Acorn TV Reviews

I am giving them one star rating only because it was easy to get through to customer service and the representative was polite. AcornTV does not work with voiceover. I tried using it with voice over about a year or two ago and it did not work and in spite of even recent upgrades they still have not corrected the problem. When I asked The customer service representative if they were aware that it did not work with voiceover, he said that they had had numerous comments about it but he still has no idea if or when they will get around to correcting the problem. I guess they do not want money from someone who is visually impaired. I would highly encourage anyone to drop their subscription. The only reason I was able to call Customer Service was because they sent me the number in an email when I initially told them about my problem with not being to access AcornTV .

After months of happy viewing, something went wrong. I began to get double billed for my subscription, billed by my subscription through iTunes, and then billed directly by acorn. I never signed up directly with acorn, only with iTunes. So I canceled my subscription with acorn, considering that I already had in place an iTunes subscription. Well this is when the horror started. AcornTV indicates that my subscription is canceled, but my iTunes subscription is active. I have been struggling with this for months and I cannot get a straight answer out of their customer service desk. They simply refuse to understand what I am talking about. There is no way to include screenshots when trying to send them messages. And yes there is no restore a purchase link on the home screen. I personally don’t think you can pay for your subscription through iTunes. I think you can download AcornTV from the iTunes Store, but you have to pay acorn directly. The iTunes subscription does not work with AcornTV. I talked to Apple at length about this problem and they are as mystified as I am. It almost seems like there is a scam or some sort of bait and switch problem. There is no Acorn customer service phone number, impossible to speak to a live person, and you will never ever make any sense out of whatever robot you interact with at the help desk.

Update: The April 2025 update broke search on Apple TV.

Terrible app. The Acorn does not integrate with Apple TV AT ALL. The continue watching feature does not work. Playback is broken on the AppleTV streaming box. Trying to play an Acorn title from Apple TV's universal watchlist simply results in a spinning icon on a black screen, no playback. Apple TV universal search finds things in the Acorn app, but since you can’t play from those search results or even use continue watching, it’s useless. Fix this, Acorn!!! In the months since I posted this, it’s gotten worse. Now the universal search on Apple TV doesn’t find programs available in the Acorn app at all: it only shows results from the “Acorn TV channel” that gets purchased through Apple. So for direct Acorn subscribers, search doesn’t work at all. This is a deliberate choice by Acorn: Netflix does the same thing, intentionally. But Acorn isn’t big enough to play those games with subscribers. Tried Acorn TV support, but they were useless. Unless this company can get their act together, fix their app, and take their customers seriously, it’s time to cancel.

This iOS app (and its tvOS counterpart) has become totally useless. While Acorn may offer a variety of quality programming, it is currently unwatchable because both apps now make the determination that I am outside of the US! The last time I checked, Chicago was definitely in the US, and my public IP address clearly reveals that. I have reported this issue to Acorn support, but it seems they are the most incompetent and useless group with which I have ever dealt. It is now almost one month since this issue was reported. Each time I raise the issue again, I am asked to answer the same set of questions about the issue (most of which would have no bearing on the issue), followed by “we are sorry for the delay, but we are currently experiencing a high volume of requests!” Right!
There seems to be no indication that this issue will be resolved any time soon (I had no issues with the previous app version, either on iOS or tvOS). So I would recommend anyone interested in British programming to migrate to BritBox…with marvelous programming and excellent customer support. And their apps seem to be able to properly place Chicago within the US!

We love AcornTV so much, we opted for the annual subscription. However, the more we got into a series the worse the navigation got. Nice feature: AcornTV kept tract of the episodes, at first. Bad feature: now that we are into the series, AcornTV does NOT accurately keep tract of our viewing. And if we try to select the correct episode, we get kicked out of AcornTV .
Second problem: we subscribed via the google app on our smart tv. We did not set up our account directly in the acorn app. Now, I am trying to view the acorn tv via my iPad, but acorn tv does not recognize my email, so I have no access!
So between these two problems, our viewing experience is down the toilet. And yes we have contacted support, but they say the first problem is resolved! Well if that is so, then why did we experience the above problem again just 5 minutes ago? If we can only see the first few episodes of a program, then what is the point of subscribing to what appears to be a wonderful app? If this is not resolved soon, then we will be forced to cancel our annual subscription!

I’ve been using various computer apps for some 35 years, and the Acorn TV app for the Apple TV is the worst app I’ve ever had to use.
To begin, the menu system is completely illogical and user hostile. Unlike, Netflix, with the Acorn app for Apple TV once you have selected the program you want (not always easy with the execrable new Apple TV remote), you then get to try and figure out which episode is next in the queue because Acorn doesn’t bother to queue up the next one. You still have to figure out which one it is, with no clues whatsoever.
Just finding the program itself is sometimes a challenge. If you go to the recently watched list, and click on the program you want, rather than bringing up the overview screen for the program (from which you can at least begin your search for the next episode to watch), it just starts the episode you’ve already watched. And if you hit the go-back button, it just bumps you back out to the home screen rather than the more logical overview screen for that program.
To top off the fun, it will, as often as not, simply refuse to play a program no matter how many times you hit enter on the pad portion of the remote. I end up AirPlaying it from my iPad.
The Acorn App for the Apple TV is completely broken. Which is a shame because AcornTV for the iPad and iPhone — a completely different app — is quite good, And the programming is brilliant. If you can get it to play. Shameful!

Update: Crashing every time launched under iOS 11.3. Apple TV version frequently fails to connect, requiring log out and back in, restarting the Apple TV, or both. Nothing but canned, usually inapplicable replies from tech support and no updates. If Acorn wasn’t the only place some of this content was available, I’d have cancelled my subscription by now. Avoid this service if you can find the content you want anywhere else.

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So far it looks good, though there were several aspects of the previous version, including the ability to select a search and see just the episodes in that season rather than the new version which has all the seasons and episodes in a single list with no ability to just view a single season’s episodes. Time will tell whether this version is stable in it’s current release and whether it’s more reliable with AirPlay then the previous releases tended to be. I’m also very hopeful of an app for the 4th-generation Apple TV so that I don’t have to stream from my iPad.

First off, I resubscribed for the new Detectorists movie: where is it? It wasn’t listed in the New section so I found it through a search. When I selected it it would not load. When I tried to reboot AcornTV to search for it didn’t turn up at all any more, it was gone. Even apart from this, AcornTV itself is clunky. There is often long hesitation before a selected program loads. The organization of what’s availability could be improved: the Home Screen and Explore have a lot of duplication of categories, and neither gives you a fast way to see all content. Let the Home Screen have fewer categories that lead to more comprehensive lists and let Explore have more selections of shows with targeted interests. That would make *my* experience better anyway. I wish it all worked better because the programming is excellent.

It works now on all devices, finally, though I will never understand the management process that made the customer experience so bad. And I am still surprised that they did not contact users who had written or called them.

Now it works, and content is good. But unlike other streaming we use, Acorn is unique in not making it easy to see where we left off in watching episodes. This is not a good way to be unique.

Recent review:

First Acorn removed essential functionality (tracking progress on series, for example). Then AcornTV stops working with iPads and iPhones. Then AcornTV stops working with Apple TV. And through it all Acorn decides not to reach out to customers to describe the situation and their progress, and not to tell customers that their remaining option is to log in on web browser. So, self-created technical problems compounded by a poor customer service decision. I think Acorn is shooting itself in the foot. I wonder what will happen to # subscribers, and how many will take this as a signal to try Britbox.

An addition to my review from a week ago. At that time Acorn sent me an email telling me they had reset my password and that AcornTV would work with the reset password. It did not. I just received the exact same message. And exactly like before, nothing changes with the reset password. This feels a bit like like the Keystone Cops.

This is much better than my previous review. However, it has one major problem. For some reason it will suddenly go back 10 or 15 seconds and replay the old soundtrack or even video over the new which I was currently watching. It does this on all shows and it does not show a pattern.

Keeps crashing suddenly and repeatedly while streaming. Also crashes while watching on device. Ignores start where you left off when you shut it down normally and starts at the beginning requiring you to figure out where you had to stop so that's hit or miss since there is no preview when you look for it. I love Acorn but AcornTV is barely functional. Now it's having emotional problems with the fact I pay on their site. AcornTV is stopping me from streaming and asking me to get a membership via apple. I have to enter account on AcornTV which tells me that I have a membership, then go to the home page and search for the show I want. THEN it will play. Does not offer to play next episode. I have had AcornTV before last year and it worked. Now it's a hot mess

I like AcornTV a lot, more than any other streaming service. Only two people use, me and my mom. Firstly, there is simply too much content on any given app for it to only be used by one person. Simply too much. It is incredibly grating to not be able to watch anything on AcornTV because “there are too many people…” No. Two people have the password and that’s okay, you don’t get to force people to cough up money for access to something that a friend or relative has in excess of what they need or could physically consume. Secondly, we understand that the average person has at least two devices to watch content on, right? My mom has an iPad and the house tv, I have my iPad and my phone and the same house tv. If you all care about the precise thing, then allow us to create profiles so you can potentially better gauge how many people is too many people. I will delete my service if this keeps happening.

When I got AcornTV I was supper exited because I had started watching a series called Hidden on prime then when I got done watching season 1 I found out I couldn’t watch it, because I had to be subscribed to Acorn TV. So I was a bit upset but I said fine I’ll get AcornTV . Finally I get AcornTV I finished Hidden and I am so hooked into AcornTV with all the AMAZING series they got here but now my problem is that I can’t seem to be able to connect to my TV. Everything worked fine nothing has been touched or loved but I can’t watch it on my TV only on my phones. And when I try to connect my phones to the TV screen stay black with the Acorn TV sign on and nothing comes on. Deleted app and re installed still nothing. But I can watch other things from my phone to tv but no Acorn TV. Thank you for the hopes up! I guess I’ll be canceling the membership because I sure don’t like to watch shows on my phone, sorry.

Note: AcornTV was excellent till Apple/iTunes locked me out! I have All Device Access subscription that I can use anywhere and everywhere else Except iPad. Not AcronTV's fault, 100% Apple problem!!!!
Love Brit, Aussie, Kiwi telly and this fits the billI appreciate getting access to my favorite shows faster than waiting for Masterpiece Theatre. Acorn, directly from their website vs iTunes, offers sweet deal when you subscribe for full year in advance. Plus I can access via multiple devices. Selection could be better, especially from down under, but they are stepping up their offerings over the last year. Streaming is typically flawless- when bandwidth allows- so not an Acorn issue, always the internet connection. Acorn is by far the best value, most reliable and most diverse streaming channel, app, out there.

Wow. Absolutely LOVE your channel, was one of first streaming orgs that I subscribed to, many years ago. Very much appreciate there are STILL no commercials, too ! Have watched the Doc Martin series all the way through, I think at least 4 times now. Never gets old. And the level of creativity in each production is truly impressive. Without the F word or excessive violence, which these days hard to come by. My heritage is half English, half Irish, and so those accents and all the redheads (I am one too) are really enjoyable to experience. Thank you for doing exceptional productions in such a professional and thought provoking way. Many years ahead for you, I certainly hope.

I want to be honest! Back in my days we couldn’t wait for the newest James Dean, John Wayne, Robert Redford, Paul Newman movie to come to the theaters. I always thought Germany does not have anything to offer that could stand with it. By now I live over thirty years in the US. And truth to be told, our entertainment has nothing to offer today. I watched far too many shows and German movies on You Tube or any other foreign movie that trump what we have to offer. „Flipped“ is one rare exception lately. But all we can show off with is staged, trivial, dramatic and predictable. While European movies may be considered slow, they take time to flesh out the characters so that you really get deep into the story. For that I love Acorn or Britbox or any other of them. Even my daughter who is not much into what I’m watching admitted that the acting is more true to how people in reality act than all the shows that she ever watches.

I first signed up for AcornTV when I was on my iMac through the internet. Worked fine on my iMac but when I went to use it on my Apple TV it didn’t recognize me, no matter how many times I tried. So I canceled my subscription and deleted AcornTV on my TV. I was really disappointed. I waited several months then downloaded AcornTV on my Apple TV again. This time I signed up through AcornTV on my Apple TV and now it works perfectly. I love the shows it offers. I watch very few network broadcasts now except the news. I watch almost exclusively acorn tv only. Try it you will love it. My only question now is how do you find out if a show will have new seasons added. I love “The Heart Guy”. Please tell me there will be a season 3.

The programming is wonderful, when I have access. I signed up for an annual membership because I love all the programs Acorn TV offers. However, I am not able to access half the time. First, I get a pop up to sign in with my iTunes account, which if I just press “ok”, it sometimes plays the show I want to see. However, For at least 50% of the time, once I get pass that message, I get a pop up message that I need to subscribe and it won’t let me get pass it, even though my subscription clearly doesn’t expire until next year! Just don’t understand why this is the only streaming App that can’t get it together tech-wise, because it really does have awesome concert once your able to access.

Love the shows completely! The mobile app’s download feature is ridiculous. It downloads quickly that’s great. Two big issues with the downloaded episodes. They don’t download in episode order so you have to look for the next episode. AcornTV doesn’t start an episode where you left off if you have to stop watching - it starts the show over at the beginning. Once you finish an episode and attempt to delete the watched episode it crashes on both iPhone and iPad 75% of the time. These nuisances make what would be a fantastic app an aggravation. Now there are less shows available to download. I like to watch offline Acorn!!!

Having lived and worked in the UK for many years, as well as other European countries, I cherished British television as well as the many foreign language films that would be broadcast via British television services. Very funny thing that I thought about when knowing that I would eventually be returning to the US was, Oh No, what will I do without my much loved programming. Never a fan of American tv, I was bereft. With all great fortune and progress in bridging television service, I was saved! The early systems were a bit complicated with boxes and VPS, but I didn’t care, I would have done anything to gain access to world class television entertainment. Here with Acorn I have such a broad range of quality productions, and now with ability to stream we no longer need wait six months or more to see shows that are in real time. A customer who is as pleased as punch; and make mine a Pimms.

When ACORN first became available as a streaming service, their offer to try it gave me the time to acclimate to their content. From George Gently to No Offence, Line of Duty and to Brokenwood Mysteries, and more, you’ll discover some of the best writers and actors in Irish, British, Australian, New Zealand, French, the Nordic countries, Spain, and other European counties.

I’m a fan because ACORN provides a difference view of TV. With a couple of rare exceptions, I just found American TV so predictably formulaic and uncreatively acted that my interest lagged and dragged. Hard to be entertained when you’ve figured out this week’s episode within the first five minutes.

ACORN led me also to other creative streaming services, but none better than ACORN.