Apple TV Facebook Video App: How To Watch Live Streams On tvOS-Running Device?

Facebook finally launched its Facebook Video app for the fourth-generation Apple TV this week. The free app serves as a hub where users can view all pre-recorded video content and live streams that have been made available for public viewing by other users.

For users who are oblivious on how the Facebook Video app works, here’s a step-by-step guide, courtesy of Apple Insider. Once you have downloaded the app on your Apple TV, the first thing that you need to do is to log in to its system. To do this, you will need your mobile phone or a Mac device. When the app is fully downloaded on the tvOS-running device, a code is shown on the TV’s display. The same code will be sent to the mobile app on your iPhone or on the browser of your Mac. All you need to do here is to click the Confirm Code button to log in.

Once the login step is done, the app loads a page on the Apple TV showing four main channels: Shared by Friends, Following, Top Live Videos and Recently Watched. You may now select the category you like and scroll through the videos found in that category. Once you found the video you want to watch, just hit the main button of your Siri remote and the video will play on the screen.

There are other things you can do while watching a video. When you swipe up on the content you are viewing, a thumbnail list of related content will be displayed at the lower-half of the interface. Doing a second swipe will show other options about the currently playing video, like saving it to your feed, turning on available captions, as well as reading comments and reactions from other users. Liking a video, on the other hand, requires a long press on the main button of the Siri remote. This gesture pops up a wheel of different reactions on the bottom-right of the screen, ranging from angry, sad to elated and in love.

Meanwhile, live streams have a different setup from pre-recorded content. When you are watching a live stream, you can automatically see the live comments to the video on the bottom left of the display. Real-time comments are shown there, so they are not filtered to show only those sans insensitive and explicit language. Then, you may check on the number of people watching the same live stream as you are through the counter on the upper right hand corner of the display.

Announced early last month, Facebook Video is a free-to-download 32.1MB tvOS app designed to serve as a video platform extension of the social networking site for the Cupertino giant's Apple TV.