As announced at WWDC16, Apple TV will soon receive a smarter Siri, as well as a Single Sign-On capability, among others. The new tvOS will be available this fall (anytime between the end September to the end of December) as a free update, to all Apple TVs. Unfortunately, Siri has been confirmed for only 12 countries for now. Apple also mentioned that the new features are subject to change, and that some of them will not be available in all regions or in all languages. Similar to the other new updates at the conference, tvOS developer preview is now available to members of the Developer Program.
With the new tvOS update, Siri will be able to do a search on a more-specific topic and it will be able to do so across more apps. The update will also allow topic searches to be carried out using several criteria at the same time; such as requesting for movies on a particular subject matter, or documentaries on a specific interest, or an even more specific “Find high school comedies from the 80s”. Siri will use the data from the 650,000 TV episodes and movies that it has already catalogued to present its results to the user. Apart from that, users will also be able to search in YouTube with Siri by just using the “Search YouTube” command followed by a search criteria. Additionally, a new Live tune-in feature will take users directly into a live channel inside a supported app, including news and sports channels.
Home automation, using the HomeKit route, is another area where the new tvOS will be making inroads in. Actions such as adjusting temperature or dimming lights will be made possible with Apple TV and Siri, using HomeKit-enabled devices, without getting off the couch. Users will be able to do all of that even when they’re away from home, using the Home app on their iOS devices.
Another new feature that will make its appearance in the next iteration of tvOS is Single Sign-On (SSO). This simplified way of logging-in to multiple pay-TV apps/subscriptions makes it easier for users to access their content without going through the hassle of trying to key-in passwords; using either the on-screen keyboard or even an external one for that matter. When the update arrives, users will only need to sign-in to one network app and they will be automatically logged into all other supported apps that require authentication. During the log-in process, users will be presented with a page of all the authenticated apps that the pay-TV provider is currently offering. More importantly, SSO will be available on both Apple TV and iOS devices.
Apple’s proclamation that the “future of TV is Apps” is not just based on a hunch, but rather a very precisely-calculated evaluation. This is further evident from the over 6,000 apps that now occupy the App Store for Apple TV. For developers, this has opened up another way to engage with individual users and even entire families right from their living room. New and updated tvOS APIs and tools that are now available to developers include ReplayKit (allows for recording and live broadcast using their app), PhotoKit (allows for third-party access to photos and videos stored in iCloud Photo Library and iCloud Shared Stream), HomeKit (to control other HomeKit devices using Apple TV), and Game Center enhancements (to include support for up to four game controller at a time).
Other features that have been announced with the update include the ability to change the look and feel of the screen’s background (light and dark options); new Apple TV remote app (for iPhone) that will have touch navigation, Siri, and game play support; new design for Apple Music with new look for Library, For You, Browse, and Radio tabs, as well as a new Search tab; Photos for Apple TV will have a new Memories feature that will automatically find photos and videos that have not been viewed for a while and show them as a collection; Universal apps, that will get downloaded to Apple TV when an app is added to the user’s iOS device; and finally, when a keyboard pops-up on Apple TV, the one on the iOS device will come up.
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