Mobile Phones > iPhone & iOS What Channels Support Universal Search on Apple TV? By Jonny Evans Jonny Evans Writer Johnny Evans is a former Lifewire writer who specializes in iPhones, iOS, and Apple TV and blogs daily about it at other publications. lifewire's editorial guidelines Updated on November 19, 2019 Tweet Share Email Tweet Share Email iPhone & iOS Switching from Android Apple TV offers a feature called Universal Search. The feature lets users search for shows using Siri or by typing into a search field with their virtual keyboard or another device. What Is Universal Search? Universal Search lets you look for something across multiple applications from wherever you happen to be. You use it to find shows and other media from anywhere in the tvOS interface using text, dictation or Siri on your Siri Remote. It means you aren’t required to flick between all your different TV-related apps in order to search each one for your chosen piece of content individually, just search once and your Apple TV will find what you seek where it exists across every channel that supports the feature. The feature is also smart enough to know which services you are already subscribed to, and will highlight free and subscription-based providers for the content you might seek. This means it can also help you find seasons TV shows that are available on multiple free and fee-based services, while more recent seasons may only be available for a subscription fee. So if you search for ‘Game of Thrones’ you will see what series are available across all your installed and supported apps, with more recent seasons probably only available for a fee. Like Siri on Apple TV which is only available in eight countries (Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Spain, UK, USA), there is some way to go before Universal Search can be seen as fully deployed. Right now it is efficiently supported only in the US, but this will be extended as developers use Apple’s API’s in their apps in order to make them compatible with Universal Search. Why Support Universal Search? When Apple TV 4 was introduced, the universal search feature only worked across iTunes, Netflix, Hulu, HBO, and Showtime at launch. Explaining why Universal Search matters, Apple CEO, Tim Cook told BuzzFeed: “Think about your experience today. Even if you’re fortunate enough to have the content you want to watch in an app, you sometimes don’t remember exactly where that show is, so you’re going to Netflix or Hulu or Showtime. You shouldn’t have to do that. It should be very simple,” he explained. “At launch, we’ll have iTunes, Netflix, Hulu, Showtime, and HBO — so we’ll have five major inputs into universal search initially…We’re also opening an API so that others can join in. How to Implement Universal Search Apple’s Universal Search API’s are available for use by registered developers through the Apple Developer website. If you are interested in learning more about such deployments Apple has a huge host of video resources to help you get started that it makes available here. Who Supports Universal Search Today This is the complete list of channels that support the feature today, according to Apple. These are subject to change, particularly as international deployment extends. United States Movies and TV shows in iTunes ABCA&EBravoCBSComedy CentralCooking ChannelDisney ChannelDisney JrDisney XDDIYE!Food NetworkFOXNOWFXNOWFYIHBOHGTVHistoryHuluLifetimeMTVNat Geo TVNBCNetflixPBSPBS KidsSHOWTIMESHOWTIME AnytimeStarzSyfyTravel ChannelUSAVH1 Australia, Canada, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom Movies and TV shows in iTunesNetflix Other Countries and Regions Movies in iTunes Was this page helpful? Thanks for letting us know! Get the Latest Tech News Delivered Every Day Email Address Sign up There was an error. Please try again. You're in! Thanks for signing up. There was an error. Please try again. Thank you for signing up! Tell us why! Other Not enough details Hard to understand Submit