The tvOS 15 beta has started being shared with developers, before a public release later in the year. Here’s what to expect when it lands on your Apple TV.
There’s a new tvOS 15 in town, after Apple announced the 2021 overhaul to its Apple TV operating system at WWDC. Overhaul might be a strong word for what transpired, though. We got a glimpse at a couple of small tweaks and features coming to tvOS 15, though nothing like the radical redesign that had been hinted at by the rumor mill in the past few weeks. It was odd not to see any substantial mention of Apple TV Plus either. There’s some additional support for the HomePod Mini, and new collective features that make sharing an Apple TV 4K with your family a little bit easier – but that’s it. It’s somehow more disappointing than last year’s update, which brought in gaming-specific features like quick game resume, support for the Xbox Elite Series 2 and Xbox Adaptive Controllers, HomeKit updates, and the arrival of picture-in-picture mode for dual-feed watching. We’ll run you through these changes in more detail below, but we wouldn’t expect too much here, and our wishlist for tvOS 16 is looking to be pretty much the same as what we hoped for with this year’s tvOS 15 iteration. Want to try it out? A tvOS 15 public beta is live right now on the Apple Beta Software Program website, which is available free for anyone with a tvOS 15-compatible device. So, what’s new for tvOS 15? There are a few changes to the Apple TV interface, such as a list of multi-user viewing recommendations that show up no matter whose user profile is selected. So if you’re watching with roommates or family members, you’ll have a handy place to look through things you all enjoy, and not be cursed with a single person’s algorithm for deciding every movie night.
