The next generation of tvOS for Apple TV will be more powerful than ever thanks to some huge new updates Apple unveiled today at the company’s WWDC keynote.
Apple VP Eddy Cue showed off new features for Apple’s set-top box that make Siri more powerful than ever while also giving developers new tools to create better tvOS app experiences.
Despite being less than a year old, the Apple TV App Store already has over 6,000 native apps and some big names are coming soon. Sling TV revealed that it’s coming to Apple TV starting today.
If you hate the new Apple remote and prefer to use iOS, there’s finally a new app for that. All the features of the Siri remote are available, and you can play games on it. Plus you can enter text with the keyboard.
Siri is getting a lot smarter on Apple TV. You can now make requests like “Find high school movies from the 80’s” and it will bring up stuff like Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. Siri can also grab videos off of YouTube and other channels with general requests. Tell it “watch ESPN 2” and it will take you straight to a live feed of the current game.
Authentication is getting a redesign with a new feature called Single Sign-on. You sign in once on your Apple TV and you get access to all of your apps, so you no longer have to put in your details for each one.
Dark Mode is also being added to make the UI more pleasant to use late at night.
ReplayKit, PhotoKit and HomeKit have been added for developers, along with multiplayer game sessions and four-player game-controller support.
The update will be available for free this Fall.
