5 things LG’s WebOS needs to fix

LG is among the smart TV industry leaders, setting a standard when it comes to not just how content looks on your TV, but how you navigate it as well. There’s a consensus that WebOS is among the top operating systems . It’s fast, intuitive, and offers a vast collection of apps that cater to just about everyone’s needs.

However, it seems that because LG was the OS leader a decade or so ago when smart TVs became increasingly common, regard for WebOS has simply carried over through the years without a critical examination. While LG continues to innovate when it comes to screen technology and AI integration, it seems like it’s stalled or forgotten about the OS. LG’s WebOS was once great, and it’s still quite good, but competitors have closed the gap and even surpassed it in some areas. Here’s why WebOS needs to be examined and where it needs to update in order to accommodate the modern content consumer.

1 Banner ad

Get off my home page

One of the most annoying parts of LG’s home page will greet you immediately when turning on your TV. The home page features a large banner ad for suggested content that turns into a video when you scroll over it. It’s ugly and annoying, and particularly tedious to deal with if you’re using the LG Magic Remote as a cursor, and you happen to move across the ad.

Fortunately, it can be turned off, but it shouldn’t even be there in the first place. Once the ad is removed, a static, non-invasive image takes its place created by LG, encouraging you to check out the app store. It’s a significant improvement on the banner ad, but it’s also quite boring and inconsequential. The space could be used better: Roku has its fun city escape with a soothing color combination, while Samsung’s Tizen at least uses that space to try to recommend a title you might like. If nothing else, at least let me put a picture of my dog up there.

2 LG Channels

“Free” content to distract you

LG, like Samsung and others, has jumped aboard the free channel train. Companies can’t help but let you know all the free content you get by buying its TV or using its OS. Of course, these channels aren’t exactly free: they come with ads and commercials. TVs also want to track your usage of these channels. On top of that, the content can be pretty old and inferior, and many channels are local news or weather forecasts that probably don’t apply to you. There are also a lot of music options, which I suppose, if you don’t use any music apps, might be helpful.

LG wants to promote these channels, which means they occupy a high spot on the home page — higher than they deserve. And while you can do away with the annoying banner ad, you can’t push back on the LG Channels carousel that lets you know what you should be watching.

3 Home hub attention

Stop trying to make ThinQ happen

Another trend among TV manufacturers is to encourage viewers to engage with their respective smart home ecosystems. Samsung has SmartThings, and LG boastsThinQ, a smart home platform that integrates a range of appliances and devices that you can monitor and operate from your smartphone or your TV.

That means that on your LG TV, there is a section dedicated to your smart home, whether or not you have any compatible smart home devices. And regardless of your future desire to acquire any. I completely see the convenience of controlling smart appliances around your house from the convenience of TV if it’s more accessible to you than an app, but if you don’t have these devices, then I don’t want this section cluttering my home page.

4 Content tracking

Watch list needed

There is a lot of content available across a lot of streaming services, and an operating system should be there to help you keep track. I don’t want a watch list on each of my apps: I want one watch list to rule them all, located conveniently on my OS home page. Unfortunately, it’s hard to find on most operating systems, and does not exist on WebOS.

It’s frustrating that something seemingly so simple and surely needed by many doesn’t exist in an optimal form. There are apps you can use, and Google looks to be the closest for such a thing (Roku’s list has some glaring holes), but that there isn’t a single page that can exist on an OS home page tracking all your titles is a missed opportunity. Because there are glimmers of this idea on other platforms, it should be something that WebOS, supposedly among the best systems, can create and integrate. There are shows and movies I want to watch on Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime, and too many others to keep tabs on. I’m asking for my TV to please help.

5 Lack of personalization

Curious content curation

While I appreciate the ability to rearrange my key apps and have them accessible from the center of the homepage on WebOS, the space below could use some attention. WebOS has a series of carousels that lack personalization, detail, and in some cases, practicality. These are not your weirdly specific Netflix carousels. These are much more generic, so much so that some can’t at all be worth the time to scroll through due to the variety of titles and range of quality. “Trending Now” and “Popular Cinema” are just too vague to actually have value when they’re not specific to a streaming service.

These carousels may also include titles on services you don’t subscribe to, or titles that are only available to rent or pre-order. It’s all quite a waste; there’s no real reason to go through these options if you have a subscription somewhere else. Maybe you’ll happen on a title or carousel that fits for you, but you’re better off avoiding scrolling down the home page. It’s a descent into distraction. This entire section should be more suited to your viewing needs and subscriptions. If I can’t have all my desired content in one list, at least give me a home page that has some kind of value to it.

WebOS is fast and easy to use, but when it comes to content curation and consumption, it hasn’t leveled up with the times. WebOS has to consider how its current users watch, track, and choose what they want to watch, and work to create a system that makes watching entertainment more personal and accessible.