tvOS 17: The MacStories Review

Apple TV may have received its most surprising update release this year, and I’d argue that tvOS 17 is also Apple’s most impactful. With the launch of Apple TV+ and the expansion of Apple’s TV app to third-party devices, Apple TV the platform had gone through a bit of a confidence crisis. It was hard enough before to get developers and the wider Apple community to talk about its software, but now it had to compete for attention with the likes of Jennifer Anniston, Reese Witherspoon, and Ted Lasso.1

Attention then moved onto Apple’s next big platform reveal, a project so steeped in secrecy and excitement that when a tvOS engineering manager made a brief public change to their social media profile indicating they had moved on to work for the company’s AR/VR division, I began to wonder if Apple TV and tvOS would ever get their special moment to shine. That special moment would come exactly nineteen minutes before the debut of Apple Vision Pro, and while it may have been a fleeting moment quickly forgotten by the majority, it’s a moment in Apple TV’s story I’ve been thinking about ever since.

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The introduction of FaceTime on Apple TV was more than just a feature announcement. It also represented a realignment in what mattered most for the platform and Apple’s customers and a shift away from a focus previously reserved for the needs of the wider entertainment industry.

FaceTime and Continuity Camera may be the headline acts in this year’s tvOS update, but they’re also supported by a cast of big changes elsewhere. They include a newly redesigned Control Center – Apple’s latest triumph in intuitive interaction – automatic profile switching, Find Siri Remote, third-party VPN support, Shared Spatial Audio, updates to Fitness and Music, enhancements to both audio and video presentations, and a small but meaningful update to the tvOS Home Screen.

After using tvOS 17 over the summer, I’m happy to impart that the new features are all positive additions, even though there remains work to be done. So, without further ado, in a MacStories return to tvOS reviews, let’s dive into tvOS 17.

Table of Contents

The TV App

Through the Eyes of a Digital Movie Collector

Paths to Upgrade, Or Lack Thereof

The TV App in tvOS 17

Video Player

Some Video Player Suggestions

Control Center

Do Not Disturb

Sleep Timer

Accessibility

Restrictions

FaceTime and Continuity Camera

SharePlay

Continuity Camera Elsewhere on Apple TV

Fitness

Home, Shortcuts, and Automation

Siri

HomePod

Siri and Connected HomePods

Enhancements to Connected AirPods

Native VPN Support

Everything Else

Locate Siri Remote

Screen Savers

802.1X Networking Support

Restore Apple TV 4K with iPhone

Conclusion

The TV App

Through the Eyes of a Digital Movie Collector

Paths to Upgrade, Or Lack Thereof

The TV App in tvOS 17

Video Player

Some Video Player Suggestions

Control Center

Do Not Disturb

Sleep Timer

Accessibility

Restrictions

FaceTime and Continuity Camera

SharePlay

Continuity Camera Elsewhere on Apple TV

Fitness

Home, Shortcuts, and Automation

Siri

HomePod

Siri and Connected HomePods

Enhancements to Connected AirPods

Native VPN Support

Everything Else

Locate Siri Remote

Screen Savers

802.1X Networking Support

Restore Apple TV 4K with iPhone

Conclusion

The TV App

Through the Eyes of a Digital Movie Collector

Paths to Upgrade, Or Lack Thereof

The TV App in tvOS 17

Video Player

Some Video Player Suggestions

Control Center

Do Not Disturb

Sleep Timer

Accessibility

Restrictions

FaceTime and Continuity Camera

SharePlay

Continuity Camera Elsewhere on Apple TV

Fitness

Home, Shortcuts, and Automation

Siri

HomePod

Siri and Connected HomePods

Enhancements to Connected AirPods

Native VPN Support

Everything Else

Locate Siri Remote

Screen Savers

802.1X Networking Support

Restore Apple TV 4K with iPhone

Conclusion

The TV App

Through the Eyes of a Digital Movie Collector

Paths to Upgrade, Or Lack Thereof

The TV App in tvOS 17

Video Player

Some Video Player Suggestions

Control Center

Do Not Disturb

Sleep Timer

Accessibility

Restrictions

FaceTime and Continuity Camera

SharePlay

Continuity Camera Elsewhere on Apple TV

Fitness

Home, Shortcuts, and Automation

Siri

HomePod

Siri and Connected HomePods

Enhancements to Connected AirPods

Native VPN Support

Everything Else

Locate Siri Remote

Screen Savers

802.1X Networking Support

Restore Apple TV 4K with iPhone

Conclusion

The TV App

Through the Eyes of a Digital Movie Collector

Paths to Upgrade, Or Lack Thereof

The TV App in tvOS 17

Video Player

Some Video Player Suggestions

Control Center

Do Not Disturb

Sleep Timer

Accessibility

Restrictions

FaceTime and Continuity Camera

SharePlay

Continuity Camera Elsewhere on Apple TV

Fitness

Home, Shortcuts, and Automation

Siri

HomePod

Siri and Connected HomePods

Enhancements to Connected AirPods

Native VPN Support

Everything Else

Locate Siri Remote

Screen Savers

802.1X Networking Support

Restore Apple TV 4K with iPhone

Conclusion

The TV App

Through the Eyes of a Digital Movie Collector

Paths to Upgrade, Or Lack Thereof

The TV App in tvOS 17

Video Player

Some Video Player Suggestions

Control Center

Do Not Disturb

Sleep Timer

Accessibility

Restrictions

FaceTime and Continuity Camera

SharePlay

Continuity Camera Elsewhere on Apple TV

Fitness

Home, Shortcuts, and Automation

Siri

HomePod

Siri and Connected HomePods

Enhancements to Connected AirPods

Native VPN Support

Everything Else

Locate Siri Remote

Screen Savers

802.1X Networking Support

Restore Apple TV 4K with iPhone

Conclusion

The TV App

Originally introduced as the ultimate aggregator of TV shows and movies from the world of streaming and the iTunes Store, the TV app was always an ambitious endeavor – even for a company as deep-rooted in the arts as Apple.

The app’s success has always been reliant on factors outside of Apple’s control. Chief among those factors has been the reluctance of streaming partners to integrate with the TV app, which would benefit discoverability and overall user experience. However, streaming providers have been unwilling to forego the valuable data they can collect by steering users to their own apps.

But, what was once a simple means of media aggregation quickly became the home to the Apple TV+ streaming service, third-party content channels, Apple Music TV, movie & TV trailers, live news and sports2, recommendations, TV app collections, engaging editorial, and brilliant ideas like ‘Shared with You’ and ‘For All of You,’ which have been largely lost amongst the noise and then never fully realized. Sadly, while I still love the TV app for everything it successfully achieved – and for everything it still does well – in the years since its introduction, it’s become too busy, bogged down, and bloated. In 2019, the TV app rolled out to third-party platforms like smart TVs and game consoles in the lead-up to the launch of Apple TV+, and since then, the app has felt less like an Apple product and more like the product of some “different group.”

Watch Now’s Up Next queue before the change to Featured previews.

Last year’s abominable effort to prioritize the top of Watch Now as a space for partners to advertise their shows and movies solidified that feeling. When that fundamental piece of the Apple TV user experience was demoted to second-class status, it removed a sense of connection to the content housed within Up Next.

That change, which was the subject of numerous critical opinion pieces, was also seen as a betrayal of the company’s standards and remains unresolved to this day. All of that said, hope still lives on that one day, users of Apple TV hardware will be given the choice to revert to the old way within the TV app’s settings to return to the Up Next space many once loved.

Through the Eyes of a Digital Movie Collector

Library Loading.

A concerning piece of the TV app story and its insistence in trying to do it all is that its performance has taken a hit that has impacted the TV app’s most loyal customers especially hard. I demonstrated that fact last year, comparing the loading times of my personal purchased library of over 3,500 titles across movies and TV shows on the latest Apple TV 4K hardware to Apple’s TV app running on devices from Amazon, Google, Roku, Xbox, PlayStation, and some smart TVs. All were able to load up in under a third of the time. In fairness to Apple’s engineers, a fix followed at the beginning of this year that solved the problem for the majority of customers, but complaints continue across movie forums and social media from digital movie collectors with collections that are two or three times the size of mine even though they are also running the latest version of tvOS on the latest Apple TV 4K hardware.

The TV app’s issues for digital movie collectors carries over to iOS.

Equally concerning is that the same issues also occur with large purchased libraries on iOS, with some collectors either never seeing libraries load or otherwise heading into a state of extended panic when the app tells them that there are “No TV Shows or Movies” to show and that their extensive libraries are worryingly “empty.”

Paths to Upgrade, Or Lack Thereof

The most likely reason for the larger TV app library counts in recent years is Movies Anywhere (MA), a video aggregation service founded by The Walt Disney Company in 2014 and launched a few years later. Based on KeyChest, digital movie purchases made in the US from 20th Century Fox, Sony Pictures, Universal Pictures, and Warner Bros are able to sync across storefronts from Apple, Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and Vudu, as well as cable services from DirectTV, Xfinity, and Verizon Fios.

Apple’s groundbreaking and generous free 4K upgrade path for movie purchases made within its store has led to another issue. The TV app is one of the only storefront partners not to offer a paid upgrade path for HD purchases made outside of its own marketplace, resulting in digital movie collectors like me having no other option than spending their dollars elsewhere.

Legacy titles now under different distributer no longer work with Siri or search.

For purchasers of TV shows and movies, many of the biggest issues have existed since the app’s 2016 debut, including the inability to access legacy TV and movie purchases through Siri or through the TV app’s search function.

For example, let’s say you previously purchased a movie, but then its distribution rights changed hands, or maybe your movie purchase has since been withdrawn from sale as part of a limited exclusive streaming agreement. If you ask Siri for the movie or use the TV app’s search function, one of two things will likely happen. You’ll either be prompted to repurchase the movie from the new distributor or sign up for the streaming service that now has the rights to the movie.

Prompts to repurchase seasons of shows can also occur if purchased as part of of an incomplete boxset later replaced in the store.

The same can also be said for TV show boxsets. If you purchase a multi-season boxset for an ongoing show, and it’s later replaced to include subsequent seasons, you won’t be able to search for the version you purchased. You can still find the box set you bought in your library unless, of course, it’s too large to load. What’s particularly frustrating is that this longtime TV app issue is that it has been solved by competitors.3

The TV App in tvOS 17

With the release of tvOS, Apple has added three small details to the TV app. There are new animated pagination dots for Watch Now’s controversial featured ads. Also, there’s an option to replace episode trailers with show artwork to avoid spoilers.

There’s a new card style reimagining of Up Next’s tile interactions, which includes an extra option for Episode information, too. This new card style, if it could be expanded to other contexts in the app, would allow for more interactions. Some that immediately come to mind are options to manually re-order tiles, hide future releases ahead of streaming debuts, and jump to a particular service’s own siloed queue, otherwise hard to find within the TV app.

The newly redesigned tile interactions in Up Next have room to offer further functionality.

The biggest disappointment with this year’s TV app offerings is how little has been done to add user customization or extend the app’s functionality. The constraints on less capable hardware may explain the lack of progress to a degree, but it’s disappointing that the app isn’t even advancing on its own hardware.

I’d like to see an Up Next queue that adapts to multiple logged-in profiles. That sort of system would better represent the unique differences between our solitary viewing experiences on personal devices and the experience of watching on a TV at home with others.

In preparation for an evening of entertainment, I’d also like to see a similar experience to that offered by Kaleidoscape. I’d love to organize an evening of entertainment ahead of time on iOS, with prompts to download the best quality picture and audio available in advance. Currently, irrespective of platform, the streaming experience can vary in quality due to compression often experienced during high demand at peak times for your ISP. In offering the option to download instead of stream, Apple would be able to guarantee the very highest quality and could even further its environmental initiatives by ensuring downloads occurred at times of day when energy production is at its cleanest.

TV app downloads on iOS make a lot of sense, but Apple TV could also benefit.

A Brief Aside on Extras

I’d love to take a minute and talk about the current experience of extras in the TV app and how they could also help underpin a platform advantage and a better user experience.

Right now, extras come in many different forms:

TV shows can’t add extras beyond adding another episode to a show’s boxset, which can lead to no further episodes showing in Up Next;

Movie purchases display extras in a menu style harking back to the popular days of DVD;

TV app extras are split into separate rows for ‘Trailers’ and ‘Bonus Content.’ In addition, the ‘More to Explore’ row at the bottom of the Apple Originals tab on iOS links to different related media available across Apple TV apps.

As you can see, there are a lot of different interpretations of extras, but the most compelling and complete is the ‘More to Explore’ row found in the Apple Originals tab on iOS. Unfortunately, that row doesn’t currently show in the context of tvOS.

Video Player

Apple’s own video player delivers a delightful user experience. Though it took a little bit of getting used to when it was first introduced a few years ago, it has become an invaluable asset to tvOS. Since its debut, the video playback experience across the company’s suite of apps has added flair and familiarity to a user interface that can be customized to its given scenario.

While playback and scrubbing controls remain consistent across tvOS, the rest of Apple’s video player is highly customizable. Workout controls in Fitness, favoriting a video in Apple Music, and the native Up Next queue in the TV app are all solid examples of what can be achieved when the tools available are used well. Unfortunately, most streaming apps have moved away from the concept of user interface familiarity and gone down a different route.

There still are notable holdouts that continue to use filtered versions of the native Up Next queue to recommend content from their apps, with Showtime and Hulu being the biggest names. Furthermore, while the playback function of the video player is still used by the majority of Apple’s streaming partners inside their own apps, the interface varies from service to service, and that can prove frustrating to users.

The video player in Apple Music and Apple Fitness+ on tvOS.

I’m unsure what the resistance is from popular streaming apps to use the tools offered by Apple. After all, by going down their own paths and dismissing tools already in place, media companies are affecting customers using all manner of screens and limiting access to system features. Features such as Siri Remote scrubbing, native options for audio tracks and subtitles, Picture in Picture, Enhance Dialogue and Reduce Loud Sounds, as well as other features. Plus, in giving up these familiar functionalities, streamers are giving up the potential to tap into a customer base all but forgotten in the streaming revolution: people over 65.

My grandparents are a typical example of how the thought of learning multiple user interfaces to be entertained is still something very few in their age bracket will entertain. Even when I’m away, they will happily watch a show on Apple TV+ due to the familiarity of the first-party video player interface, but when presented with anything else – and a lack of easy-to-find audio and caption options – they’d rather switch back to cable.

From an OS perspective, the lack of live TV integrations within the video player (beyond sports) also represents a key missing element to the overall TV experience preferred by many.

Some Video Player Suggestions

With just one major notable addition for video this year in the form of support for Dolby Vision’s latest 8.1 expanded HDR profile, I asked myself what is missing from Apple’s first-party video player today.

One item that immediately sprang to mind (and may even help Apple’s own content aspirations) would be the ability to choose different cuts of films directly from within the video player and, more importantly, to view different presentation formats.

Disney+ IMAX Enhanced debuted earlier this year on Apple TV.

Disney+ started offering the IMAX Enhanced format earlier this year, including a version of DTS surround sound. With theatrical IMAX releases planned for highly-anticipated Apple’s ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ and ’Napoleon’ over the coming months and with the imminent arrival of Apple Vision Pro, such an addition makes perfect sense.

Apple offers American Sign Language versions of their keynotes, but what about the TV app?

Film aficionados of a certain age who remember the introduction of DVD will also remember a time of picture-in-picture presentations that let viewers see the making of particular movie scenes. Apple’s own Picture in Picture feature has been criminally underused since its debut, and a similar feature in the age of streaming is long overdue. Other picture-in-picture features currently missing that would improve viewing experiences and open up the video player to further adoption are picture-in-picture ASL for TV content and Apple Music concerts.

On Mac, Live Captions allow users to easily follow the audio in any app, such as FaceTime or Podcasts, and in live conversations around you. Should the feature ever arrive on tvOS, it could potentially change how the hard of hearing consume live broadcasts and video on demand not formatted for closed captioning. If, like me, you’ve been waiting for action from the BBC to integrate subtitles on its publicly funded iPlayer app for Apple TV (like it does on iOS) after a seven-year-old excuse, this may be our final hope.

Lastly, as much fun as I’m currently having with Multi-View, it never made much sense to me why Apple locked the feature to sports that only it distributes. In fact, it never made much sense as to why multi-view was ever locked down to sports. I want to live in a world where Apple TV enables me to watch a live rocket launch, a blink-182 concert, Friday Night Baseball, and the news all at the same time.

Control Center

The newly redesigned Control Center is packed but deceptively intuitive.

When I saw the new Control Center for the first time, I questioned if it looked too complicated…? Was it too big of a departure from what had come before? Would its new adaptive approach to connected devices and contextual awareness soften the accessibility appeal compared to what came before?

Most importantly, would mom like it?

After a few days of use, she was gliding across the new top navigation bar to switch users and take a quick peek at the cameras dotted around the house. If such a dramatic change can feel like second nature in such a short amount of time, I think we have to declare the change a triumph.

Admittedly, as fun and energetic as the interactions do feel, I’d have maybe liked to see the default Control Center tab look a little less intimidating. However, what that default tab does do is tempt some exploration out of Apple TV users who hadn’t dared use Control Center before in fear of messing something up.

Let’s take a look at what’s new and notable in Control Center.

Do Not Disturb

Do Not Disturb’s inclusion this year initially had me very excited. Native Focus modes and the ability to run shortcuts from tvOS have been long-standing wish list items of mine. Alas, not this year. Do Not Disturb on Apple TV is a siloed experience away from your personal Apple devices that refers to the ability for users to momentarily stop system notifications from appearing on the big screen.

That means no sports score spoilers and, more importantly, no more annoying notifications from passing AirPods just begging to be connected.

Sleep Timer

If you’ve ever fallen asleep to your favorite show only to check your Up Next queue the following morning to find out you fell asleep during the alien invasion, you’d watched the previous five long patient hours for, well, this feature is for you. Choose from four durations ranging from 15 minutes to a maximum of 2 hours (down from a previous 10), and you can watch the timer countdown or simply cancel it within Control Center before it runs out.

Accessibility

The thoughtful inclusion of a customizable button for accessibility at the  bottom of Control Center is the type of detail that continues to set Apple apart from its peers. The options you can choose from are:

VoiceOver

Zoom

Hover Text

Closed Captions

Audio Descriptions

Switch Control

Color Filters

Light Sensitivity

Reduce White Point

Dim Flashing Lights

Unfortunately, as with the majority of settings on tvOS, you can only set one of these Accessibility shortcuts system-wide and not per-user, so if more than one user has a particular accessibility need, for now, they’ll still have to set additional features manually.

Restrictions

Another feature that was once buried deep in Settings can now be accessed from within Control Center, with parents now able to lift restrictions with a nearby device. Also commonly referred to as Parental Controls, restrictions are still a far cry from Apple’s Screen Time and lack the granular control for child iCloud accounts that parents have become accustomed to on iOS since 2018.

Instead, restrictions offer limited protections for content streamed from third-party apps, meaning parents must restrict apps outright by age rating and, in doing so, prevent access to apps that do offer child-friendly profiles. There’s also no way to track how much time has been spent watching Apple TV and by whom, which may end up impacting Screen Time as much as its limiting restrictions.

Resolutions to Up Next Queue Sabotage

Now users are notified which profile is logged in when waking Apple TV.

If you’ve ever headed to your Up Next queue only to see it infiltrated with episodes from someone else’s watch session, you’ll have no doubt grown sick of reminding family and friends to switch to their profile before watching.

Last year’s addition of Siri Recognize My Voice took measures to resolve that issue for those who prefer to talk to their remote. This year’s release goes one better by introducing a slick attention-grabbing animation to the top right-hand corner when you power on, showing the name and picture of the profile currently logged in and prompting whoever’s using Apple TV to switch users.

In addition, tvOS overcomes the possibility of misplaced Peppa Pig and Grey’s Anatomy episodes by logging into the profile associated with the Apple ID when waking the Apple TV through the TV Remote app found in Control Center for iOS.

FaceTime and Continuity Camera

When Continuity Camera’s name was repurposed last year – introduced as a new feature in macOS Ventura allowing the rear-facing camera of an iPhone to be used as a webcam – I reacted in a predictable fashion on social media:

Q. What feature announced yesterday did Apple TV need more than any other platform following last years addition of SharePlay?

A. Continuity Camera (I guess we’ll have to wait for a Apple Silicon based Apple TV for that) pic.twitter.com/CRdZCeZpKh

— Sigmund Judge (@sigjudge) June 7, 2022

Little did we know that Apple was already working on it. This is a feature with the potential to transform not only Apple TV as a platform but also our relationship with television screens and the spaces in which they reside.

FaceTime is now universal across the company’s suite of devices and beyond.

Of course, Apple TV has no built-in camera, so FaceTime on Apple TV begins with an intuitive pairing process fit for the big screen that borrows heavily from the experience of connecting an iPhone for a Fitness workout. In this case, the FaceTime app prompts you to choose from a list of nearby devices to act as your camera. After accepting a prompt on your iPhone (or iPad), following a three-second countdown, your iPhone is paired and acts as the webcam to your Apple TV.

Initiating a call is easy and familiar for anyone who’s used FaceTime on any of Apple’s other platforms, thanks to a list view of previous calls and a + button that acts as a shortcut to your complete contact list. Being that the TV is normally set in a communal environment, it should be noted that critical contact data isn’t on display. For those friends and family who don’t use Apple’s products, there’s currently no clear option for sending FaceTime call invitations.

The confetti reaction is still my favorite, whether in iMessage or now FaceTime.

Other controls and options are in the shape of rounded buttons that toggle Center Stage and Portrait mode, along with options for the same 3D reactions,4also introduced in iOS 17 this year.

Unfortunately, Portrait mode may not be suited to the majority of average-sized living rooms since it relies on the distance between your seating and the foreground to work effectively. Instead, a missing feature at the time of writing with more universal appeal is Studio Light, which brightens the lighting on a subject’s face and dims the background, which is better suited for the dimly lit ambiance of movies and late-night entertainment.

Video controls inside the FaceTime user interface on tvOS.

As for audio settings, there aren’t any, at least not within the FaceTime app itself. Instead, to find options for Wide Spectrum, Standard, and Voice Isolation, you’ll need to head over to Control Center’s own Continuity Camera settings, but only once a call has been initiated.

Because FaceTime doesn’t yet make an appearance in Apps Settings in tvOS, there currently isn’t a way to set a default audio effect for previously paired devices ahead of time. If that option were to one day appear, I’d imagine the vast majority of users would choose Voice Isolation, which I’ll delve into momentarily.

It should be noted that you can only initiate FaceTime calls on Apple TV. Nor can you accept calls without accepting them from your connected device first, which may prove frustrating when dealing with dropped calls. Otherwise, FaceTime on Apple TV is everything you’d expect it to be, and while I don’t have enough friends to test its participant limit, one would imagine it should be the same as iOS.

When jumping out of the FaceTime app and into other parts of tvOS, video from other participants will follow in the form of Picture in Picture, which also comes with new layout options. These include Split View (which pushes the conversation to the right side, moving participants into a vertical row with the rest of the OS displayed slightly scaled down) and Full Screen.

SharePlay

John hadn’t heard of Napoleon before we began, but I think we got him hooked

As I noted at the very top, the main reason for my excitement for FaceTime and Continuity Camera is that SharePlay can now fulfill its true potential thanks to some fundamental changes in tvOS 17. Originally touted as a lockdown feature that came too late, I’ve always argued that if SharePlay’s biggest limitations were removed, we would all end up using the feature regularly.

In this latest iteration of SharePlay, Apple TV is the arbitrator of content playback, whereas before, content rights and connections were all channeled through iOS. This time around, iPhone is solely used to initiate the call and take care of audio and video; Apple TV takes care of the content, removing restrictions on what profile you decide to switch to mid-call. This, paired with native VPN support, allows users to  SharePlay media across borders for the first time.

Cross-compatible games can be played together, even when not everyone’s on the big screen.

As good as that may sound, there is a catch. Because of regional restrictions and different rating boards across the world of entertainment, as well as the issues that can arise between different display standards, both SharePlay participants must play content from the same source and from the same region. As you can imagine, this time, not having to be logged into the same Apple ID as the one tied to your iPhone presents the possibility for region restriction workarounds with those you trust, but the less attention that is given to those, the better.

Third-party apps are also supported but watch out for region restrictions when SharePlaying with friends abroad.

Tapping on the SharePlay button offers a scrollable row of apps installed on both participants’ devices enabled for the feature, including some of the biggest names in streaming, Apple Arcade, Fitness workouts, and more. Apple Music, which was part of the initial SharePlay launch, isn’t yet available. However, with some features coming later this year on other platforms, it shouldn’t be long before we can listen to music together on Apple TV.

But what about audio feedback?

Voice Isolation may have been impressive on iOS, but its Apple TV integration is just the latest example of Apple showing off its algorithmic might. When mounting your iPhone directly above your television’s speakers, you’d imagine any attempt to use the iPhone’s onboard microphones might cause unwanted feedback. However, in my testing, that wasn’t the case at all.

Voice Isolation through Continuity Camera is magic. Audio options can be found in Control Center.

Using my Apple Watch’s Noise monitoring app while testing demo material, it wasn’t until readings rose above 85db that the person on the other end of the call had any idea that I was playing something back. Apple has also done a great job balancing the explosions and dialogue of what you’re watching with a FaceTime conversation without negatively impacting either source.

Continuity Camera Elsewhere on Apple TV

Apple Music Sing! and Continuity Camera in action with the Aura effect.

Continuity Camera’s only other appearance across the OS comes courtesy of Apple Music’s Sing mode this year, with Apple TV 4K users now able to sing along to the lyrics while also appearing onscreen during a session, accompanied by a host of visual effects. They include Hazy, Stellar, Neon, Sparkle, and Aura, which will make you nostalgic for those early iPod commercials. The only items missing to make the experience complete are microphone inputs and a record function.

I’d imagine the debut of FaceTime in itself will spark the imaginations of developers going forward. If those developers do just a little bit of digging, they’ll realize that ReplayKit and the ability to stream have been a possibility for a long time. How long before creators launch reaction channels or live broadcasting via their Apple TVs? I’d hazard to guess it is not long at all. I’d also like to see Apple bring the iPad and Mac’s Photo Booth app to Apple TV.

Fitness

Each time that I check in with the Fitness app on Apple TV, I’m surprised at just how meaningful each update ends up being, and this year’s updates continue that trend. With the introduction of Custom Plans and Stacks, Apple’s Fitness offerings have been taken up a gear, along with my own personal trends and goals.

Custom Plans is essentially a way to build a schedule of routines with the kind of granular customization that will suit different needs and levels of fitness and experience. You create your plan on iPhone, picking a weekly schedule based on days, total time per day, and the length of the plan (from two weeks to eight weeks), along with the activity types you want to be included, and once on the review page you can also pick your trainer and music preferences.

Once set up on iPhone, custom plans are ready to access in Fitness on Apple TV.

Then, on Apple TV, you’re presented with a nice big reminder on the Fitness app’s home screen for what’s coming next. I’ve been on a plan of short 10-minute HIIT workouts accompanied by 20-minute Yoga and Meditation workouts and have already seen a huge increase in accountability that until now hadn’t come naturally to me when it comes to health and fitness. Furthermore, with an automation in the morning that turns the Apple TV on and opens the Fitness app ready for pairing, it’s been harder to put a workout off until later.

Another new addition called Audio Focus will arrive later this year. Found in audio options in the Fitness app’s video interface, Audio Focus lets you prioritize the volume of the music or the trainers’ voices, which is an invaluable tool when some of the motivational speeches become a little too much.

Fitness Stacks allow you to mix and match workout styles any way you wish.

Located in the top right of the Fitness app’s home screen, Stacks lets users with far more motivation than myself add multiple workouts to a playlist. Users create Stacks by browsing available workouts, pressing and holding any workout or meditation, and selecting ‘Add to Stack’ from the card menu that appears.

Lastly, Trainer Tips are short-form videos that have helped me in my pursuit of my personal health and fitness goals. Whether I’ve needed a pep talk on intention and motivation with Jessica Skye or a friendly reminder about scheduling with Nez Dally, Trainer Tips are a valuable addition. However, more specialized tips for specific workouts would probably be more beneficial long-term when needing some pre-workout instruction.

Home, Shortcuts, and Automation

Not a lot has changed with regard to Home this year in tvOS. Control Center now hosts a tab dedicated to Apple Home that leads with a carousel of live camera previews, including a new split-view that’s perfect for quick check-ins. As with last year’s release, the Home tab only gives access to favorited scenes, but when viewing a camera in full screen mode, you’re also granted access to any accessories connected to the scene.

A small quirk related to viewing cameras in full screen during video playback is that content will pause until returned to the forefront; however, watching a video in Apple Music allows the video to continue playing back, and that’s the experience I’d prefer. Door bell notifications are near instant in tvOS 17, but there’s still a disconnect in not being able to speak to visitors, even when connected to AirPods or HomePod.

As for automation and home control, the hardware that was once the center of the company’s home strategy still has very little in the way of automation or control options for the Home app. Automation recommendations begin and end at pausing media when the last person leaves the house, and there’s still no way to control power or update an Apple TV within Home, like is possible with HomePod.

In terms of Shortcuts, this year also sees no further additions to Remote actions in spite of the new ‘Enhance Dialogue’ option, and even though TV shows and movies do occasionally appear as Siri suggestions, there’s still no consistent way of adding specific titles to Shortcuts automations. What I hope to see in the future of Shortcuts integration is the ability for an action made within tvOS – such as switching profiles or opening a particular app – to be the trigger for other automations within the home.

Siri

Siri’s enhanced knowledge base in action. “When was the photograph invented?”

On the “What’s New” splash screen that accompanies this year’s tvOS release is the inclusion of Siri Enhancements, bringing Siri closer to parity with other platforms. While you still cannot use Shortcuts on Apple TV, you can now ask a number of queries and get results from a wide variety of sources. If the result is related to a public figure featured in the TV app, selecting it will take you to a catalog of content, including their filmography, TV show, and guest appearances.

Here are just a few examples:

Siri testing for notable people. Three out of four isn’t bad.

Along with that enhancement to Siri’s knowledge base, users can automatically switch profiles thanks to Learn My Voice. Siri also continues to support classic queries like:

“What did he/she/they say?” to rewind 30 seconds and briefly turn on subtitles;

“What’s the current (team) score?” to check live sports scores;

“Turn On/Off (connected device)” to control your home;

“Who stars in this?” to check out the cast in a movie or TV show currently playing.

Deeper knowledge-based questions for content currently playing are still very hit-and-miss, and Siri’s knowledge base still doesn’t come close enough to Prime Video’s X-Ray implementation. For example, frequently, querying the director, writers, photographer, editor, or stars of a particular episode returns no answer. For shows that have revolving ensemble casts each season or shows that change directors and writers, Siri shows results for the most recent season up top and not necessarily the season you’re currently watching, which can verge on spoiler territory or misinformation.

Siri’s now playing trivia base has some way to go, but the new layout for displaying results is welcomed.

Querying sports scores is inconsistent too. For example, while the TV app will display the scoreline for a cup game in progress unless you’re explicit about the competition you want, the score for Siri will revert to the previous league game’s final score. This was also recently the case for MLS teams during the inaugural Leagues Cup competition, an exclusive to Apple TV’s own MLS Season Pass.

As explained earlier in this review, Siri’s content results largely come from knowledge pulled from the TV app, which in turn gets its knowledge base from what’s available for purchase or across streaming at that given moment. That approach made sense in the early days, but with movie soundtracks available on Apple Music and the recent inclusion of Apple Fitness workouts relating to Apple’s other original properties – helping promote Ted Lasso’s final season and Lionel Messi’s MLS debut – I believe the time has come to combine related Siri results from other media sources.

HomePod

Enhance Dialogue with HomePod 2 in action.

When the original HomePod launched in 2018, Apple’s focus was reinventing music at home, and while Apple achieved that goal with aplomb, in the years that followed, the company’s focus shifted to Apple TV integration to create the perfect alternative to a traditional home theatre system. Virtualized Dolby Atmos, 5.1 and 7.1 via “home cinema with Apple TV 4K” would be followed a year later by a new ability that essentially turned Apple TV 4K into an audio receiver that could route any TV source to HomePod through HDMI 1.4’s Audio Return Channel.

This year, thanks to the new HomePod, users can select a new option within the video player’s Audio Enhancements menu called ‘Enhance Dialogue,’ which effectively makes speech more prominent in audio mixes. Exclusive to Apple TV 4K with home theatre audio mode and HomePod (2nd Generation), the new audio feature can be enhanced further still by selecting both ‘Enhanced Dialogue’ and ‘Reduce Loud Sounds’ together for the ultimate experience – a must for fans of mumblecore.

Siri and Connected HomePods

Siri and HomePod still can’t initiate these lovely knowledge based onscreen interactions across tvOS.

Last year’s successful launch of “Hey Siri” with AirPods left me with heightened expectations that this year would be the year when HomePods and Apple TV truly became one. Unfortunately, using Siri with HomePod remains a disappointing experience, with HomePod continuing to process requests rather than relaying them to Apple TV.

HomePod Siri hands-free was introduced two years ago as a means to easily playback requests on Apple TV by calling up a particular episode or using a generalized request and selecting an option from a returning list.

Examples from Disney+ and BBC iPlayer of the profile page that blocks playback of content using HomePod Siri hands-free.

The WWDC 2021 demo predictably used Apple’s “For All Mankind,” and examples from Apple TV+ still work flawlessly. Frustratingly, Siri’s hands-free control is broken when requesting content playback from nearly all third-party streaming apps due to the inability to move past the profile selection screen, which almost every app now employs.

Considering Apple has made two separate attempts to get third parties to link their app’s profile systems with Apple’s own in both 2020 and 2022, now feels like a good time to add this additional item to the video partner program’s list of eligibility and requirements.

Enhancements to Connected AirPods

AirPods Noise Cancellation options now include Adaptive Audio in tvOS 17.

Beyond the update that dropped the “Hey” from “Hey Siri” and speedier switching between devices, a new Adaptive Audio mode joins Noise Cancellation and Transparency audio modes.

All modes offer toggle options for Conversation Awareness too. The new feature, which is exclusive to second-generation AirPods Pro, automatically lowers audio and turns off noise cancellation when your AirPods sense you are speaking. While my experience out and about has been mixed, when paired with Apple TV, it’s been a fantastic addition to late-night movie watching in Shared Audio mode. Conversation Awareness adds the ability to comfortably talk to one another without having to pause or lip-read and politely nod.

Shared Spatial Audio debuts on tvOS with unified Dolby Atmos controls.

You’d be excused for thinking that there was nothing more to add this year to AirPods’ Apple TV connectivity, but you’d be wrong. This year, as part of an exciting stealth update to AirPods, Shared Audio is going Spatial. After a handful of appearances in early beta builds last year, Shared Spatial Audio makes its debut in tvOS 17. Now, when sharing audio, compatible AirPods can take advantage of 5.1, 7.1, or virtualized Dolby Atmos soundtracks as part of a 16-channel process at 768 Kbps. The updated feature is restricted to Fixed Spatial Audio in this scenario; even better still, while using Audio Sharing, Spatial Audio controls are unified.

Native VPN Support

By now, everyone has probably heard a podcast ad-read for a VPN. It starts by telling you about the benefits of protecting your online activity when using public WiFi (something everyone should do), but the real selling point that comes next is the ability to watch geo-restricted content.

Native VPN support can also be controlled directly from within the new Control Center.

I’ve used VPNs with Apple TV for that reason for some time. Just this last year, I bought a secondary VPN-enabled router and connected it to HomeBridge (and, therefore, Siri) just to be able to automate a VPN on Apple TV.

Others have always sworn by the method of a SmartDNS proxy, but the benefits of a VPN mean that you can connect to servers at precise locations to get around certain sports broadcast blackouts or other local broadcasts. The issue until now was that by using a VPN the way I had to, I’d also lose access to my HomeKit cameras and the ability to control lights and set scenes.

Native VPN support through tvOS 17 offers the benefits of a VPN without any of the pitfalls, all while offering the same simplicity of setup as users have come to expect on iOS. Sign up or sign into one of many apps from the App Store, choose a server, hit connect, and you’re set. Further customization can be found in Settings, but for everyone else, once set, you can turn on/off VPN connections within a new VPN tab that appears in Control Center.

Everything Else

Here’s a list of other noteworthy changes to tvOS 17.

Locate Siri Remote

In the pursuit of finding my Siri Remote quickly, the simplest way was the most effective. Apple’s Siri Remote Loop solved most of my issues for years, but when the newly designed Siri Remote arrived, its port proved incompatible.

My move to AirTag with Nomad’s Horween Leather Cover has proved fruitful for ultra-precise Find My-based Siri Remote sofa hunting shenanigans, but no one should really go through the same expense as I did. For everyone else slightly saner than I am, there’s a new feature called Locate Siri Remote, which can be found via the Remote app in Control Center for iOS.

Find Siri Remote in action through Remote in Control Center for iOS.

Users can now initiate the finding of their second- and third-generation Siri Remotes by tapping on the Find prompt in the Remote app’s TV selection screen. Simply follow the blue onscreen circle, which shifts in size in order to guide your next movement toward the remote. When the Siri Remote has been located, a white dot appears and gets larger as you get closer, with text letting you know if you’re near, far, or “here” (next to the remote). The only thing still missing is a way to automate applause when you finally find it down the deepest crevice of your sofa.

Screen Savers

Examples of the new Ariel additions this year.

While the film and TV aficionado in me is begging for some fun Apple Originals-themed aerial screen savers next time around, this year sees two new locations: Arizona’s Monument Valley and the coastal redwoods of California.

Memories in action. My trip across North America last year.

Memories also join the ever-expanding list of screen saver types this year, delivering personalized collections of your photos and videos to the big screen through a satisfying variety of animations, from mosaics to the more traditional slow pans and zooms. While the default option is to show all, users can also select by favorites, recent activity, or specific album.

Like many others, I need to sort out my sizable photo library. That urgency is increased thanks to the ease of access to a selection of those same memories via a new top-shelf highlight for Apple TV. During playback, users can also manually glide through the selection of photos and video clips compiled and get information for the music track included.

802.1X Networking Support

Apple TV devices now support connection to 802.1X networks using EAP-TLS 1.3. In another win for privacy advocates, the new standard further improves privacy and security by always providing forward secrecy and never disclosing the peer identity while also reducing latency.

Restore Apple TV 4K with iPhone

Starting with tvOS 17 and iOS 17, it is now possible to restore any Apple TV HD or Apple TV 4K model experiencing problems with a nearby iPhone following a brand new onscreen prompt. Thankfully, while I haven’t yet run into problems with later hardware models, it’s good to know that there’s now another option, besides sending Apple TV 4K hardware to Apple directly.

Conclusion

“I believe in hope. I believe in ‘believe.’” - Ted Lasso

Apple TV continues to be the best streaming device out there, continually adopting new industry audio and video standards and delivering an experience both familiar and intuitive enough for anyone to pick up and enjoy.

In a year where most attention was concentrated on the next evolution in home entertainment and spatial computing, and as excited as I am to try Apple Vision Pro again, I can’t help but consider how that future may not be a replacement for, but instead, an addition to the TV.

That’s not how I thought I’d feel heading into this summer. However, what started as a surprise with the announcement of FaceTime and Continuity Camera has since morphed into palpable belief in a brighter future for Apple TV and tvOS. Yes, Apple TV will continue to be a great destination for entertainment, but this year’s tvOS release offers a first glimpse of the platform harnessing the company’s other OSes and services too.

In the short time since tvOS 17’s public release, I’ve already seen Apple TVs used in new ways for production. Once, it was just an AirPlay destination for easier top-down shots and roaming cameras. However, now, an Apple TV connected to a capture device also offers an easy way to create presentations or record conversations thanks to Continuity Camera. When developers unlock the tools that have slowly trickled out year after year, tvOS could be looked upon in a different light from how it’s regarded today.

A full production suite for small creators or extensions to current uses in meeting rooms and educational institutions could be the company’s answer to cost-effective computing in developing countries or perhaps a new way to log into its suite of productivity apps through iCloud. Maybe the TV was dropped from the top of Apple TV’s latest hardware iteration for a reason?

We’ll find out the answer to that question soon enough. Until then, it’s time to make a cup of tea and put on a movie.

A special thanks to Jonathan Reed, Devon Dundee, and James Lees for sharing in my passion for Apple TV through their hard work over the years at screentimes.net and on our podcast Magic Rays of Light.

Finally, a huge thanks to Federico and John for the privileged opportunity to follow the great work of Ryan Christoffel, whose earlier Apple TV coverage on the site continues to be a source of personal inspiration.

Played by the incomparable Jason Sudeikis. ↩︎

The Sports tab remains a North American exclusive despite launching in November 2017.   ↩︎

Another library item that needs attention is the displaying of complete TV boxsets as a singular never-ending row of episode tiles that lack separation by season. ↩︎

Reactions and the introduction of gestures can’t help but make me wonder if we’re just a step away from Siri via ASL and gesture control. ↩︎