When Apple announced TVOS 17 at this year’s Worldwide Developers Conference, one of the things I was most excited about was that the latest Apple TV operating system would finally support native virtual private network applications. Finally, you can now use a VPN to enhance your streaming experience on Apple TV. TVOS 17 has been available for several months now, and VPN providers are slowly rolling out apps for Apple’s streaming devices. So when ExpressVPN, CNET’s Editors’ Choice for Best Overall VPN, released an Apple TV app this month, I was eager to give it a try.
Based on my initial experience, using ExpressVPN’s Apple TV app was easy enough, but its streaming performance was a bit of a headache. This is a shame because the main reason I use a VPN with my Apple TV is for streaming.
Easy to set up and function…
If you don’t already have an ExpressVPN account, you’ll need to purchase one before you can set it up on your Apple TV. You’ll also need to make sure your Apple TV is running TVOS 17. Once that’s done, you can search for ExpressVPN in the App Store and download the app to your Apple TV.
You can sign in by manually entering your email and password, but I used the QR code option to sign in with my phone. It took 10 seconds to access my ExpressVPN account and connect to the server. The app is easy to use, but very barebones. There are no options to change the protocol (using ExpressVPN’s proprietary Lightway protocol) or enable advanced protection features like a kill switch, split tunneling, or the Fire TV Stick app. The only functionality actually present in ExpressVPN’s Apple TV app is the ability to select a server, connect to a server, and disconnect from a server. However, its functionality is smooth and connecting to the server takes only a few seconds. I was impressed with how good the app looked and how easy it was to use. If accessing streaming content is your only concern, you’ll be fine without all the bells and whistles.
…but streaming ability is unstable
The setup and connection process went as smoothly as I expected, but as soon as I fired up Netflix to start streaming, the road started to get bumpy.
Netflix immediately gave me an error message that said, “Something went wrong,” and said, “Please try again later.” The error message details: “Unable to establish a secure connection to the server because an SSL error occurred.” Apparently, this problem is so common that ExpressVPN has a dedicated help article that suggests ways to do things like force quit the Netflix app, watch something else, or try again in 15 minutes .
It was a tough start, not quite what I expected from ExpressVPN considering the Amazon Fire TV Stick and Android TV app work fine with streaming. I tried servers in locations such as the US, UK, Germany, France, Australia, and Japan. Sometimes it worked fine, but I got a lot more error messages than I expected. In order to finally stream anything on Netflix, I had to jump around and try different servers. Then I tried a Japanese server and Netflix completely went off the handle and logged me off. Only after disconnecting from the VPN was I able to log back in.
ExpressVPN also worked well with other streaming sites I tested, including Amazon Prime Video, Disney Plus, and Hulu. I had no trouble watching National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation on Hulu using ExpressVPN’s Apple TV app. But the issues I encountered when trying to use ExpressVPN to stream Netflix content on my Apple TV were so frustrating that it almost felt like a wasted effort. Perhaps this issue has something to do with ExpressVPN’s Apple TV app being so new, or perhaps it has to do with certain limitations and limitations deep within the TVOS operating system. When we reached out to ExpressVPN for more information, a representative there said that wasn’t an issue. But the fact that the provider offers a help article dedicated to this problem shows me I’m not alone. In any case, we hope ExpressVPN can resolve the issue soon.
For comparison, we also tested the Apple TV app for IPVanish, one of CNET’s other top VPNs, and had no issues accessing Netflix content. IPVanish’s Apple TV app is functionally similar to ExpressVPN, but it currently has far superior Netflix streaming capabilities. If you are a Netflix user and want to use his VPN for your Apple TV, we recommend his IPVanish over ExpressVPN at this time.