Apple TV
Full screen from the sofa, steered with the Siri Remote. The Top Shelf fills with what’s trending and what you were part-way through.
A PeerTube client for Apple TV, iPhone and iPad
Watch the video network nobody owns.
BufferedTV brings PeerTube to your Apple TV, iPhone and iPad: thousands of independent video sites in one app, on the sofa or out and about. There are no adverts, and nothing tracks what you watch.
Coming soon
Apple TV, iPhone and iPad
One app for your telly, your phone and your tablet.
BufferedTV is one free app, with one page on the App Store. Each version is made for its own screen. Sign in to the same instance on each, and your subscriptions, playlists and where you got to come with you.
iPhone
Each video has one page: the player at the top, the comments underneath. Turn your phone on its side and the video fills the screen, or keep it playing in Picture in Picture while you do something else.
iPad
A sidebar to get around, and room to spread out: the rest of a channel sits beside the video you’re watching. AirPlay sends it to the telly when you want it bigger.
What’s PeerTube?
Video, without anyone in charge of it.
The big video sites each belong to one company, which decides what you see and sells your attention to pay for it. PeerTube works differently, and it only takes three steps to explain.
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Lots of small video sites
PeerTube isn’t one website. It’s thousands of small ones, run by universities, charities, communities and people at home. Each one is called an instance, and hosts its own videos.
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Sharing with each other
Instances follow one another, a bit like people do on social media. Follow another instance and its videos turn up on yours, so it all joins up into one big network that nobody owns.
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One app to watch the lot
BufferedTV connects your Apple TV, iPhone or iPad to an instance, and through it to everything else. Search the whole network and it plays what it finds, wherever it lives.
You don’t need to understand any of this to use it. Type in the address of an instance, such as tilvids.com or framatube.org, and start watching. You can sign in if you have an account there, or just browse.
Features
Made for the big screen and the whole network.
Find it, wherever it lives
Most PeerTube apps only search the server you signed in to, so a channel you know exists often won’t turn up. BufferedTV searches the whole network by default and plays what it finds, from wherever it’s hosted.
There’s plenty to browse too: trending, just added, live right now, top rated, and whatever’s local to your instance.
Watch it properly
Videos play full screen at the best quality the instance published, not whatever your connection settles on in the first few seconds. Quality, subtitles, audio tracks and speed are a swipe away.
Where you got to syncs back to your instance, so you can start a video on the telly and finish it on your iPhone or iPad.
Have your say
Like or dislike a video without leaving it. Swipe down to the Comments tab to read what people thought, reply, or add your own. Dictate it with the remote rather than typing on a telly.
Subtitles in your language
PeerTube has no borders, which is lovely until the video you want is captioned in a language you don’t read. Point BufferedTV at a LibreTranslate server, free software you can run at home, and it translates the subtitles while you watch.
It’s off until you switch it on, and the text only goes to the server you choose.
Sign in, or don’t
Bring your subscriptions, playlists, Watch Later and history from any instance, with two-factor sign-in. Or just browse, and sign in later if you like.
At home on Apple TV
The Top Shelf fills with what’s trending and what you were part-way through. Control Centre, the Siri Remote’s TV button, Siri and Shortcuts all work.
Block what you don’t want
Block an account, or a whole server, and it disappears everywhere, comments included. Report anything worse to the moderators, straight from the video.
No tracking
The app has no analytics, adverts or third-party code, and there’s no BufferedTV server for your data to go to. Read the privacy policy.
Screenshots
Have a look around the Apple TV app.
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Home: trending, recent, live and more 
A channel, from any instance 
A video’s page, with Report and Block to hand 
Getting started: type in an instance
Questions
Good to know.
Do I need an account?
No. Pick an instance and browse, search and watch without one. An account on an instance adds subscriptions, playlists, Watch Later, history, likes and comments, and you can sign in whenever you like.
Which instance should I choose?
Any you like: each has its own videos and its own rules, and whichever you pick, you can search the whole network from it. If you already have a PeerTube account, use the instance it’s on. If not, joinpeertube.org keeps a list of public ones.
Is BufferedTV made by PeerTube?
No. BufferedTV is an independent app for PeerTube, built by Ric Harvey and supported by SquareCows. PeerTube itself is made by Framasoft, a French non-profit, whose logo appears in ours with their permission.
What do I need to run it?
An Apple TV with tvOS 27 or later, or an iPhone or iPad with iOS 27 or iPadOS 27 or later. It’s the same free app on all of them.
What about things I’d rather not see?
Sensitive videos are hidden until you choose to show them. You can block an account or a whole server in a couple of clicks, without an account, and report anything that breaks the rules to the moderators.
Open source
Free and open source.
BufferedTV is built with love by Ric Harvey and supported by SquareCows. Every line of it is open to read, and ideas, bug reports and contributions are welcome.
Coming soon
The whole network, on your telly, phone and tablet.
BufferedTV is on its way to the App Store for Apple TV, iPhone and iPad.