A new Featured row at the top of the Watch Now section, populated with random shows, pushes down your Up Next queue with content you actually wanna watch.
iOS 16.2’s TV app deprioritizes your Up Next queue
The TV app in the iOS 16.2, iPadOS 16.2, tvOS 16.2 and macOS Ventura 13.1 betas has picked up a new Featured section, found above Up Next in the Watch Now tab. Disgruntled users took toRedditto vent their frustration with the change.
In iOS 16.1 and earlier, the Up Next queue appeared at the very top of the Watch Now section. In other words, this is clearly a change for the worse.
Actually, this isn’t exclusive to iOS 16.2. It’s a server-side change affecting iOS 16.1 and older. Here’s Featured above Up Next in the TV app on macOS Ventura 13.0https://t.co/XunvRROG62pic.twitter.com/MawO2WAZC4
— iDownloadBlog (@iDownloadBlog)June 08, 2025
Why we’re not fond of this change
Now, many people consider this a form of annoying advertising. In reality, however, this is pretty much how featured content has been traditionally showcased on other streaming services and devices. Of course, that doesn’t make this addition any less annoying—especially with the hero imagery in the carousel highlighting content from the Featured section vs. what’s in your personalized Up Next watch list.
Unfortunately, this means you now must scroll past random shows in the Featured section recommended by the algorithm just to get to your Up Next watch list.
The watch list is among the most important features of any streaming service so this is frustrating. Your Up Next, for example, includes any shows you haven’t finished watching and upcoming content you’ve manually added to this list.
When will iOS 16.2 launch?
At the time of this writing, Apple was testing iOS 16.2, iPadOS 16.2 and other upcoming software updates with its registered developers.
The company has not said when iOS 16.2 will arrive for public consumption butBloomberg’s Mark Gurman has learnedthat iOS 16.2, iPadOS 16.2, tvOS 16.2, watchOS 9.2 and macOS Ventura 13.1 will launch for all users to download and install around the middle of December.Read:45+ iPhone tips to save battery life
