tvOS 18: The MacStories Overview

Yesterday, during its WWDC 2024 opening keynote, Apple officially revealed its latest software story for Apple TV. Coming this fall, tvOS 18 introduces new intelligence-based features such as InSight and on-device Siri, native 21:9 aspect ratio support, new screen savers, and a host of noteworthy additions to enhance the at-home TV viewing experience. Let’s jump into everything new coming to Apple TV.

InSight

Apple’s video player is somewhat of a hidden gem when it comes to playback and controls for audio and captions. A few years ago, the company expanded its functionality with a quick swipe down gesture revealing an Info panel with details of the currently-playing content and quick access to the user’s Up Next queue. Premiering this fall is a new feature nestled between those two elements called InSight.

A new addition to Apple TV+, InSight gives users real-time access to information about the actors and their characters onscreen, as well as the soundtrack in a given scene, allowing viewers to quickly add that song or musical performance to an Apple Music playlist to enjoy later. Much like Amazon Prime Video’s X-Ray feature that came before it, there’s lots of fine granular detail that could be added to InSight before its fall launch, but this is a great start.

In addition to accessing InSight on the big screen, users will also be able to view real-time actor, character, and music information through the Remote app found in Control Center on iOS and iPadOS, allowing access to the same information for a distraction-free experience when watching with friends and family.

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Audio Improvements, Captions, and Siri

Sticking with the theme of intelligence, Apple announced that this year’s additions include on-device Siri support for Apple TV, with some voice requests now processed locally without the need for communication with the cloud.

Enhance Dialogue, which first debuted last year on HomePod and HomePod mini, enhances speech by pushing vocals to the forefront of the audio mix and compressing other distracting noises in a film or show’s soundtrack. This year, Enhance Dialogue has been reworked and is now powered by machine learning, allowing Apple to democratize the feature by expanding it to AirPods, TV speakers, HDMI-connected speakers, receivers, and other Bluetooth speakers. Furthermore, this year Enhance Dialogue takes things up a notch with a new Boost mode, further leveraging machine learning and computational audio to boost the volume of a scene’s dialogue and overpower other competing frequencies.

Captions have also been given some intelligent playback enhancements. In tvOS 18, if you start watching a show or film with dialogue that doesn’t match the language set in your Apple TV’s settings, subtitles will activate thanks to a new Automatic Subtitles option. Captions will also appear automatically when muting a film or show, and for those who often wonder, “What did they just say?” captions will appear for a short duration when a user skips backwards during playback.

Support for 21:9 Projection

Easily the most niche addition to the Apple TV software story this year is the inclusion of native support for the 21:9 aspect ratio, commonly used in projectors within a home theatre environment. 21:9 is also referred to as 2.37:1 or CinemaScope, and it offers a wider canvas than the standard 16:9 widescreen format.

While no additional details have been confirmed by Apple at this time, 21:9 support is more than likely enabled by the signal format sent from the display to Apple TV via the HDMI handshake process. So even though Apple explicitly mentions projection setups, owners of widescreen monitors or massive, modular LED video walls could also potentially feel the love.

FaceTime, Fitness, and Screen Savers

When you’re not using Apple TV to watch movies or TV shows, you’re able to make FaceTime calls and enjoy shared experiences with your family and friends on the big screen thanks to last year’s introduction of Continuity Camera support. This year, FaceTime calls are further enhanced by the ability to have spoken conversations turned into text and displayed in real time with FaceTime Live Captions for English in the U.S. and Canada.

Apple Fitness+ has also been redesigned across Apple’s platforms, including tvOS 18. The service now features a personalized For You space with recommendations based on your workout history, an Explore area that can help you find new activities to push yourself further, and a Library space to track favorite workouts and trainers. Awards have also been enhanced alongside new search features.

Stunning new screen saver categories are being introduced with tvOS 18, including Portraits, which feature color-enhancing effects, image segmentation, and a display of the current time over photos from your library – much like the iPhone’s Lock Screen. Fans of Apple Original series and films will be pleased to see the addition of TV and Movie screen savers from the likes of Foundation, and even Snoopy and Woodstock get to join in on the fun with a new animated, context-aware screen saver featuring the classic Peanuts characters.

With so many categories to choose from, including Aerials, Photos and Slideshows, TV and Movies, and Portraits, users will be able to find the exact screen saver they want simply by swiping up for the new Screen Saver menu.

Apple TV For All of You

While the latest iteration of Apple’s big-screen entertainment experience may not offer the grand reinvention some might have hoped for, the ninth iteration of tvOS does introduce a handful of welcome enhancements. There’s fan service for Apple TV aficionados with the introduction of InSight and Apple Original-themed screen savers, and there’s even something for the often forgotten home theatre enthusiast. However, this year’s use of machine learning is the most positive addition, representing a pivot away from the idealistic all-Apple home theatre setup while democratizing Apple TV’s benefits, all in the search for a wider audience.