Apple TV 4 hacked to run a makeshift Safari browser

BY Evan Selleck

Published 6 Nov 2015

Apple TV 4 Safari hack

The new Apple TV is a more-than-competent device, upgrading the traditional Apple set-top box with new features like Siri, an App Store and more.

But for some intrepid owner out there, it was missing something: A web browser. A video has been published to show that the new Apple TV has been hacked, and there’s a makeshift Safari browser running on the device. The project is open source, but it is using a private API to render the web content it shows, so it’s not likely that it will make an appearance in the aforementioned tvOS App Store.

Interestingly enough, the makeshift browser even takes advantage of the Siri Remote to navigate websites. Pressing the glass on the remote will switch between two modes: The first allows the user to scroll through webpages by flicking their finger on the glass, while the second will make an arrow appear on the webpage that can be used to select items.

It’s a nice addition, and seeing how useful it is with the Siri Remote makes one wonder if Apple might bring an official browser to the set-top at some point in the future.

You can check it out in action below:

[via 9to5Mac]