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References to Siri for Apple TV Found in iOS 7.1 Code

Wednesday April 23, 2014 7:38 am PDT by Eric Slivka

Amid persistant rumors that Apple is developing a revamped Apple TV set-top box, new code appearing in iOS 7.1 indicates that the company is indeed working on building in support for Siri voice input on the Apple TV, as highlighted by 9to5Mac. The references are included in both iOS 7.1 and iOS 7.1.1, but not in earlier releases such as iOS 7.0.6.

siri_apple_tv_assistant

The file is a supporting property-list resource for Assistant (Apple's internal name for Siri), containing information about the feature. The UIDeviceFamily array declares what platforms are compatible with the feature.

As shown by Apple’s documentation, '1' and '2' represent the iPhone/iPod touch and iPad families. The '3' represents the Apple TV family.

References to a new Apple TV model were previously found in iOS 7 builds, and today's information suggests that voice input and feedback are likely to be included on the new device.

Apple's launch plans for a new Apple TV box remain unclear, with rumors of a late 2013 launch giving way to reports centering around an introduction in March or April of this year. Those rumors were then quashed by The Loop's Jim Dalrymple, leaving uncertainty about Apple's television plans. A recent product roadmap prediction from KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo indicated that the new Apple TV could arrive around September or October of this year.

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Top Rated Comments

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Sky Blue

66 months ago

Siri, play the latest episode of the Walking Dead.

"Sorry, I can find a show called Wrouton Ted. Would you like me to search the internet?"

Rating: 43 Votes

akm3

66 months ago

Siri has always worked perfectly for me. I have a success rate of about 80%. I'm not saying that you've done this, but usually when people complain about Siri, it's because they've set it to a different dialect/accent than their own, like Americans setting it to Australian, simply because they think the Siri voice is cool in Australian. I use Siri on a day to day basis, and the service is amazing, and almost never mishears me.

I like Siri too but a success rate of 80% is not 'perfectly'

Rating: 9 Votes

unplugme71

66 months ago

I highly doubt there would be a microphone on the Apple TV. Most people store it in an entertainment cabinet behind a glass door.

I'm going to take a guess that it will be part of the 'Remote' app on the iPhone/iPad and maybe for the rumored 'iwatch'.

This will enable all 1st-3rd gen aTV's to work with it.

Rating: 8 Votes

cdavis11

66 months ago

Siri has always worked perfectly for me. I have a success rate of about 80%.

Those two things are mutually exclusive.

Rating: 8 Votes

Four oF NINE

66 months ago

Yelling at my television.Can't wait.

People have been yelling at their televisions for decades

Rating: 7 Votes

iKane

66 months ago

I hate Siri and turn it off. It's so much slower to use than just performing the task myself as manually I get it right every single time. The only use case for Siri is probably driving.

Eh? It's much quicker to use Siri to set an alarm at night, or a timer while I'm cooking with messy hands. While I'm getting ready in the morning I often ask what the temperature is, seeing as Apple decided to take that out of the notification centre (I know it sometimes says the current temperature but not always). I've learnt to just enunciate properly and it understands me fine. I've even used Siri to tell me how many episodes of Star Trek: Voyager there are, what calories are in some foods, frankly loads of really useful things.

I don't understand the point of turning it off either unless you're always holding down the home button for fun.

Rating: 5 Votes