The Apple TV 4K set-top box is getting a handful of new features with tvOS 26. tvOS 26 is available now as a public beta, and will be available as a free software update later this year for everyone to install.
tvOS 26 includes updates to Apple Music Sing, easier profile switching, better support for AirPlay speakers that are not HomePods, and a visual design refresh featuring Liquid Glass material. Here’s everything new …
tvOS 26 is available for all Apple TV HD and Apple TV 4K models, although older generations of hardware do not support all of the new features. Most significantly, the Liquid Glass material effects are limited to the second-generation Apple TV 4K (released in 2021) and newer.
To try out the public beta before the public release coming in the fall, go to Settings -> System -> Software Update -> Get Beta Updates.
Once you are updated, here’s the new features to look out for:
Liquid Glass redesign
Apple has applied a consistent visual theme across its operating systems this year, featuring layering of ‘Liquid Glass’ materials that distort and refract light just like platters of real glass. The visual changes on tvOS are subtle, but noticeable and welcomed.
Control Center features clear glass controls, your currently playing content beautifully shines through the buttons overlaid on the media player, and even the dock on the home screen sparkles at the edges, details that are especially striking on OLED TV.
Fresh new look for the Apple TV app
Building on the new glassy system appearance, Apple has overhauled the design of the TV app. The big new change is the switch from landscape to portrait poster artwork for your movies and TV shows.
This makes the listings feel more premium and more cinematic, but it also increases density. Due to the change in aspect ratio from landscape to portrait imagery, the TV app can now display more items per row, so you can browse what’s new on TV+ even more quickly.
Your Continue Watching queue is now represented by integrated cards that superimpose playback progress and text descriptions on top of imagery, and sleek visual treatments for the top 10 labels add additional visual flair.
New karaoke party features for Apple Music Sing
Apple has upgraded the built-in karaoke experience in the Music app with tvOS 26. With a song playing on the Apple TV, you can now pair your friends’ nearby iPhones to act as wireless handheld microphones. Sing into the iPhone to hear your vocals played through the TV, over the base music track. From the iPhone, you can add songs to the queue, react with emojis and modify your voice with some fun modulation effects.
The Lyrics experience has also been upgraded across Apple’s platforms to include translations and pronunciation guides with supported songs, so you can feel more connected than ever to foreign music culture.
Improved user account profile switching interface
On earlier version of tvOS, you could set up multiple accounts on the Apple TV and switch between them by long-pressing the TV button on the remote to open Control Center. This was a bit tedious, and quite easy to forget to do when someone else in your family sits down on the sofa.
Apple is trying to smooth this out with a new setting in tvOS 26 that automatically shows a user account picker when the Apple TV wakes from sleep. Turn on this feature by going to Settings -> Users and Accounts -> Who’s watching?. Unfortunately, almost no third-party apps support the system user account profiles functionality, so this feature remains woefully inadequate.
And more …
- New Aerial screensavers feature stunning landscapes from across India. You can also now personalize the Aerials screensaver, by selecting exactly which aerials you want to see and which you want to exclude from the rotation.
- An updated FaceTime layout shows the user’s contact poster when a call comes in. You can also get Live Captions to display for conversations in more languages.
- Phone call and FaceTime audio notifications display on the TV for the current user, allowing you to quickly answer using connected HomePods, or your iPhone.
- Choose any AirPlay 2 speaker as the permanent audio output for the Apple TV. This means if you don’t have HomePods, your Apple TV will automatically stay connected to your desired AirPlay 2 external speakers when playing media.
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