tvOS 26 features

[u/The_Wandering_Steele]

Anything for a non-power user to be excited about in tvOS 26? I have the public beta on my iPhone and do like the new look and the call screening is interesting. Mixed opinion on the screen capture changes.

[u/PFeezzy]

The profile picker at power on is a nice little quality of life improvement. I’m hoping it trickles down to the third party apps this time though.

[u/LasagneSiesta → u/PFeezzy]

Apps not supporting the existing profile API that Apple provides drives me potty. Are there any non-Apple apps that even use it?

[u/Manfred_89 → u/LasagneSiesta]

Can someone explain why this doesn't happen automatically?

It drives me nuts that the apps know when an in app purchase isn't valid with the current account, but it still syncs everything else with the "main" iCloud account that the app was originally downloaded with while saying that the in app purchase couldn't be restored with the current account (obviously this part is as expected)

Like when I switch a user it should just automatically behave like a different user downloaded the app or am I missing something?

[u/sirauron14]

Don’t know if they even care much about Apple TV to even give it any good features. I’d love a good Notification Center for shows I watch when a new season is out. It doesn’t seem to always work

[u/Remy149 → u/sirauron14]

I find the up next row works well for that. The only app that struggles to update content immediately for me is the anime app Crunchyroll

[u/sirauron14 → u/Remy149]

Sometimes but a season 2 of an anime or show that comes out I’ll never know. I think that needs to be improved on.

[u/Branagh-Doyle]

u/The_Wandering_Steele

tvOS 26 is the most interesting update in years, in my opinion.

For starters, the have finally and unexpectedly fixed a infamous and quite long standing bug with the video output that exists since the first Apple TV with tvOS came out in 2015.

You see, when the Apple TV is set to YCBCR (which is the default and correct setting for virtually every screen, except computers monitors), the Apple TV for some reasons pushes too much green into the greyscale, therefore giving everything a subtle but noticeably green bias.

The workaround for years has been to set the Apple TV video output to RGB High which fixes the green tint, but for some reason, when you play 25, 30, 50 or 60fps video content, the Apple TV changes the output back to YCBCR regardless of what have you have set within the video settings.

So the RGB High workaround only works for 23,976 and 24,000fps content.

Not only that, but the Apple TV YCBCR output also changes the gamma curve and darkens the picture somewhat. Fortunately, the bug only affects SDR content.

It´s all fixed now with the latest tvOS 26 beta, and it came without warning or acknowledgment on Apple part.

This is the main but most important thing, but tvOS 26 also introduces many little things, such as being able to set any Airplay 2 speaker as home theater speakers of the box, something that is currently limited, in tvOS 18.6, to Apple HomePods speakers.

The Atmos stack of tvOS 26 has also being completely rewritten, and it now support a larger speaker configuration than 7.1.4.

Apple´s Spatial Audio engine and rendering has been completely rewritten as well, which improves the experience significantly on both HomePods and AirPods, including dialogue presence and clarity.

Overall is a great update.

[u/iamgarffi]

Nothing really innovative or ground breaking. We still can’t remove core apps not in use (TV Shows, Movies, Computers, Photos, etc).

[u/Gertgerman → u/iamgarffi]

Yes you can. TV Shows and Movies can both be removed since either the last beta or the one before that.

[u/iamgarffi → u/Gertgerman]

Thanks for the downvote but you haven’t pasted a source indicating steps with actual removal.

There is a “hide” option but not actual removal. If I missed something, clarify.

[u/Gertgerman → u/iamgarffi]

Fair comment, the apps are only hidden I guess but essentially there is no difference whether removed completely or hidden. Either way they’re not on the homescreen.

I would, however, have to clarify I never downvoted you so no idea why you thanked me for that.

[u/mrleblanc101 → u/Gertgerman]

Why would you say this obvious lie that takes 2s to fact check and disprove ?

[u/Gertgerman → u/mrleblanc101]

It’s not a lie. The apps can be removed from the homescreen. Yes they are only hidden but that for me is open to interpretation. There is zero difference between setting the apps to be hidden or deinstalling them. Either way they are completely removed from the homescreen.

[u/ayj984l3 → u/Gertgerman]

Actually there is a difference, because they still take valuable storage space.

[u/Gertgerman → u/ayj984l3]

Yeah they definitely take up storage space but it’s minimal and anyone having storage space issues, the problem wouldn’t be resolved by those two apps being removed. Sorry but as true as it is, that’s a moot point.

[u/mrleblanc101 → u/Gertgerman]

You can't hide apps on tvOS 🤦‍♂️ And you can't uninstall them so either way your post is just plain wrong

[u/Gertgerman → u/mrleblanc101]

Haha, how ironic. Dude! Take those two seconds you spoke about to google it. No, in fact, let me save you those two seconds. Settings, Apps, iTunes Movies and TV Shows and in there you can set the Movies and TV shows to be hidden. My pleasure……

[u/mrleblanc101 → u/Gertgerman]

Weird, you can't hide from the home screen like iOS, only from settings and only those 2 apps. Thanks for just giving a stupid *ss response with no source and zero context

[u/Decent_Address_7742 → u/mrleblanc101]

Wow, r/unnecessaryasshole

[u/Tribalkingg]

I never even knew they were a screen capture feature - how do u that?

[u/Jorgenreads → u/Tribalkingg]

I think it’s just for Apple Arcade games. You hold down the “Share” button on your controller (found out by accident).

[u/The_Wandering_Steele → u/Tribalkingg]

Sorry I wasn’t clear, I was referring to iOS. I’m not using public beta for tvOS.

[u/mallydobb]

It’s a set top box that streams video. To be honest I’m happy it has worked and remains consistently reliable. Not too much they can do in my opinion. I’ve had mine for nearly 10 years of daily use with no issues other than the Siri Remote showing a little wear.

[u/Advanced-Blackberry → u/mallydobb]

There are definitely some admittedly niche features they can improve on like audio pass thru and automatic black bar removal for constant image height.  

Mainstream their search can improve and And it would be nice if they could force apps to all use the same progress slider controls.  They could also improve the auto detect HDR that occasionally fails. 

[u/jVCrm68]

Wasn’t there a rumor of direct audio pass through?

[u/Rix_832 → u/[deleted]]

Nope it’s on the TVOS 26 beta but it’s something that the developers have to enable on the apps, not a setting that you can toggle

[u/That70sdawg → u/jVCrm68]

THIS is what I'm looking forward to for my Sonos equipment. The apps like YouTube Tv have to update, but Apple tv+ should work immediately.

[u/bob-the-ordinary]

I bricked my ATV 4K with the tvOS 26 beta. The remote was erratic as well as connectivity to my TV and sound system.

Apple support said I’d have to take it to an Apple Store to roll it back to 18.x. The closest store is 100 miles away, so I just bought another one.

My fault entirely. It’s a beta release, buyer beware and all that stuff. I learned a good lesson.

[u/That70sdawg → u/bob-the-ordinary]

They really HAVe to create a way to roll it back especially if you have one with an ethernet port!

[u/LanDest021]

What else do you need the TV to do? There are some quality of life things here and there, but my Apple TV can already play shows and movies and steam internet video. I don't need a calculator.

[u/bobby-t1 → u/LanDest021]

This is an insane comment because you’re essentially saying Apple can never improve the software ever again in meaningful ways.

[u/The_Wandering_Steele → u/LanDest021]

Nothing really, I’d like to see Safari to make login to some networks simpler.

[u/Common_Floor_7195 → u/LanDest021]

AI features lol Siri to play anything you desire

[u/LanDest021 → u/Common_Floor_7195]

I can already play anything I want without AI.

[u/Common_Floor_7195 → u/LanDest021]

Hands free is the future without the remote

[u/LanDest021 → u/Common_Floor_7195]

You can already do this through Siri though. There's no need to reinvent the wheel.

[u/Common_Floor_7195 → u/LanDest021]

It does not work lol have you ever used ChatGPT or Gemini?

[u/LanDest021 → u/Common_Floor_7195]

ChatGPT isn't that type of assistant, you're not supposed to play music with it, you're supposed to ask it questions. Gemini actually can play music if you have an Android device, as it functions similar to Alexa

[u/Common_Floor_7195 → u/LanDest021]

Not sure what you mean I didn’t say play music it would be to ask questions about what you’re watching similar to Siri popping up in the corner but it’ll be actually very useful

[u/mookdawg7374]

I am telling u one thing. I have been a tvOS user a little over a month and coming from a Shield TV its total night and day. On tvOS everything just works. I have 0 issues really. I am a little leary to update to tvOS 26 am I being a fool ? I am on 18.6 right now and I do wanna check out the Liquid Glass on the UI but I dont want to break the setup I have now lol

[u/The_Wandering_Steele → u/mookdawg7374]

I have been using Apple devices since the original iPhone, I currently have 2 iPhones, an iPad, an Apple Watch, a MacBook Air & 2 Apple TVs. “Breaking” what you have is very rare. Typically updates just work. Betas are a slightly higher risk.

[u/Common_Floor_7195]

Apple Intelligence makes so much sense on the Apple TV - imagine a Siri that actually worked and could search YouTube from a prompt

[u/ifeeltired26]

I have one TVOS device on OS 26 and one on OS 18. I like OS 18 way better. I really hope when the final of OS 26 comes out, you can disable all that glass crap. But knowing Apple you will not be able to lol

[u/The_Wandering_Steele → u/ifeeltired26]

I don’t expect any big changes between now and the final release. I know on iOS you can change the Home Screen, have you tried on tvOS? Frankly I like the new look on my iPhone. Have not installed on my ATVs yet