The mosaic on Apple TV: your columns, your choice

In channelBar TV, you read in the mosaic: up to four columns side by side, each with the newest at the top. What a column shows is up to you.

The button above each column

Above each column sits a button. It shows what the column shows, with the number of unread items in front or, once everything is read, a symbol. Click it, and you choose something new.

At the top, you choose what comes from all your channels: “All Content”, “All News”, “All Podcasts” or “All Videos”. One click, and the column shows it, newest on top. If your Apple TV is paired with an iPhone or Mac, you can also choose “All channelBar Messages” and “Consume Later” here.

Only what’s unread

At the very bottom, you turn on “Only Unread”. Then the column only shows what you haven’t read yet, and a dot appears next to its name. Together with “All Content”, the column is called “Unread” instead: everything new from all your channels in one column. Whatever you read disappears from it.

“Custom Selection”: feeds from several channels

With “Custom Selection”, you build a column from whole channels and single feeds. You see your channels; click one to see “Entire Channel” and its feeds below. Each click adds something to the column or takes it out again.

In the video, the column first shows the whole Podcasts channel. It turns into a sports column with “Home Stretch” from News and “Stride Notes” from Podcasts. When you pick a single feed, the check mark next to “Entire Channel” goes away in its channel; when you pick “Entire Channel”, its single feeds drop out. “Remove All” lets you start over.

A name for the column

Without a name of its own, a column is named after its channel or feed, or “Custom Selection” with several sources. Under “Name”, you give it one, “Sports” in the video, and confirm with “Save”. Back in the mosaic, it’s in the column header.

“Name” is only there for a custom selection; a column with a whole channel counts as one. If you later choose something from the top of the list for the column, such as “All News”, the name is gone. “Remove Name” deletes it right away.

Columns in Settings

The gear at the top right takes you to Settings, then “Mosaic”. “Choose Columns Automatically” is off as soon as you’ve set up a column yourself. When it’s on, the mosaic arranges the columns itself: up to four channels get one column each; with more channels, it shows News, Podcasts, Videos and Unread. Your own columns are then gone.

With automatic columns off, “Columns” sets how many there are: one to four. Where it can, channelBar fills new columns with channels that don’t have a column yet. Below, you set up each column, just like with its button.

“Compact” or “Full”

Under “Rows”, “Layout” sets how much each item shows. “Compact” shows only source, time and title, so more fits into every column. “Full” adds the picture and, with just one column, the description as well.

At the end of the video, the mosaic shows News, the sports column, everything unread and Podcasts: each column exactly what you want to see. How to read in the mosaic and mark items as read is shown in the video on reading on Apple TV.