Apple has quietly enabled its promised Single Sign On feature on its back-end servers for users running the iOS 10.2 or tvOS 10.1 betas. A new TV Providers option began appearing recently for U.S.
users of the Apple TV and iOS betas. On the Apple TV, the setting is found under Accounts in the Settings app, while on the iPhone and iPad it can be found in the main Settings app, below the settings for social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, and Vimeo.
At this point, the new Single-Sign-On feature appears to only support four providers for direct login: Dish, GVTC Communications, Hotwire, and Sling TV, although support for additional providers may be offered through providers’ own native iOS and tvOS apps — a note at the bottom of the provider selection screen reads, “If you don’t see your TV provider, sign in directly from the app you want to use.” It’s unclear at this point whether this just indicates that users of unsupported providers should continue signing in by individual apps, or if third-party provider-specific apps might provide their own Single Sign On integration.
An About TV Providers and Privacy section has also been added that indicates how data will be stored and shared, and notes that users will be prompted to “give permission for each TV app before it can use TV Provider account data.” This will likely be handled in the same way other app privacy authorizations currently work on iOS and tvOS, with users being prompted to allow access to TV Provider data when they open a new compatible app for the first time. [via MacRumors]
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