Apple TV+ Not Playing 16+ Content on Your Mac? Here Is What You Can Do

If you’ve tried watching Slow Horses or Your Friends and Neighbors (shows that are rated M, Mature) on your Mac and nothing happens after confirming your age, you’re not alone. I ran into this issue myself—clicked “Play,” got the “This content is rated 16+” pop-up, hit “Continue”… and then? Nothing. The show didn’t load. No error. Just a frozen screen.

At first, it seemed like it was something on my end. But after spending way too much time trying to fix it, I realized this is actually a widespread issue that’s frustrating Mac users around the world.

This appears to be a bug introduced with macOS Sequoia 15.4 and still present in 15.5. The issue affects age-restricted shows—those rated 15+ or 16+—in the Apple TV app on Mac. When you try to play one, you’re asked to confirm your age, but nothing happens after that. No playback, no error, nothing.

And it’s not about your age settings. Whether your Apple ID shows you’re 30 or 80, and even if you’ve turned off all content restrictions and Screen Time settings, the problem still occurs. Oddly, the same content plays perfectly on iPhones, iPads, and even in some browsers.

It further appears that users from Germany, Australia, the U.S., and elsewhere are all running into the same issue. Some have spent hours on the phone with Apple Support, tried reinstalling macOS which is a long process, created new user accounts—still no fix.

It’s not just limited to Apple Originals either. Age-restricted content from third-party channels like Paramount+ is affected too. It seems to be a Mac-only issue, tied to Sequoia 15.4 and 15.5.

Are you running into this issue too—like right after activating your 3-month free trial of Apple TV+?, I explain what you can do.

Workarounds and Fixes That Might Help

While we wait for Apple to roll out a real fix, here are a few things you can try. None are guaranteed, but some users have had success with one or more of these:

• Use a private browser window: Go to tv.apple.com in Safari or Chrome (private browsing recommended). This has worked for many.
• Use a different device: iPhones, iPads, and Apple TV hardware do not appear to be affected.
• AirPlay from another device: If your iPad or iPhone can play the show, use AirPlay to send it to your Mac or TV. Note: If you’re also running into issues with AirPlay, check out this article for help.
• Reset All Warnings in the Apple TV app: On your Mac, open the Apple TV app, go to TV > Settigns > Advanced. Then click Reset Warnings, Reset Cache, Clear Play History then try again. This resets prompts like age confirmations and may help.

• Force-quit and relaunch the app: Sometimes simply force-quitting the TV app and reopening it can help.
• Force-quit + restart: If the issue persists, force-quit the TV app, restart your Mac, and try again. It may temporarily resolve the problem.
• Update your Mac: Ensure that you are running the latest version of macOS.

Again, none of these are guaranteed to work for everyone, but they’ve helped some users get content playing again—at least for now.

From the users comments on Apple Forums, Apple Support has reportedly acknowledged the bug and escalated it to engineering. So it’s on their radar—but as of now, there’s no timeline for a fix.