tvOS 26 playback issue — automatic ~1 second rewinds during streaming on multiple apps

Question

Level 1

4 points

tvOS 26 playback issue — automatic ~1 second rewinds during streaming on multiple apps

Wondering if anyone else is having this issue?

Since updating my Apple TV 4K (2nd generation) to tvOS 26 (have updated to 26.0,1), I’ve been noticing a strange playback issue across several streaming apps. During playback, the video will randomly and automatically jump backward by about one second. This happens without any button presses and playback then continues normally.

The issue occurs when streaming on Disney+, Amazon Prime Video, and Paramount+. It happens on multiple titles, including both Dolby Vision and SDR content. Turning Match Frame Rate ON seems to make the problem happen slightly less often, but it does not completely fix it. I’m using a wired Ethernet connection, 300mps.

Interestingly, YouTube TV does not have this issue. Based on what I read YouTube TV uses its own custom playback engine rather than Apple’s AVPlayer so I’m guessing that could be the reason? The behavior was not present before updating to tvOS 26. I’ve tried restarting and deleting reinstalling the apps. I know you can downgrade Apple TV so guessing I’m screwed until Apple fixes this. It basically makes all of these apps unwatchable.

In short, after tvOS 26, multiple AVPlayer-based apps exhibit this small but noticeable rewind glitch, while YouTube TV remains unaffected

Apple TV 4K, tvOS 26

Posted on Oct 4, 2025 9:15 AM

Reply

Answer 1

JFStorey

Level 1

27 points

Oct 18, 2025 6:35 PM in response to James855

I had the same issues on my Apple TV box as well. Other issues I had was with the Plex app. Some content would not play at all. If I paused a video it would start playing again on its own. Some content would freeze, to resume playback I had to back out and press play again. I resolved all of these issues by uninstalling and reinstalling the Plex app on my AppleTV box.

Reply