Announced earlier in 2024, tvOS 18 for the Apple TV is now available. It contains some fun and handy features that all Apple TV owners should check out — especially if you’re an Apple TV+ or Apple Fitness+ subscriber.
The new tvOS 18 is compatible with every Apple TV 4K and Apple TV HD model, but some features are limited to the Apple TV 4K.
The latest update to Apple’s TV-oriented software brings a number of enhancements, starting with InSight, a feature that lets you see detailed information on actors, characters, and music from every live-action Apple TV+ movie and show onscreen in real time. Amazon Prime Video users will be familiar with the idea — it’s a lot like Amazon’s X-ray feature.
The software also has a new version of the Enhance Dialogue feature powered by machine learning and computational audio, which Apple says will deliver greater vocal clarity. Subtitles are also more intelligent and responsive. They automatically appear in the moment where they’d be most useful, including when you press mute or skip back while watching, or when the language in a show or movie doesn’t match your Apple TV’s language setting.
Screen savers, like the Aerial collection, are a fan favorite feature of the Apple TV, and tvOS 18 introduces a new type called Portraits. Unfortunately, this is one of those Apple TV 4K-only features we mentioned above. In fact, it only works with Apple TV 4K Gen 2 and higher models. The Portraits option lets you pick your favorite photos of people, pets, nature, or cities from your photo library and overlay them with a stylized clock.
Live Captions for FaceTime now works with Continuity Camera in tvOS 18, letting you read what others are saying on a FaceTime call on your TV. It currently works with English in the U.S. and Canada.
Apple Fitness+ also gets a new design in tvOS 18, with personalized recommendations for workouts and meditations, a new search tool, and enhanced Awards.
Apple has been gradually making the Apple TV a central hub from which you can manage and use many of the company’s HomeKit home automation features. In tvOS 18, that continues with new options included in iOS 18 such as guest access, which provides users with ways to grant guests (who have iPhones) control of locks, garage doors, and security systems. You can also schedule individualized or time-based access to the home with smart locks and view an activity history for guests.
Though not Apple TV-specific, the iOS 18 update also lets you grant guests control of the music playing from a HomePod and HomePod mini using SharePlay and Apple Music. AirPlay is also now spatial audio-compatible when streaming from an iPhone and iPad to HomePod and Dolby Atmos Music/AirPlay-compatible audio equipment.
Two things that Apple has promised for tvOS 18 won’t be ready with today’s release: 21:9 support for playing movies and shows on projectors and new screen savers, like Snoopy, will be coming later in the year. So, too, will robot vacuum cleaner compatibility with the Home app.
If you have automatic software updates turned on, your compatible Apple TV will update itself to tvOS 18 in the coming days. However, if you’re anxious to try the new features right away, here’s how:
Instagram is making its way to yet another screen, and this time, Apple TV is getting a taste of the Reels rabbit hole. The company has launched a dedicated Instagram app for Apple TV, bringing Reels, longer videos, and live shows to the big screen. So, if watching one quick clip on a phone somehow turns into an hour of scrolling, there's now a much larger screen for that.
Instagram brings Reels and more to Apple TV
Audio-Technica, a brand well known for making some of the best studio and professional headphones on the market, has just come out with the ATH-AWX7000, which the company itself claims to be its "finest headphones ever." The new flagship closed-back headphone has debuted at an eye-watering price of $3,799. It combines hand-finished Japanese woodwork with a newly developed 58mm driver.
The earcups are made from Kiso cypress, a prized wood historically used for Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples. Each housing is finished by hand with traditional Echizen lacquer, which brings out the grain and is expected to darken over time. The frame and sliders are finished in a deep navy kachi-iro shade traditionally associated with samurai.
This post is brought to you in paid partnership with Best Buy.
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