A guide
The best art apps for Apple TV
The art apps worth trying on Apple TV are Salon, Art Gallery & Paintings 4K, TV ArtFrame and Artcast, plus the screen saver that comes with every Apple TV. I make Salon, so I've tried to be fair: each app here suits a different kind of person, and below I say who.
| App | Best for | Cons |
|---|---|---|
| SalonTop pick | Museum art that fills your TV in 4K, with a mat, a clock and your own iCloud photos | A smaller, hand-picked collection of 1,100+ pictures |
| Art Gallery & Paintings 4K | Browsing a huge catalogue | Pictures aren't chosen or cut for a TV, so some won't suit a wide screen |
| TV ArtFrame | Classic paintings and your own photos | Paintings only, with no photography, maps or space pictures, and English only |
| Artcast | Work by living artists | Adverts unless you subscribe, and works are uploaded by artists rather than chosen one by one |
| Apple TV screen saver | Your own photos, with no setup | No paintings, and it changes on its own schedule rather than yours |
What to look for
A picture on a TV has to fill a 16:9 screen without black bars and without cutting off what matters, so check how an app handles shape. After that, ask how the pictures are chosen, what it costs over a year rather than on day one, and whether it shows adverts.
Salon
$9.99 once
I made Salon for people who want one good picture on the wall all day. I looked at each of its 1,100+ paintings, prints, maps and photographs and cut it to fill the screen in 4K, so nothing is letterboxed or cropped badly. A picture can hang behind a bevel-cut mat in five colours, with the time in a corner if you want it. Since version 1.4 your own iCloud photos can hang in the same frame too. You pay once, and it needs no account and shows no adverts.
It's not for you if you want hundreds of thousands of pictures to search through. The collection is smaller because I left out everything that doesn't look good on a TV.
Art Gallery & Paintings 4K
$4.99 once
It draws on a large database of museum images, so the catalogue is far bigger than Salon's. The pictures come as the museums publish them, though, rather than chosen and cut for a TV, so some of them won't suit a wide screen. It's a good pick if you like to browse widely.
TV ArtFrame
$4.99 once
TV ArtFrame shows classic paintings and can also show your own iCloud photos. It's a simple, one-time purchase. Like most art apps on Apple TV, it's in English only.
Artcast
Free with adverts, or $4.99 a month or $49.99 a year
Artcast is built around work uploaded by artists, and it has a free version if you don't mind adverts. The paid tiers remove them. It suits people who want newer work by living artists more than museum paintings.
The Apple TV screen saver
Free, built in
Every Apple TV comes with aerial films and can show your own photos as a screen saver. It has no paintings, and it changes on its own schedule rather than yours, but it costs nothing and needs no setup.
Which one should you choose?
If you want the walls of a museum on your TV with no upkeep, Salon is the one I'd pick, but I would say that. If you want the biggest catalogue for a small price, try Art Gallery & Paintings 4K. If you want work by living artists, or a free start, try Artcast. If you only want your own photos, the screen saver may be enough.
For Salon set against Samsung's Art Store and the rest, see art for your TV, compared.
An Apple TV app. On your Apple TV, open the App Store and search for Salon Museum Art. It is listed as Salon: Museum Art Frame.