Apple TV Getting New Siri Voice Recognition Feature With tvOS 16.2

The first tvOS 16.2 beta seeded to developers this week enables Siri voice recognition on the Apple TV for a more personalized experience.

Siri Voice Recognition tvOS 16 2
The new feature allows Siri to recognize your voice and switch to your Apple TV user profile, play your music, and provide personalized recommendations for videos, with support for up to six family members, according to Apple. The feature will be available for all users when tvOS 16.2 is released later this year — likely in December.

As noted by Screen Times editor-in-chief Sigmund Judge, it is possible to associate your Siri voice profile from your iPhone or iPad with your Apple TV. Judge shared a preview of the feature on Twitter, but it is not fully functional yet in the beta.


Apple released tvOS 16.1 earlier this week with a new compact Siri interface and added support for "Hey Siri" voice commands via AirPods on the Apple TV.

The Apple TV 4K received a spec bump last week, with new features including an A15 Bionic chip, HDR10+ video support in compatible apps, up to 128GB of storage, a Siri Remote with a USB-C port for charging, a thinner and lighter design without an internal fan, and more. Pricing now starts at a lower $129 to $149 depending on the configuration.

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Top Rated Comments

Zachari Avatar
34 months ago
Great! I wish Siri actually worked.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ProfessionalFan Avatar
34 months ago
Last time my mother asked Siri to do something on her AppleTV, Siri replied "Use the remote" so I don't have high hopes for any Siri features. But hopefully it works well.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
CarAnalogy Avatar
34 months ago
I thought one of the few new features to TV was going to be to link viewing profiles in video apps to your Apple ID so it would automatically choose the right one. Did I misunderstand or was this quietly dropped or what?
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
mxrider88 Avatar
34 months ago
Awesome so also on the tv you can now get once every 5 attempts “who’s speaking?”
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
johnb300m Avatar
34 months ago
Well that's cool.
I SWEAR Siri used to already do this several years ago on our phones.
My partner and I even tested it multiple times.
We'd each say "hey Siri" and our corresponding phones would always respond.
But then, something happened after the launch of the iphone Xs. Whenever we'd call out "hey Siri" it was always a crapshoot of who's phone or ipad would respond to who! Pretty annoying now to lose that capability.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Thisismattwade Avatar
34 months ago

If Siri can't even understand what I am saying, how is it supposed to understand who is speaking?
"You're using it wrong."
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)