Apple today seeded the first beta of an upcoming tvOS 12.2 update to its public beta testing group, a few days after providing the beta to developers and a week after releasing the tvOS 12.1.2 update.
The tvOS 12.2 public beta can be obtained by going to the Settings app on the Apple TV and navigating to the Software Updates section under "System." "Get Public Beta Updates" will need to be toggled on, and once it is, the Apple TV will download the beta software.
tvOS 12.2, paired with iOS 12.2, lets users ask Siri to play specific media on an Apple TV from an iOS device. You can, for example, ask Siri to play Modern Family on the TV in the living room. This works for music and TV content.
No other new features were discovered in the tvOS 12.2 beta as of yet, and it's often difficult to determine what's new because Apple does not provide release notes letting us know what's changed.
Apple is not expected to release a standard iPhone 18 model this year, according to a growing number of reports that suggest the company is planning a significant change to its long-standing annual iPhone launch cycle.
Despite the immense success of the iPhone 17 in 2025, the iPhone 18 is not expected to arrive until the spring of 2027, leaving the iPhone 17 in the lineup as the latest...
Apple's restrained artificial intelligence strategy may pay off in 2026 amid the arrival of a revamped Siri and concerns around the AI market "bubble" bursting, The Information argues.
The speculative report notes that Apple has taken a restrained approach with AI innovations compared with peers such as OpenAI, Google, and Meta, which are investing hundreds of billions of dollars in data...
Tuesday December 30, 2025 2:11 pm PST by Juli Clover
The Apple Fitness+ Instagram account today teased that the service has "big plans" for 2026. In a video, several Apple Fitness+ trainers are shown holding up newspapers with headlines related to Apple Fitness+.
What's Apple Fitness+ Planning for the New Year?
Something Big is Coming to Apple Fitness+
The Countdown Begins. Apple Fitness+ 2026 is Almost Here
2026 Plans Still Under ...
Tuesday December 30, 2025 10:39 am PST by Juli Clover
iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max owners are having trouble with the speakers of their devices, and have complained about a static or hissing noise that occurs when the iPhone is charging.
There are multiple discussions about the issue on Reddit, the MacRumors forums, and Apple's Support Community, where affected users say there is a noticeable static noise "like an old radio." Some people report...
Monday December 22, 2025 11:30 am PST by Juli Clover
Apple hasn't updated the Apple TV 4K since 2022, and 2025 was supposed to be the year that we got a refresh. There were rumors suggesting Apple would release the new Apple TV before the end of 2025, but it looks like that's not going to happen now.
Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos.
Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said several times across 2024 and 2025 that Apple would...
Monday December 29, 2025 10:55 am PST by Juli Clover
Apple is rumored to be introducing a foldable iPhone in September 2026, and since it will bring the biggest form factor change since the iPhone was introduced in 2007, curiosity about the design is high. A 3D designer created an iPhone Fold design based on rumors, and we printed it out to see how it compares to Apple's current iPhones.
Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more ...
Wednesday December 31, 2025 9:59 am PST by Juli Clover
Apple hasn't updated the Mac Pro since 2023, and according to recent rumors, there's no update coming in the near future. In fact, Apple might be finished with the Mac Pro.
Bloomberg recently said that the Mac Pro is "on the back burner" and has been "largely written off" by Apple. Apple apparently views the more compact Mac Studio as the ideal high-end pro-level desktop, and it has almost...
Wednesday December 31, 2025 8:39 am PST by Eric Slivka
Apple today added the final 13-inch MacBook Air powered by Intel processors, the Apple Watch Series 5, and additional products to its vintage products list. The iPhone 11 Pro was also added to the list after the iPhone 11 Pro Max was added back in September.
The full list of products added to Apple's vintage and obsolete list today:
MacBook Air (Retina, 13-inch, 2020)
iPhone 8 Plus 128GB ...
Hopefully tvOS 12.2 or 13.0 will provide third-party developers with the capability to add support for Dolby Atmos. The Apple TV only support Dolby Atmos on-top of Dolby Digital Plus aka the "lossy" version of Dolby Atmos. Not all that surprising as the Apple TV and tvOS did not support the lossless formats such as Dolby True HD or DTS: Master Audio to begin with.
But the saddest part of the Dolby Atmos support is how there is no API for developers to utilise in order to get it supported within their apps. Firecore, the developers behind Infuse and Plex Inc the developers behind Plex Media Player are simply not allowed to add support for Dolby Atmos within these apps.
It's only Apple themselves, and chosen streaming provides working directly with Apple that are allowed to integrate with the Dolby Atmos capabilities within tvOS. This is such a shame and is really putting some stark discrimination on the developers.
Hopefully tvOS 12.2 or 13.0 will provide a API for all the developers to use. Why limit this in such a way? It's beyond me... [doublepost=1548700522][/doublepost]The Firecore team encourages Apple TV users to raise this issue with Apple;
Dolby Atmos support has been announced at WWDC for tvOS 12!
Unfortunately, the current implementation is only useful for VOD services like iTunes, Netflix, and Vudu. Enabling Atmos for local content is a change that needs to come from Apple, and as the old saying goes “The squeaky wheel gets the grease.” So...we're asking you to be as squeaky as possible...within reason of course.
Ways you can help
[LIST=1] * Request a feature or enhancement through apple.com/feedback ('http://www.apple.com/feedback/appletv.html') * Submit an suggestion bug report through bugreport.apple.com ('http://bugreport.apple.com/') (developers only, see steps below) * Encourage other people you know to do one of the above
A good template of the details to include with your request can be found below.
Dolby Atmos is now supported on Apple TV, which is great! However, the options provided for Atmos are rather limited and not very useful for those who wish to play their own local Atmos content.
Please allow tvOS applications (e.g., Infuse, Plex, DS Video, etc.) to provide more flexible audio options to their users either through the use of Dolby MAT v2.0 or full bitstream audio passthrough.
Devices like NVIDIA SHIELD, Dune 4K, and many other Android-based media players support this feature, and it would be fantastic if the Apple TV would as well.
Steps for filing a Radar.
[LIST=1] * Log in to: bugreport.apple.com ('http://bugreport.apple.com/') * Choose: Report a new bug * For product, select: tvOS + SDK -> AV Playback * Title: “Atmos Support for Playback from Local Network Sources” * Classification: Suggestion
All we need now is a new Apple TV! Hopefully, one without the ridiculous trackpad remote. JMHO.
I like the remote. The trackpad lets me move around quickly and scrub through a show. Easy peasy. And since it has siri built in to find and play shows I fail to see why I need that through my phone as well.
