You are getting security updates but not OS updates. OS updates actually stop after 1 or 2 years on LG TV. So if you look at the HBO max app for instance is for 2018+ models (web os 4 and more). I have a TV from 2017 with web OS 3 and I can't get the HBO max app.
Apps are not necessarily developed by LG, but by specific developers. The BBC for example stopped updating their app for a while, saying the device would not be supported going forward; they must have received a bunch of complaints though, because a couple of months later it was back to normal.
> Apps are not necessarily developed by LG, but by specific developers.
Nobody here's saying anything like that, though. Not sure how you got that idea?
But if the OS on your TV isn't being updated by LG any longer, then you won't be able install the newest versions of many apps, since they use SDK-features, that aren't supported by the older versions of the OS.
Whether an app is actually developed by a third-party, like the BBC or HBO, doesn't change the fact that "minimum supported OS version", is as crippling for a TV, as it is for a smartphone or tablet.
Last time I had to buy a new smartphone, even though the old one was still in excellent working condition, was because my bank and mobile payment apps, stopped supporting the Android OS version, it were stuck at.
I'd hate to also have to buy new TV's, just because the Netflix, HBO, or whatever apps I use, stop working.
From the parent post: > So if you look at the HBO max app for instance is for 2018+ models
AFAIK nothing stops HBO from supporting older webOS releases, they just can't be arsed to. They could maintain builds produced with the older SDK forever, if they wanted to. Old models won't get new features, but there is no reason the app should stop working - like it works on the Apple Appstore every day to millions of apps.
> AFAIK nothing stops HBO from supporting older webOS releases
Assuming that to be the case, nothing is stopping LG to provide an upgraded webOS either.
> They could maintain builds produced with the older SDK forever
Maintaining backwards compatibility in this way is not a small undertaking. How many webOS versions do you maintain compatibility with? How do you decide which features you spend time trying to backport to which versions? How do you make it clear to your users that their 2-year-old >US$1k TV won't get the shiny new thing because it's too old?
> they just can't be arsed to
And they shouldn't have to. If the hardware is good enough to support the latest OS and SDK, refusing to do so is nothing more than planned obsolescence on part of the manufacturer. They all share the same underlying architecture, main difference will probably be around drivers.
Multiply the number of apps by the number of different smart TV OSs by the number of versions of each and supporting all of them gets old really quickly.
In that case, you'd just buy a streaming stick or settop box, like a FireTv, AppleTV, Roku, or AndroidTV box.. These are a small-ish percent of the cost of a new TV.
I had to manually install iPlayer after it disappeared from my Sony. This week it seems to have been updated, so yes, I think they must have a had a fair few compaints.
That might be down to a mix of both the service (HBO Max, in this case) and the OS distributor (LG). As a personal anecdote, I remember when the YouTube app ceased to work on old Sony Bravia TV's. YouTube printed a message to the screen explaining how the service would be cut soon.
