Apple today seeded the seventh beta of an upcoming tvOS 14 update to developers for testing purposes. Designed for the fourth and fifth-generation Apple TV models, the new tvOS 14 beta comes one week after the release of the sixth beta.
Registered developers can download the new tvOS 14 beta onto the Apple TV through a profile that's installed using Apple's Xcode software.
tvOS 14 introduces Picture in Picture, a feature that lets you watch movies or TV shows in a small window in the corner of the screen while you do something else on the Apple TV.
There's a new Home section in the Control Center on Apple TV in tvOS 14, which allows HomeKit-connected devices to be controlled right from the TV. There's an option to view HomeKit camera feeds on the larger screen of the television or in Picture in Picture mode so you can keep an eye on your house at all times.
Apple Arcade on Apple TV now supports multiple users, so each tvOS user can keep track of their individual game levels, leaderboards, and invitations. Additional gaming controllers are supported, including the Xbox Elite Wireless Controller Series 2 and Xbox Adaptive Controllers, and Apple TV games can now take advantage of haptic feedback and other features built into controllers.
There's an option to manually choose a screensaver category in tvOS 14, and for those who watch YouTube, tvOS 14 supports watching YouTube videos in 4K for the first time.
For more on the new features coming in tvOS 14, make sure to check out our roundup. tvOS 14 is expected to be released this fall alongside iOS and iPadOS 14.
Top Rated Comments
tvOS 14 beta 7 (18J5379a)
This is why I continue to use the standalone Movies and TV Shows apps to access my iTunes libraries, instead of using the TV app. The only time I bother with the TV app is when I want to access TV+ content. I use Shortcuts on my iPhone to jump straight to the TV+ section of the TV app, avoiding all the other clutter. If Apple ever adds shortcuts to Apple TV, I'll do the same there. I really wish Apple would redesign or release a standalone app just for TV+.
App still will not load large libraries—punishing Apple’s biggest customers. To say nothing of the app being litered with ads—commonly for shows and services you have already paid for you and watched. Remember how Apple used to make fun of PCs and all the crapware that came pre-loaded? This is no different.
Large libraries of what? Where most of us all stream Netflix library has millions of shows along with Hulu and all the other apps, and it only downloads items locally in the background as needed.
Apple doesn't show ads, however third party apps certainly can choose to as a way to offer free tiers to users. With Hulu for instance you can pay a premium to get live tv without ads. If you don't want to pay for that, then you pay by watching ads instead. Some apps choose the charge a fee and still have some ads but you'll want to reach out to them directly if you'd like to see additional options with a particular app such as being able to pay more to see less ads. Apple of course would love if there were no ads on any shows since no one in general loves ads, but then all those apps would have to charge a lot more for all customers and many customers won't pay for content they are use to getting for free.
edit: 4K YouTube not available yet.