Apple TV 4 hacked to run a makeshift Safari browser

A new hack by Dutch developer jvanakker makes the fourth-generation Apple TV run a native tvOS web browser despite the fact that Apple’s operating system powering the set-top box lacks web browsing functionality.

But for some intrepid owner out there, it was missing something: A web browser. A video has been published to show that the new Apple TV has been hacked, and there’s a makeshift Safari browser running on the device. The project is open source, but it is using a private API to render the web content it shows, so it’s not likely that it will make an appearance in the aforementioned tvOS App Store.

This isn’t a full-featured browser per se but rather a proof-of-concept that hints at the Apple TV’s untapped potential. The app lets you scroll through webpages using the Siri Remote’s Touch surface.

Pressing the Touch surface enables an on-screen cursor for selecting items and following links. To get to the previous page, hit the Menu button on the Siri Remote. The Play/Pause button brings up a field to enter URLs.

The developer behind this project says that owners of the new Apple TV can sideload his web browser via Xcode, using a modified tvOS file to build the project.

For those interested, the code is available on GitHub.