Apps that support single sign-on with Apple TV and iOS

Single sign-on sort of is the holy grail of the internet. The idea is you've got one master sign on that feeds into all kinds of apps and services. There's a decent chance you've used this before with your Google or Facebook credentials, or even your Amazon account. Instead of having, say, an all-new registration with The Washington Post, you instead log in using your Amazon account information. Or you signed up for this website using your Google account — saving you the trouble of having to give yet another website your email, and coming up with yet another strong password.

Single sign-on is a good, important thing. And it's supported on by Apple on Apple TV, as well as on iOS. (We're focusing on Apple here — Android TV has its own thing via Smart Lock.)

There are a few parts to this puzzle. First, you'll need to have some sort of TV provider — whether it's old-school cable, or new-school streaming service — that works with Apple's single sign-on scheme. If you use, say, PlayStation Vue, you log in to Apple TV with those credentials. And then other apps can allow you to use that one, single sign-on to sign in with them . So because I have an HBO subscription through PS Vue, I won't have to log in to the HBO Go app separately. It'll just work. It doesn't get you new services — if you're not subscribed to HBO, you won't suddenly have access to HBO. It just makes it easier to sign in to those other apps.

Make sense? Again, here are the important parts:

Apple's single sign-on process — what it is and how to use it.
A content provider that works with Apple's SSO. (Click here to see that list.)
And, finally, you'll want to know what other apps work with your SSO provider of choice.

Here, now, is that list.