Titles are not visible in movies and TV shows on Apple TV app after macOS Tahoe update

OS 26 mentions now showing Poster Art (instead of thumbnails) across all devices. So this appears to be intentional. It’s like this on my MacBook and my iPad. So no solution. You can submit Feedback - Apple TV - Apple to let Apple know it’s not to your liking.

You can still use View from the top menu bar for list view to see titles. Unfortunately they’re no longer underneath the image in Grid View.

I got the artwork to come back by selecting one show, doing get info, going to the artwork tab, cutting the artowork, and then pasting it into the upper left corner. Then save. Then let it load all the art. You'll probably only see a message, and not the art. Then close the app and reopen it.

I solved this problem movie by movie: On the present thumbnail, click on get info/click on Get Artwork/drag and drop from Safari de movie image (search for it on Safari or Chrome)

It was tedious but at the end the result was better than it was before. I still have more movies to change the thumbnail.

On home movies, I did a screenshot of the thumbnail and edited it, adding a text box and wrote the title. Save it. It goes to "Recent" on the finder. Drag and Drop on the "Get Info", "Artwork".

For both solutions, after saving the drag and drop image, you need to click on the thumbnail again, it will open, then click the back arrow on the top left, and the edit will be there.

[Edited by Moderator]

The correct feedback form to let Apple know this is unsatisfactory : Feedback - Apple TV App - Apple

The only thing that's displayed now are the title images (or a partial frame shot). If you don't have a title card, you have to do a Get Info to know what you're seeing. If you go to Show View Options there are no options to select. Unacceptable. I'd happily trade all the stupid icons in the menus and contextual menus to have labels back.

I totally agree that the change to the Apple TV app was unexpected and (very) unwelcome. I have many home videos that I can find only by changing to list view. The TVOS ver 26 on the TV box still displays as before thankfully. The proper link to share your dissatisfaction is Feedback - Apple TV App - Apple. The previous post directs to the hardware appliance which didn' change with the TV OS 26 upgrade.

That's actually not the correct link for feedback. You want the Apple TV app, not the hardware. This is the correct link to let apple know that they need to fix this. Feedback - Apple TV App - Apple

This is a massive issue for me, too. Removing the actual titles and only showing the art makes for a terrible user experience. I submitted feedback to Apple, I don't know who thought this was a good idea.

I've ended up viewing the list of movies/TV shows in the Apple TV app on Tahoe, but on my phone and Apple TV, it's just a huge hassle to search for movies and shows only using artwork tiles, especially for older movies and shows I have in my library that don't have the best artwork with easily visible titles.

I agree with all the posts below. Perhaps Apple should actually solicit feedback on such massive changes from a broad spectrum of it's user base instead of a select few. This is very similar when Apple previously decided to make everything in Mac OS monochrome, based upon the feedback of a small section of it's users. We all matter, not just a few of us. For now, I can click "Search to find my TV shows in the TV App. Apple, bring back the Titles or at least provide an option to use titles or the poster art.

“Perhaps Apple should actually solicit feedback on such massive changes from a broad spectrum”

They did, it’s called the beta program.

The changes made have been known about for a year.

If you didn’t like the changes, you could have opted to not update.

Sir, I honestly didn't know about the changes, which is why they were such a huge shock. I will wait to update my iPad until a workaround or subsequent update is issued to address the matter. I have been a loyal Mac user for nearly two decades now. :-)

I can tell you that on iPadOS 26 it only lists the run time underneath the Poster Art image. Like this but look at these Jurassic Movies, two look the same with the first one being 2015 and the title is in French so I’ve no idea what it’s called, plays in English though. I’d have to look in my other iPad on iPadOS 18.6 to figure it out. I’m too blind to read it!

So if you’re not part of the Beta program like most are not then you don’t know about how terrible the changes are until you install a terrible new version. It’s obvious that the beta testers have horrible taste if they let this get through. Makes uploaded videos totally useless on iPhone have to open every single video to find the one you want.

The testers obviously don’t test every scenario others might use their devices for. Oddly the movies are still in alphabetical order (with no titles). I left one pad on iPadOS 18.6. I keep needing to use it for various tasks. Other than that I do like OS 26.