With zero fanfare Apple launched a new website Tuesday called “Snapshot.” It appears they designed it as a discovery platform for fans to learn more about celebrities across Apple’s ecosystem of services, like Apple TV+, Apple Music and Apple Podcasts.
While the concept shows promise, the execution leaves much to be desired in its current form because it’s so limited.
Apple Snapshot celebrity website
The new site, accessible at snapshot.apple.com, presents itself as a hub for discovering “more about the artists, actors and athletes you love across Apple.” The platform aggregates content from Apple Music, Apple TV+ and Apple’s sports coverage, creating dedicated profile pages with links for selected celebrities. But it’s limited and cumbersome.
So for now — assuming Snapshot’s development will continue — users seeking information about their favorite celebrities will likely find it faster and more intuitive to search directly within Apple Music, Apple TV+ or Apple Podcasts rather than navigating through Snapshot’s cumbersome interface.
Glacially slow crawl with little functionality
The Snapshot page greets users with a horizontally scrolling carousel featuring 36 celebrities arranged, seemingly at random, in two rows of 18 each. This design choice immediately presents issues. The scrolling mechanism moves at an excruciatingly slow pace with no option to manually swipe through the selections. While there is a pause button available, the default scrolling is already so slow that users might not even notice when it’s been activated.
The organization of celebrities within the carousel appears random, lacking any discernible alphabetical order or logical grouping. Musical artists like Bad Bunny appear next to actors like Rashida Jones, followed by Lady Gaga, creating a disjointed browsing experience. Even more confusing is the inclusion of groups like Coldplay and BTS in what otherwise appears to be an individual-focused platform. And there are athletes like Lionel Messi sprinkled here and there.
What each profile contains
Navigation problems continue once users select a celebrity profile. After viewing an individual’s page and attempting to return to the main carousel, users are frustratingly sent back to the beginning of the list. This means if you accidentally select the wrong person or want to explore multiple profiles, you’re forced to wait for your desired celebrity to scroll back into view.
Each celebrity profile contains basic biographical information, their recent work, and links to their content across Apple’s various services. For example, Cate Blanchett’s page features movies and TV shows available on the Apple TV app, music tracks from her films on Apple Music, and podcasts where she has made appearances.
No search function
Perhaps the most glaring omission from Snapshot? No search function. Leaving out the essential feature limits users to only the 36 featured celebrities currently showcased in the scrolling carousel. That restricts the platform’s utility and suggests Apple may have launched the site prematurely or as a temporary test. Further development should include more content and cross-pollination with services sites to surface more people, like plenty of none A-list players appearing on Apple TV+ shows that viewers might want to know about.
The visual presentation of Snapshot bears some resemblance to how apps are displayed in the Apple TV 4K interface, giving it a familiar Apple aesthetic. However, this doesn’t compensate for the functional limitations that hamper the user experience.
While Snapshot could potentially evolve into a valuable hub for following celebrities’ work across Apple’s media platforms, its current implementation feels incomplete. The slow navigation, limited selection and absence of search functionality severely undermine what could otherwise be an interesting addition to Apple’s digital offerings.
David Snow, an expert on Apple hardware and software, writes on a variety of technological and cultural topics for Cult of Mac. They include Apple news, technology buying guides, and features about computer setups and Apple TV shows and movies.
With 30 years of experience covering technology and other subjects, he has written and edited for numerous print and online publications, including CMP Media, TechTV.com, CNET, Wired News, Red Herring magazine, Law.com, The National Law Journal and Law Technology News magazine. Among other roles, he served as executive editor of the Law.com network of websites and editorial director, technology, for ALM Media.
Snow graduated with a B.A. from Syracuse University with majors in magazine journalism and psychology. While there, he worked as a reporter for The Daily Orange newspaper and associate editor of Equal Time magazine.
Founder of the blog At the Waterline, he can be reached on X (formerly Twitter) via @atthewaterline and on Mastodon via @dsnow.
