If you’re fed up of having all the best Netflix shows locked out of reach because you’re in the wrong location, you’re in luck. That’s because ExpressVPN has just brought its VPN app to the Apple TV, meaning you can bypass the restrictions and watch whatever you want, even if it’s not available in your country.
Sure, I know what you’re thinking: we’ve been able to do this for a while. If you’re a Roku customer or use an Amazon Fire TV stick, you’ve been able to use VPNs to do exactly this for ages. If you’ve known where to look, things like Netflix’s restrictions aren’t all that restrictive.
So why is ExpressVPN coming to Apple TV big news? Well, there are a couple of reasons, for me at least. The first is that it’s perfect if your home is already full of Apple devices. The Apple TV is a great device whether or not it can bypass Netflix’s rules, and plenty of people already use it quite happily. For people like that, this is another boost to an already strong setup.
After all, the Apple TV is more than just a set-top box. You can use it as a hub to control all the best smart home devices, for example. Or you might use it as a lightweight gaming system, or as a way to exercise with your fitness apps. Now that it can also let you watch content from all over the world, it’s an even more tempting proposal for your home.
Protecting your privacy
The other reason this is good news is that it involves ExpressVPN. It’s been our pick for the best VPN service for years, so getting it on your Apple TV means another device can benefit from the app’s class-leading privacy protection, regardless of its geolocation-busting abilities.
Previously, if you wanted to stay anonymous while using an Apple TV, you had to configure your router – there simply wasn’t an option for Apple’s set-top box itself. Not everyone is willing to get their hands dirty with their router, so the ExpressVPN app just makes things much easier for everyone involved.
Apple first made VPNs available on the Apple TV with tvOS 17. Interestingly, it did this by saying the feature was intended for education and business users who want to access private networks. Whether or not that’s what most Apple TV users will use it for is anyone’s guess.
There could be more good news on the way: according to The Verge, NordVPN is now thinking about bringing its own VPN to the Apple TV, perhaps prompted by ExpressVPN’s actions. That can only be good news for Apple TV users wanting to protect themselves and get around Netflix’s limitations.
So, if that sounds good to you, you can download the ExpressVPN app from the Apple TV’s App Store. Now excuse me, I’ve got some TV to watch.
