The latest beta version of tvOS, released on August 5, introduces a new feature to wirelessly send web links from an Apple TV to an iPhone.

In a post on Threads, Sigmund Judge explains how some immersive videos, designed for Apple Vision Pro, can be sent as a web link via AirDrop to the best iPhones or iPads. In tvOS 18 beta 5, Judge demonstrates a new button that enables users to wirelessly send a link to a video to their iPhone, which will open in Apple’s Safari web browser. For those unaware, AirDrop is a feature that allows users to wirelessly send types of media or a link to another device, such as a photo, contact information, and more. This new feature may suggest that Apple wants to make it easier to send links from Apple TV to other devices thanks to AirDrop, but the company could be laying the groundwork for more.

Judge notes that the latest beta of tvOS 18 has code that hints at the “ability to distribute related media like books, soundtracks and AR experiences to iPhone and iPad.”

With new features like Distraction Control in Safari now available in the latest betas of iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia, it’s good to see a new feature come to tvOS as well. 

However, time will tell if the ability to send web links via AirDrop will expand to other media types, as Judge mentioned, by the time the update is released.

Apple says that tvOS 18 will be available for compatible Apple TV devices later this year.

What else is new in tvOS 18?

tvOS 18 didn’t receive as many new features compared to iOS 18, but there are still some updates worth mentioning. First, Insight allows users to check the actors in a show they’re watching, similar to Amazon Prime Video’s X-Ray feature. Apple’s version goes further by recognizing the music being played in certain scenes, allowing users to play the track in Apple Music.

Enhanced Dialogue, a feature that can raise the volume of characters speaking in a scene, has seen a big improvement. Previously, this feature was only available when Apple TV was connected to a HomePod. In tvOS 18, Enhanced Dialogue can be used with TV speakers, a soundbar, and more. In addition, Screensavers have been redesigned to feature scenes from the best Apple TV Plus shows. 

Overall, tvOS 18 looks to be a collection of small improvements to make a big impression in the upcoming update. If you use Apple TV daily, you’re likely to benefit from what tvOS 18 will offer when it becomes available later this year.

More from iMore

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• Apple TV 4K (2022) review
• Apple's Safari in iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia will hide some big distractions while browsing the web

WWDC 2024 highlighted iOS 18, iPadOS 18, tvOS 18, visionOS 2, watchOS 11, macOS Sequoia and plenty more, but Apple already has one eye on next year's updates.

Bloomberg's Mark Gurman revealed in this week's Power On newsletter that the tech giant has begun work on iOS 19 (codenamed Luck), macOS 16 (codenamed Cheer), watchOS 12 (codename Nepali) and visionOS 3 (codenamed Discovery).

While Gurman notes it's "far too early to tell what the actual features will be" for any of the platforms, he does suggest that this is about the same schedule the company has stuck to for a while.

So why is it news?

Right on schedule

While Gurman dubs the four platforms in question "major", which may disappoint iPad die-hards (hey, we are getting iOS 18 features in iPadOS 18 without a year wait in between!), what's interesting here is that Apple may not finish rolling out many of its features from the current cycle of OS upgrades until well into 2025.

After all, Apple intends to withhold Apple Intelligence features from EU users in response to anticompetitive accusations, while key features from across multiple platforms like iPhone mirroring on macOS Sequoia also may not arrive this year.

That could mean Apple needs to more carefully consider it's rollout as the tail-end of iOS 18 and the start of the eventual iOS 19, along with other platforms, become closer and closer.

More from iMore

• StandBy mode is iOS 17's best forgotten feature
• Apple's biggest iOS 18 and macOS features, including Apple Intelligence, won't come to the EU this year because of the Digital Markets Act
• The iPhone's iOS 18 beta 2 update is now available to developers with two big new features included for the first time

tvOS 18 was announced at WWDC 2024 on June 10, with Apple revealing some exciting changes to your home entertainment box, such as InSight.

If you're a developer, you know it's time to get tvOS 18 onto your test devices so you can bring your apps up to speed with Apple's latest Apple TV software. We advise general members of the public against installing the beta until Apple releases a public beta in a few weeks time.

With this in mind, here's how to download and install tvOS 18 beta 1.

How to download and install tvOS 18 beta

How to download and install tvOS 18 developer beta

Beta software, also referred to as a preview, seed, or release candidate, is a version of software that’s still under development and not yet released to the public. This software is intended only for installation on development devices registered under your Apple Developer Program membership. Registered development devices can be upgraded to future beta releases and the public version of the software. Attempting to install beta software in an unauthorized manner violates Apple policy and could render your device unusable and necessitate an out-of-warranty repair. Make sure to back up your devices before installing beta software and install only on devices and systems that you’re prepared to erase if necessary.

1. Open Settings on your Apple TV
2. Select System then Software Updates
3. Choose Beta Updates then tvOS 18 developer beta

It's that simple. You no longer need to use Xcode or any other external software to update your Apple TV to the newest tvOS developer beta, and you don't need to be a developer either.

How to download and install tvOS 18 public beta

The tvOS 18 public beta is not currently available but we expect to see the first iteration in July. The process is identical to the developer beta installation:

1. Open Settings on your Apple TV
2. Select System then Software Updates
3. Choose Beta Updates then tvOS 18 public beta

The next step in tvOS

Although there aren't many new features this year for tvOS, you'll likely be using what's been announced for tvOS 18 in due course.

For instance, InSight lets you find out more information about the actors and music in the show you're watching. This is very familiar to Amazon Prime Video's 'X-Ray' feature, so if you've used that before, you'll feel right at home.

tvOS 18 now supports 21:9 projectors, which can be great for watching certain movies in their intended aspect ratio. Enhanced dialog improves the way you hear actor's voices in certain scenes that may be harder to hear. There's also a new dynamic subtitles feature that only shows captions when you need them. Finally, Screensavers have been redesigned in how you can choose them, as well as a new portraits category.

Follow WWDC 2024 as it happened. Check out our roundups for all the latest on the newly announced iOS 18, iPadOS 18, macOS 15, watchOS 11, visionOS 2, and Apple Intelligence.

Apple has just announced that its tvOS 18 is coming to the Apple TV 4K and beyond later this year. The operating that powers all of the best Apple TV devices on the market is getting its annual 2024 update later this year. 

Apple has announced that tvOS will bring a new InSight feature to Apple TV Plus, which lets you find out more information about the actors and music in the show you're watching, a feature Amazon Prime Video subscribers will be familiar with!

tvOS 18: The headlines

tvOS 18 also supports enhanced dialog that improves the way you hear actor's voices, and there's a new dynamic subtitles feature that only shows subtitles when you need them. tvOS now supports 21:9 projectors, and Screensavers are better with a new portraits category. 

New AirPods features

Apple's new AirPods features include new personalized spatial audio for gaming, and new interactions with Siri, including shaking and nodding your head to respond to calls. 

Other new Apple Home and Audio features include FaceTime live captions, Home electricity monitoring, and support for Robot vacuums in the Home app. 

We're covering the WWDC 2024 event as it happens. Follow WWDC 2024 LIVE here. Or check out our roundups for all the latest on the newly announced iOS 18, iPadOS 18, macOS 15, watchOS 11, visionOS 2, and Apple Intelligence.

YouTube recently brought out a new update to its Apple TV app which replaces the pause screen with terrible photos, requiring some extra button presses to get back to the video you were watching.

Imagine the scene — you’re on a lunch break, and you decide to watch a Shark Tank or Masterchef clip on YouTube. You need to take the dog out, so you pause it. Normally, you’d expect to go back and press Play on the Siri Remote. Instead, you’re now greeted with a landscape of badly compressed images — your impressive TV is suddenly wasted on those low-quality pictures. Sounds annoying doesn’t it?

Furthermore, the Back button has to be pressed on the Remote twice to make the current video appear again — which makes this feature even more annoying. It doesn’t stop there though. You can’t change when these images will appear — so you’re trapped with a four-minute time limit before the screensaver kicks in.

Worse still, this update also overrides the high-quality Apple TV screensavers if you stay in the YouTube app, even if you’re not playing a video. It’s a bizarre addition that doesn’t help the user experience at all. Fortunately, there’s a temporary fix to make sure you’re not greeted with pixelated landscapes — but we’re hoping that YouTube brings out another update soon that disables this fully.

How to get rid of pixelated landscapes and bring back the pause screen

Although there are no settings in the YouTube app to get rid of this new feature, there is another way and it works on all the best Apple TVs.

1. Open Settings on the Apple TV home screen
2. Select General, then Screensaver
3. Choose Start After, then 2 minutes

This way, Apple’s stunning screensavers appear before YouTube’s terrible alternative when you pause a video. It’s a relief, but it’d be great to see a further update from Google’s video app to disable its screensaver feature completely. 

For now, it’s a bad user experience, and we hope YouTube reverses course on this pixelated screensaver feature soon.

Apple's tvOS 17 update is now ready, bringing with it a slew of new changes, updates, and features for your Apple TV. Now officially out of beta testing, the new software has been released and is available to download as a free update on the Apple TV 4K (all three generations) and the Apple TV HD from 2015. 

Apple's latest Apple TV upgrade brings FaceTime to Apple TV for the first time ever, alongside Dolby Vision 8.1 support

Download tvOS 17 

• Open Settings on your Apple TV
• Select System then Software Updates
• Choose Updates then tvOS 17

The next step in tvOS

Adding FaceTime to tvOS 17 brings a long-requested feature to your TV and it's an exciting step for a product that doesn't always get the love it deserves.

Not only will FaceTime make tvOS 17 one of the biggest software updates to Apple TV in years, but there's also third-party VPN support which enables developers to create VPN apps for Apple TV. Alongside FaceTime, there's also support for other videoconferencing services such as Webex by Cisco and Zoom. Developers will also have access to Apple's Continuity Camera feature so that you can use your iPhone's camera with all of these third-party apps as well. Another big update is the new Control Center, which lets you quickly access key settings easily. There's also a new feature to help you find your lost Apple TV Remote, as long as you have the second generation or later. 

Apple's major software updates, iOS 17 and iPadOS 17, as well as watchOS 10 are also arriving this week and free to download on their respective platforms. 

Apple is expected to officially unveil the iPhone 15 in just a few weeks – allegedly at an event on September 12 or 13, 2023. So it should come as no surprise that rumors and leaks about the upcoming iPhone 15 handsets are rolling in thick and fast. 

The latest hint about what we might expect from the iPhone 15 launch and beyond comes from X user and Apple news leaker @aaronp613 who spotted that several unreleased iPhone models are mentioned in the tvOS beta code. 

According to Aaron, four iPhone models had been added into the tvOS 17 beta 1 code. They'd presumably gone unnoticed because they had disappeared by the time tvOS 17 beta 4 arrived. But the iPhone model identifiers were allegedly iPhone15,4, iPhone15,5, iPhone16,1 and iPhone16,2.

What's in an iPhone model name? 

Although catching a glimpse of these model names is exciting, what does it mean? 

iPhone identifiers tend to be grouped together by the chips inside them, sharing the example that the iPhone 13, iPhone 13 Pro, iPhone 14, and 3rd generation iPhone SE handsets are all identified as "iPhone14,x." Whereas the iPhone 14 Pro is identified as "iPhone15,x" because it has the A16 Bionic chip under the hood. 

Applying that same logic here, the iPhone15,4 and iPhone15,5 are likely to be the new iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus models. That's because we expect they'll have the same A16 Bionic chip as the current iPhone 14 Pro – they're all part of the "iPhone15,x" family.

Whereas the iPhone16,1 and iPhone16,2 are likely to be the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max. That's exciting because it suggests they might be powered by the rumored A17 chip, the one built on 3-nanometer technology that promises all sorts of performance improvements.

But that's not all. Aaron also points out that there are other references to iPhone14,1 and iPhone14,9 identifiers, which hints at A15 Bionic chips. They could be identifiers that are simply left over in the code. Or they could hint at a reworking and relaunching of an older handset, like the iPhone SE or iPhone 13 mini.

It won't be long before we find out all the details at Apple's event in September, where we're at least expecting the launch of the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro. 

Unlike what many may expect from an OS focused purely on one thing, Apple's tvOS 17, which launched earlier this year, was a pretty significant update. Now, with the introduction of tvOS 17.1, it has just gotten even better. 

Apple let developers and some members of the public try the betas ahead of time and this allowed the Apple team to take feedback and improve the service. It means if you use it today, it has been worked on and improved heavily over time.

If you have recently updated to tvOS 17 and want to get the latest version of the software, here's how to download tvOS 17.1.

How to download and update tvOS 17.1

• Open Settings on your Apple TV
• Select System then Software Updates
• Update your tvOS software

It's that simple. The public launch is finally here so you don't have to go into any betas to test it all out. Just download it and get watching. 

If you already have it and don't know why, there's a chance it automatically happened over night to save you the trouble of manually downloading tvOS 17.1

The next step in tvOS

Though tvOS 17.1 is just an addition to the normal tvOS 17, the update adds to it in valuable ways. Bringing FaceTime to tvOS 17 brings a long-requested feature to your TV and it's an exciting step for a product that doesn't always get the love it deserves.

Not only did FaceTime make tvOS 17 one of the biggest software updates to Apple TV in years, but there's also third-party VPN support which enables developers to create VPN apps for Apple TV. 

You can try FaceTime on tvOS 17 today and it has only gotten better since launch. Hopefully, the next major update will be just as big.

If you're looking for more from Apple, here's what we know about Apple VR, iOS 17.1, macOS 14.1, iPadOS 17.1, and watchOS 10.1 so far.

Apple TV is about to get support for third-party VPN apps with tvOS 17, arriving as a free update this fall, which could completely change the way we consume content on Apple TV. 

At WWDC 2023 Apple unveiled a slew of awesome updates to its various software for iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Watch. Last year, Apple didn't even mention tvOS, but tvOS 17 looks to be a much bigger update, so it got some airtime and its very own press release. 

Amongst updates including the introduction of FaceTime, Apple has very quietly announced upcoming support for third-party VPN apps, but what does that mean? And how could it change the way we use Apple TV? 

VPN for Apple TV

Apple's tvOS 17 release includes; "Third-party VPN support, which enables developers to create VPN apps for Apple TV. This can benefit enterprise and education users wanting to access content on their private networks, allowing Apple TV to be a great office and conference room solution in even more places."

Apple says this will benefit enterprise and education users with a focus on conference room and office use, but surely there's a more potent and far more exciting change coming here?

Third-party VPN apps on Apple TV could allow users to directly access VPN services which unlock expanded viewing of geo-restricted content. For example, users in the UK might be able to access U.S. Netflix shows and movies by changing their location. Likewise, geo-blocked sports games could soon become a thing of the past if a VPN on Apple TV can work around this. 

All of this is to say that VPNs on Apple TV could be one of the biggest changes made to the platform in years, but there's always the chance that Apple has anticipated this and plans to restrict how and when VPNs can be used on Apple TV. This is very much up in the air at this point, but at first glance, I'm skeptical that Apple would provide such a comprehensive tool to let users work around something like geographic streaming restrictions. We've reached out to Apple for some more information on this. 

"According to the documentation, it seems that Apple is indeed opening up the possibility of using third-party VPN solutions on tvOS, not only as Personal VPN (IKEv2) but also as network extensions, theoretically with OpenVPN, WireGuard, and custom protocols," Denis Telezhkin, Senior Software Engineer at ClearVPN told iMore. "We at ClearVPN will explore the new possibility and make product decisions on the new platform, of course. However, at first glance, tvOS doesn’t look like such a significant platform as browsers are, for example. In my opinion, VPN as a browser extension has a greater impact than VPN on Apple TV for users." 

"I am pretty sceptical about Apple’s positioning of the update for the corporate and educational audience," said ClearVPN's product manager Dmytro Yakovliev. "We all know that TV is primarily used for entertainment, streaming, and content consumption. And here's where it gets interesting because the game with bypassing geo-blocking is going to a new level. Meanwhile, Apple did not specify how they will allow the use of VPN solutions on tvOS 17. Will users be able to download VPN apps on their own? I have doubts about that. Therefore, there is a chance that Apple plans to restrict when and how VPN can be used on Apple TV. There is a hypothesis that VPN will become just a technology that can protect confidential data streaming. Something like an embedded mechanism that prevents users from using the usual country picker but still allows access to sensitive data as in the case of corporate VPN."

There are still some unanswered questions, but VPNs on Apple TV is shaping up to be an enticing addition. 

We're covering all the WWDC 2023 announcements live and as they happen. Don't miss all our Apple Vision Pro, iOS 17, macOS Sonoma, iPadOS 17, and watchOS 10 news so far.