Apple Seeds Second Beta of tvOS 16.1 to Developers

Apple today seeded the second beta of an upcoming tvOS 16.1 update to developers for testing purposes, with the beta coming one week after the launch of the first beta.

apple tv 4k design blue
tvOS updates are typically minor, focusing on under-the-hood bug fixes and improvements rather than outward-facing changes. No new features were found in the first beta of tvOS 16.1.

Apple shares some information on tvOS releases in its tvOS support document, which is updated after each tvOS launch. tvOS 16 brought enhanced multiuser support, Personalized Spatial Audio when using AirPods, and Accessibility improvements.

Though we don't often know what's new in tvOS during the beta testing process, we let MacRumors readers know when new updates are available so those who are developers can download it upon release.

Related Roundup: Apple TV
Buyer's Guide: Apple TV (Don't Buy)

Popular Stories

M5 MacBook Pro

Apple Announces New 14-Inch MacBook Pro With M5 Chip

Wednesday October 15, 2025 6:07 am PDT by
Apple today updated the 14-inch MacBook Pro base model with its new M5 chip, which is also available in updated iPad Pro and Vision Pro models. In addition, the base 14-inch MacBook Pro can now be configured with up to 4TB of storage on Apple's online store, whereas the previous model maxed out at 2TB. However, the maximum amount of unified RAM available for this model remains 32GB. Like...
Apple iPad Pro hero M5

Apple Debuts New iPad Pro With M5 Chip, Faster Charging, and More

Wednesday October 15, 2025 6:16 am PDT by
Apple today announced the next-generation iPad Pro, featuring the custom-designed M5, C1X, and N1 chips. The M5 chip has up to a 10-core CPU, with four performance cores and six efficiency cores. It features a next-generation GPU with Neural Accelerator in each core, allowing the new iPad Pro to deliver up to 3.5x the AI performance than the previous model, and a third-generation ray-tracing ...
apple oct 2024 mac tease

Apple Expected to Announce These Two to Three Products 'This Week'

Sunday October 12, 2025 7:05 am PDT by
Apple plans to announce new products "this week," according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Apple's "Mac Your Calendars" teaser last October In his Power On newsletter today, Gurman said the products set to be updated this week include the iPad Pro, Vision Pro, and "likely" the base 14-inch MacBook Pro, with all three likely to receive a spec bump with Apple's next-generation M5 chip. Gurman...
maxresdefault

Here's Everything Apple Announced Today

Wednesday October 15, 2025 3:54 pm PDT by
We didn't get a second fall event this year, but Apple did unveil updated products with a series of press releases that went out today. The M5 chip made an appearance in new MacBook Pro, Vision Pro, and iPad Pro models. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. We've rounded up our coverage and highlighted the main feature changes for each device below. MacBook Pro M5...
joz macbook tease

Apple Teases Upcoming M5 MacBook Pro Launch: 'Something Powerful is Coming'

Tuesday October 14, 2025 11:59 am PDT by
Apple marketing chief Greg Joswiak today teased the launch of an upcoming product, saying "something powerful is coming" on social media. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. A short animation accompanying Joswiak's teaser reveals a brief glimpse of a MacBook Pro along with the words "coming soon." The shape of the MacBook Pro is a V, which is the Roman numeral...
airpods max 2024 colors

AirPods Max 2: Everything We Know So Far

Tuesday October 14, 2025 8:43 am PDT by
Apple's AirPods Max have now been available for almost five years, so what do we know about the second-generation version? According to Apple supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, the new AirPods Max will be lighter than the current ones, but exactly how much is as yet known. The current AirPods Max weigh 0.85 pounds (386.2 grams), excluding the charging case, making it one of the heavier...
Vision Pro M5 Announcement

Apple Updates Vision Pro With M5 Chip, Dual Knit Band, and 120Hz Support

Wednesday October 15, 2025 6:14 am PDT by
Apple today updated the Vision Pro headset with its next-generation M5 chip for faster performance, and a more comfortable Dual Knit Band. The M5 chip has a 10-core CPU, a 10-core GPU with Neural Accelerators, and a 16-core Neural Engine, and we have confirmed the Vision Pro still has 16GB of RAM. With the M5 chip, the Vision Pro offers faster performance and longer battery life compared...
macbook pro blue

Apple's M5 MacBook Pro Imminent: What to Expect

Tuesday October 14, 2025 4:35 pm PDT by
Apple is going to launch a new version of the MacBook Pro as soon as tomorrow, so we thought we'd go over what to expect from Apple's upcoming Mac. M5 Chip The MacBook Pro will be one of the first new devices to use the next-generation M5 chip, which will replace the M4 chip. The M5 is built on TSMC's more advanced 3-nanometer process, and it will bring speed and efficiency improvements. ...
MacBook Pro M5 Screen

New MacBook Pro Does Not Include a Charger in the Box in Europe

Wednesday October 15, 2025 6:59 am PDT by
The new 14-inch MacBook Pro with an M5 chip does not include a charger in the box in European countries, including the U.K., Ireland, Germany, Italy, France, Spain, the Netherlands, Norway, and others, according to Apple's online store. In the U.S. and all other countries outside of Europe, the new MacBook Pro comes with Apple's 70W USB-C Power Adapter, but European customers miss out....
HomePod mini and Apple TV

Apple's Next Rumored Products: New HomePod Mini, Apple TV, and More

Thursday October 16, 2025 9:13 am PDT by
Apple on Wednesday updated the 14-inch MacBook Pro, iPad Pro, and Vision Pro with its next-generation M5 chip, but previous rumors have indicated that the company still plans to announce at least a few additional products before the end of the year. The following Apple products have at one point been rumored to be updated in 2025, although it is unclear if the timeframe for any of them has...

Top Rated Comments

Rhodes187 Avatar
40 months ago
Crazy that Apple does bare minimum for the Photos app on the AppleTV. Here's this conduit on the perfect screen to view all your photos/videos, yet browsing them is painful. Why have they not implemented a search by date/person/location/etc etc to explore your content?
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
audiomixer Avatar
40 months ago

Hope they fixed the volume issue.
Did they? I’ll update mine in the morning and see. My current 16.1 volume conrtol is working after much fanfare.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Gator5000e Avatar
40 months ago
OK, guys. Waiting on any reports of what it does, if anything.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
izzle22 Avatar
40 months ago
Hope they fixed the volume issue.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
BKDad Avatar
40 months ago
"tvOS updates are typically minor" ?

Since the tvOS 16 update this morning, my volume control doesn't work. The dedicated Apple supplied hardware volume control!

After the upgrade, it asks for additional Apple ID credentials. But, no problem. Just hold your iPad running iPadOS 16 (cruel joke) up to the Apple TV or your iPhone running iOS 16 and some magic will occur. Well, I tried with my new iPhone running iOS 16. I got to the point where it asked me to type in the secret four digit code that was on screen. So, I did. Then, it all stopped and I got a friendly message telling that whatever was going to happen didn't work right then, so try again later. I did. Nothing. Unplugged the Apple TV and tried again. Nothing. Tried a third time and still nothing. Then, I realized that this was just some sadistic joke on Apple's part. Just how could anybody enter the Apple ID information if they didn't own an iOS 16 wielding iPhone? There's no way I found to do any of it manually. I'd be pleased if somebody could show me how I'm wrong about this.

Y'know how holding down both those buttons on the remote for a few seconds used to initiate a restart? No more! (To be fair, I quit after about 8 seconds both times I tried.) This is important because of how often some apps cause the Apple TV to suddenly stutter and turn the sound into something from the original Buck Rogers serials with Buster Crabbe. Restarting is the fix. Since getting through the menus to the Setting that allows a software restart is so difficult once the stuttering begins, that means unplugging the Apple TV. Part of the Apple Health through exercise software, no doubt. Note that I've witnessed this stuttering bug through three different Apple TVs on two different TV sets, even going back to an Apple TV HD model. Even unloading each app - all video streaming apps, no games - doesn't help.

If I could roll back to the last version of tvOS, I'd do it in a second.

Over the last several updates, I haven't found anything that's worked better or provided much of anything new. Except new bugs.

I get the idea that Apple's culture is such that testing and fixing bugs is something that is frowned upon and anybody doing that work is being punished. Only cool new stuff, no matter how flaky it comes out, is worthy of putting effort into. Some friggin culture.

OTOH, we just bought a refurb iMac with an i7 processor in it that was apparently built just before Apple switched to Apple silicon for their new iMac products. Not as fast as Apple silicon, of course, but we bought it to run Windows 10 under Boot Camp. It works great with Monterey installed. Way better experience than this tvOS "upgrade." So, I'm not just being negative toward Apple.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)