Features
Bunny Ears TV isn't a wrapper around Plex. It's a completely new way to experience your library. Local playback, DVR controls, 425 curated channels, and a program guide that makes it all feel like real television.
Requires an Apple TV HD or Apple TV 4K on tvOS 17 or later, a Plex Media Server, and a Plex account (a free Plex account works, no Plex Pass required).
A Broadcast-Quality Program Guide
Built around the way you actually browse.
The guide is the heart of the app. A broadcast-style grid shows what's on now, what's next, and what's playing across every channel, with an inline muted video preview so you can see what's on before you tune in. Media badges in the program guide show which content supports 4K, HDR, surround sound, and other formats before you start watching. Filter the guide by All Channels, Favorites Only, or by category, and sort channels by number, name, or category. Long press any channel to quickly filter by package, or favorite channels so you can find them fast. Preview show details, ratings, and age ratings without leaving the guide. And when you flip channels, retro TV static fills the gap instead of a boring loading spinner.
425 Curated Channels.
Your library is bigger than you think.
Bunny Ears TV ships with 425 curated channels across 19 packages (18 video packages plus Music), from comedy and drama to horror, anime, documentaries, kids content, director spotlights, franchise zones, studio collections, and dozens more. Channels build in seconds with live progress updates using deep metadata filters, so the time from download to watching is almost nothing. You choose which channel packages show up in your guide, so you only see what you care about. Every channel stays true to its theme because the filtering engine considers genre, content rating, media type, decade, audience score, keywords, directors, actors, studios, and more. No random mismatches, no genre drift. Just a big lineup that helps you rediscover things you forgot you had.
Sign In. Sit Down. Start Watching.
From download to live TV in moments.
Open the app and you're greeted with a QR code or a simple 4-character PIN. Scan it with your phone or enter the PIN at plex.tv/link, and your Plex account connects instantly. Your servers show up automatically. From there, Bunny Ears TV scans your library and builds your guide in seconds with live progress updates. No IP addresses to look up, no server URLs to type, no settings to configure. You sign in with the Plex account you already have and the app handles the rest. The next thing you see is the guide, fully loaded and ready to go.
Play Anything. Locally.
Your Apple TV does the heavy lifting.
Supports a wide range of video and audio files, decoded on the Apple TV itself so your Plex server's resources are not consumed by transcoding. That means your server stays free to handle other streams, and playback is snappier because everything is processed locally with in-memory caching. The app auto-detects your TV's capabilities and locks the display mode so the screen never goes black while you surf channels, with 4K and HDR handled automatically. Whether it's an MKV, AVI, HEVC, or something more obscure, odds are it just plays.
DVR Controls
Pause live. Rewind the good parts.
With DVR mode (a Bunny Ears TV+ feature) you can pause, rewind, and fast-forward, scrub with on-screen thumbnail previews, jump to chapter markers, restart from the beginning, or jump to the live edge. Because media is decoded and cached locally on the Apple TV, DVR functions are fast and responsive. No waiting on the server, no buffering. It all happens in memory on the device itself.
Custom Channels
Build the lineup only you would think of.
Create custom channels from your Plex playlists or collections, each with a custom name, icon, and color. Reorder, enable or disable, delete, and choose shuffle or in-order per channel. Custom channel content refreshes fast without rebuilding the whole guide.
Favorites, Bumpers, and Sync
The small touches that make it feel like TV.
Mark channels as favorites so they are always a tap away, and filter the guide down to Favorites Only when you know what you want. Optional short interstitial clips between programs, pulled from a Plex playlist you choose (1-5 per break), add a station-bumper feel between shows. And your favorites, packages, custom channels, settings, and playback position sync automatically across your Apple TVs through iCloud, so everything follows you from room to room.
Built for Apple TV
Native. Polished. Feels like it belongs.
Bunny Ears TV is a native tvOS app, written in Swift, and designed to feel like it shipped from Cupertino. Every interaction is built for the Apple TV remote: swipe to browse, click to tune in, and navigate the guide with the same fluidity you expect from first-party apps. The iOS and iPadOS Remote app works too, with added functionality like changing channels and jumping between the guide and full-screen TV from your phone or iPad. The entire UI is unit tested, performance tested, and thoroughly thought through for UX. It's the kind of detail you notice because everything just works.
68 Music Stations
Your music library, always on the air.
Dedicated music-only stations pull directly from your Plex music library and organize everything into genre-based radio. Jazz, rock, electronic, classical, ambient, decades mixes, and dozens more, all ready to play. Music stations support high-fidelity audio formats including FLAC and Apple Lossless, so your collection sounds the way it was meant to. Perfect background audio for dinner parties, work sessions, or just filling the room with sound the way radio used to.
Family and Friends Welcome
Share the couch, even from across the country.
Bunny Ears TV works on your local network and over the internet. Family and friends can tune in from anywhere after Plex server owners enable Remote Access and send invites through Manage Remote Access. Everyone gets the same channel lineup and program guide experience. Sign in with your existing Plex account and your servers show up automatically. No IP addresses, no manual setup. One tap and you're watching.
Closed Captions and Language Settings
Watch it your way.
Full support for closed captions, subtitles, and language tracks. Choose your preferred subtitle language, switch audio tracks on the fly, and customize how captions appear on screen. Whether you're watching foreign films, need accessibility options, or just prefer subtitles on while the kids are sleeping, it's all built in and easy to access.
Channel Packages and Pricing
Start free. Stay free. Or go all in.
Bunny Ears TV is free to download and the Basic package, with 18 channels, is always free. Premium features like DVR, premium channel packages, and custom-channel extras unlock with Bunny Ears TV+: $1.99 per month or $14.99 per year, each with a 14-day free trial, or a one-time $29.99 lifetime purchase with no recurring billing. Restore Purchases is available if you switch devices. You choose which packages appear in your guide, so you only pay for what you actually want to watch.
Plex Alone vs. Plex + Bunny Ears
You already have the best content. Here's what Bunny Ears TV adds to the experience.
| Feature | Plex Alone | + Bunny Ears TV |
|---|---|---|
| Browse and play media | ✓ | ✓ |
| 425 curated channels across 19 packages | - | ✓ |
| Custom channels from your playlists and collections | - | ✓ |
| 68 hi-fi music stations | - | ✓ |
| Sign in with Plex, ready in seconds | - | ✓ |
| Broadcast-style program guide | - | ✓ |
| Local playback with no transcoding | - | ✓ |
| 4K and HDR with broad video and audio format support | - | ✓ |
| DVR: rewind, fast forward, pause, restart | - | ✓ |
| Chapter markers and thumbnail scrubbing | - | ✓ |
| Favorites and Favorites Only guide filter | - | ✓ |
| Bumpers between programs (1-5 clips per break) | - | ✓ |
| Cross-device sync over iCloud | - | ✓ |
| 4K/HDR/surround sound media badges | - | ✓ |
| Channel Surfer: press Up or Down to browse a prev / current / next stack while the current channel keeps playing, then press Select to tune | - | ✓ |
| Closed captions and language tracks | ✓ | ✓ |
| Apple TV and iOS/iPadOS Remote support | ✓ | ✓ |
| Remote access for family and friends | ✓ | ✓ |
| Lean-back TV experience | - | ✓ |
| Free tier, forever | ✓ | ✓ |
What Real Users Are Saying
I just want to say that this is literally a game changer. My wife is now using this every single day. She has nothing negative to say. This is so cool.
An actual Bunny Ears TV user, reporting from the living room.
Ready to Flip the Switch?
Download Bunny Ears TV free and start watching tonight. All channel packages included for the first 14 days.
