DIRECTV App for iPad adds social features and –FINALLY– GenieGo

Right up front we’ll admit to being huge fans of DIRECTV’s tablet apps. DIRECTV started with a decent scheduler, added a super-remote plus the ability to access tens of thousands of on demand and live streaming programs, anywhere in the world. With a DIRECTV subscription there’s really no reason to have a service like Netflix or Hulu in order to enjoy mobile content, simple as that.

The application development team could have been forgiven for leaving thing as they are, but today’s update rolls out two new features which take the already-great app and turbocharge it.

CoPilot
CoPilot turns live TV watching into a 21st-century experience. It’s all there at your fingertips — curated tweets about the program you’re watching, key moments that you can experience, and the ability to share your thoughts and feelings online. You’ll find enhanced cast and crew information too, meaning that you don’t have to leave the app experience to figure out who “that guy” really is.

If you are using the iPad App when a CoPilot-enhanced program is on, you’ll see a “Launch DIRECTV CoPilot” button that will take you to the full experience. Right now CoPilot will be available on some sports and “event” programming but in the future it seems like it will be rolled out to more and more programs, and even be available with recorded programs.

At this point… you might be thinking that most of your programming is recorded and this feature isn’t for you. When you think about it though, there are still plenty of “event” programs you probably watch live. No one DVRs sports, really, and when it comes to phenomenons like Game of Thrones the world still stops when it first airs. Those are the moments that CoPilot will be most useful.

GenieGO Integration
You could be forgiven for writing off DIRECTV’s now two-year-old streamer formerly known as Nomad. The fact, though, is that it has grown and grown in capabilities and is now an extremely capable and worthy addition to your home system. GenieGO not only streams recorded TV inside and outside the home but also allows you to offload your programs to your mobile device so they can be used anywhere without an internet connection. There’s no other device that will perform both functions for DIRECTV.

The only hitch with GenieGO in the past was that its playback app wasn’t tablet-optimized. You didn’t lose any quality in the playback, but the interface looked a little strange on a 10″ device. That’s all changed, as GenieGO finally integrates into the tablet app. Stream recorded programs without bothering the person watching TV — a slingbox can’t do that. Offload programs to the device to watch them anywhere, too!

With GenieGO integration, the app for iPad is a total entertainment experience. Watch Live TV inside or outside the home, access DIRECTV’s vast on-demand library, share your feelings with the world, watch programs from your playlist anywhere, and even get entertainment without using your data plan!

Look folks, you tell me — how does it get better than this?

The update for the DIRECTV app for iPad is expected today and the Android tablet app is expected to add GenieGO in a future iteration.

About the Author

Stuart Sweet
Stuart Sweet is the editor-in-chief of The Solid Signal Blog and a "master plumber" at Signal Group, LLC. He is the author of over 10,000 articles and longform tutorials including many posted here. Reach him by clicking on "Contact the Editor" at the bottom of this page.