

An app that allows you to buy or rent films and series,
a hardware box, which goes by the name of Apple TV 4K,
and now also the streaming service itself.

Or, as The Verge summarises succinctly: The film is «available soon on Apple TV, ahead of its premiere on Apple TV, which you can watch on Apple TV devices via the Apple TV app».

Clear so far?

Apple, HBO and the name hell

Apple is not alone in this discipline. Hollywood and tech companies seem to have a secret passion for self-sabotaging rebrandings. For example, does anyone remember the HBO fiasco?

First there was HBO Go for cable customers, then HBO Now for streamers without cable TV - until Warner united everything and made HBO Max out of it. But no sooner had people got used to the name than the next stroke of genius came in 2023: «HBO» was dropped, leaving Max - a name that sounds like your rampant neighbour, but not like premium television. Then, in 2025, the role backwards: back to HBO Max. A rebranding merry-go-round that seems to turn on its own.

Or Meta: Facebook became Meta - the app is still called Facebook, while the company sells VR headsets called Meta Quest, formerly known as Oculus Quest, through its Reality Labs division. These in turn are controlled via the Meta Horizon Mobile app, which was still called Meta Quest Mobile until last year. Simple, right?

Then there's X, formerly Twitter. Probably the most pointless rebrand of all time. As if Elon Musk had simply said: «Do something. Anything.» And someone just did it. And it was a letter that nobody can google.

Bravo. All of you.

The Plus is gone - but why actually?

Back to Apple. In its press release, the tech giant calls the whole thing a «vibrant new identity». In other words, a «vibrant» new identity. That's great. What does that mean now? I have no idea. Neither the logo nor the website have been adapted yet, and the little plus sign continues to light up everywhere.

Maybe Apple wants to simplify the brand. Or simply to annoy everyone who writes about their products in tech newsrooms every day. One thing is clear: if anyone can keep track of everything, it's probably Apple itself. Or maybe not.

Well then - have fun switching on. Or logging in. Or categorising.

Header image: AI illustration, created with DALL-E (OpenAI)

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Luca Fontana

Senior Editor

Luca.Fontana@digitecgalaxus.ch

I'm an outdoorsy guy and enjoy sports that push me to the limit – now that’s what I call comfort zone! But I'm also about curling up in an armchair with books about ugly intrigue and sinister kingkillers. Being an avid cinema-goer, I’ve been known to rave about film scores for hours on end. I’ve always wanted to say: «I am Groot.»

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