Josef Adalian, Vulture:

The larger issue, according to HBO Max insiders, is that the current app wasn’t built from scratch the way Netflix or Hulu were brought to life. Instead, Max has been running on a retrofitted version of the old HBO Go and HBO Now services. While those were both solid applications, they were designed for a very different product.

Interesting back story there, but more generally:

Having so many technical issues crop up in such a short time frame isn’t just a PR headache. Competition for subscribers and audience attention is so intense right now, the last thing any streamer wants is to anger customers with a poor user experience.

And:

For instance, while you can rewind and fast-forward shows on the Peacock connected TV apps, I can report that the process is both painful and slow. Paramount+, meanwhile, somehow launched without giving users the basic ability to add shows to a content queue (it’s since been fixed). This lack of convenience in user experience is something that stands in stark contrast to platforms like instant withdrawal casinos, where ease of use and quick transactions are prioritized. And despite purposely keeping its user interface incredibly simple, Disney+ famously imploded on its first day back in 2019.

All fair points. When a channel follows the Apple TV interface guidelines, the experience is functional and, for the user, predictable, consistent. And the app will work with the new Apple TV remote.