After LG disappointed swathes of customers by saying it had "no plans" to bring promised AirPlay 2 and HomeKit support to select 2018 TVs, the company has now renewed its pledge to do so by the end of the year.
Today's announcement was made by LG UK's official Twitter account, the very same account that last month told its customers that AirPlay 2 and HomeKit would not be coming to its pre-2019 TVs, despite previously giving customers assurances that they would do so this year.
The original tweet has since been deleted, and it's not clear whether this latest u-turn is the result of poor communication within the company or a reaction to the outpouring of negative customer comments that its earlier statement elicited. Either way, owners of 2018 LG smart TVs that have LCD models with "SK" or "UK" in the name or OLED models with "B8" through "Z8" in the name are likely to welcome the development.
Customers worldwide can now enjoy the Apple TV app on LG 2018 OLED and Super UHD TVs, with UHD TV models to follow. LG's 2018 TVs will add support for Apple AirPlay 2 and HomeKit later this year, and more details will be shared when these features become available — LG UK (@LGUK) September 7, 2020
AirPlay 2 support will enable users of the above TV models to stream videos, music, podcasts, and more directly from an iPhone, iPad, or Mac to their LG smart TV, with no Apple TV necessary. With HomeKit support, they will be able to control their TV's power, volume, source, and more using Siri or the Home app on iPhone, iPad, and Mac.
LG today also officially announced worldwide support for Apple's TV app on select LG 2018 OLED and Super UHD TVs, with support for UHD TV models to follow. The announcement follows scattered reports last month that the Apple TV app had begun showing up for some users.
Top Rated Comments
Its a good question, I have homebridge set up so I have full HomeKit control anyway so I guess its more about the principals. 1.Vizo did an update to their old sets and so quickly. 2. If apple can release updated OSs for all their products (some as cheap as the $200 Apple TV box) for a good 6 years then why cant LG offer the same support to a $3K for than 2 years?At what point does it no longer matter for you?
I had an LG tv and it had verticals bars. LG took my TV for 7 weeks only to return it un-fixed claiming it was working as normal. Even the repair person who picked it up and saw it clearly had an issue.
Of course after that long I couldn’t return it. So for me, it doesn’t matter if LG offered to fix it because I would t buy another.
When I get a new OLED TV LG only ticks the boxes of features I want, their lack of support is what worries me. the other options are all lacking something
Sony - Runs android and that doesn't sit right with me, no HDMI 2.1
Panasonic - No homekit, No NDMI 2.1
Philips - Android and no homekit , No HDMI 2.1
I wish Apple would just release a proper OLED TV I would happily pay a hefty Apple Premium (Tax)
AirPlay thru the TV directly was terrible. 4K videos practically don't stream with extremely choppy audio & video, as if the processing power of the TV can't handle it. The AppleTV displayed the same videos smoothly.
I can't imagine the situation on older TV models would be any better.