Starting in early March 2023, the PBS App on Apple iPhones and iPads will be receiving a new update that signs users out of the app. For more information and help, please see the questions and answers below.
What’s changing about the app?
The main change is how our app logs you in, though most of this change is happening behind-the-scenes, so you may not notice a big difference. You’ll still sign in through the Profile icon on the app, but if you need help with signing in again, you can see our question about that further below on this page.
You’ll also be able to see the schedule for your local PBS station’s livestream, so you’ll have a heads up about when your favorite shows will be playing on the livestream.
This update will also let us add more features and improvements to the app, but we’ll have more info about that for you in the future.
Why was I signed out of the app?
Since this is a bigger app update and it involves our account system, we’ve had to sign everyone out of the app on iPhones and iPads.
We know this can feel like an interruption, but you’ll be able to easily sign back in with the same account in under a few minutes.
How do I sign back into the app?
To sign back into the app, tap the Profile icon at the top left corner of the app.
Then, tap the blue Sign In button at the top of the screen. You'll be prompted that the PBS app wants to use "publicmediasignin.org" to Sign In. Tap Continue.
You should see a prompt to sign in through Apple ID, Facebook, or Google. Further below those, you'll see a field for an email address and password for a PBS account. Either tap the social media button you use to sign in, or enter your email address and personal password for a PBS account. If you're not sure which to use, we recommend trying the PBS account email address and password fields at the bottom of the screen.
At this point - after you've logged in via social media or the PBS account fields - you should see that your sign in was successful and are returned to the PBS app home screen.
If you get an error message when logging in, please see the question below.
When I try logging in, I get an error message that “Your email address or password is incorrect. Please try again or create a new account.”
Please double-check the email address and password you’re entering to make sure all of the correct characters are there and nothing is misspelled.
If you still get this error message, you may need to reset your password. You can do that by following the steps on our password reset FAQ page linked here.
If you try to reset your password and don’t receive a reset email, it’s possible you don’t have a PBS account with that email address. You can try creating one by following the steps on our new account FAQ page linked here.
I signed back into the app but I can't watch Passport videos like I could before. What's happening?
Your Passport benefit is tied to a single account with PBS, so it's possible you may have signed into an account that doesn't have Passport access, either because you've created multiple accounts with us in the past, or there's an issue with your benefit.
For the easiest information, please enter your email address in our Passport Lookup Tool linked here. You'll receive an email with details about your benefit, including if it's expired, disabled, or needs to be activated. You'll also be told which email address you need to sign in with to watch Passport videos, if your benefit is in good standing.
If you receive an email that your benefit is currently active, please sign out of the app and sign back in with the email address that you were given in the Passport Lookup email.
If you still encounter an issue, please email us at help@pbs.org and include which device you're using, the email address you're signing in with, and the issue you're encountering.