Apple Seeds Fourth tvOS 18.1 Beta to Developers - MacRumors
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Apple Seeds Fourth tvOS 18.1 Beta to Developers

Apple today seeded the fourth beta of an upcoming tvOS 18.1 beta to developers for testing purposes, with the new software coming a week after Apple seeded the third tvOS 18.1 beta.

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Registered developers are able to download the tvOS 18.1 update by opting in to the beta through the Settings app on the Apple TV. A registered developer account is required.

tvOS software releases are usually minor in scale compared to other operating system updates, focusing primarily on smaller improvements rather than outward-facing changes. We don't know what's included in tvOS 18.1.

Apple shares some information on tvOS releases in its tvOS support document, which is updated after each tvOS launch, but Apple does not provide notes during beta testing.

Though we don't always know what's new in tvOS betas, we let MacRumors readers know when new updates are available so those who are developers can download new software upon release.

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Top Rated Comments

23 months ago
No Snoopy, that's all you need to know...
(that's all anyone really cared about anyways)
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
23 months ago

Just because Support & Feedback might miss it:

TVOS18.0 is also a nightmare...

Some bugs I discovered:

* Dialogue Boost is broken and deactivated is also much worse than it was before updating. Now you cannot watch movies without constantly adjusting the volume. SHUT THE FRONT DOOR !
* When leaving an app you get the Apple TV app as a result and not the Home Screen, WTF?
* Subtitles are there even if you don't want them, changing settings is ignored by the device, ARE YOU SERIOUS ?

Whenever Apple loudly advertises a new Version of its OS, FROM NOW ON I WILL WAIT AT LEAST FOR 6 MONTHS in order to let them fix their brand new bugs (LMFAO)

Updates are meant to make things better.
The world is laughing at Apple for this deployment quality.

Where is QA's Head at?
well it is still a beta so issues are still expected, the A builds are bug fixes so expect more fixes to come
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
23 months ago

In English it is a choice from the Language select menu, but all the other naguages are not covered.

Sorry you're having these problems, but I have 18.1 on THREE Apple TVs and have not had anything like this on ANY of them.

Just pointing out it's actually not a universal thing - if anything, anecdotal evidence suggests it may be limited, as TallGuyGT is also not having issues.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
23 months ago

Just because Support & Feedback might miss it:

TVOS18.0 is also a nightmare...

Some bugs I discovered:

* Dialogue Boost is broken and deactivated is also much worse than it was before updating. Now you cannot watch movies without constantly adjusting the volume. SHUT THE FRONT DOOR !
* When leaving an app you get the Apple TV app as a result and not the Home Screen, WTF?
* Subtitles are there even if you don't want them, changing settings is ignored by the device, ARE YOU SERIOUS ?

Whenever Apple loudly advertises a new Version of its OS, FROM NOW ON I WILL WAIT AT LEAST FOR 6 MONTHS in order to let them fix their brand new bugs (LMFAO)

Updates are meant to make things better.
The world is laughing at Apple for this deployment quality.

Where is QA's Head at?
Not to discount your issues, but I have not have any of them on the 18 betas. Have you tried resetting the device? Why model are you using?

For example, I was shocked at how well Dialog Boost worked. Exiting goes to home, and no surprise subtitles. Not sure what a reset would do with an AppleTV, but may be worth a try.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
23 months ago
Just because Support & Feedback might miss it:

TVOS18.0 is also a nightmare...

Some bugs I discovered:

* Dialogue Boost is broken and deactivated is also much worse than it was before updating. Now you cannot watch movies without constantly adjusting the volume. SHUT THE FRONT DOOR !
* When leaving an app you get the Apple TV app as a result and not the Home Screen, WTF?
* Subtitles are there even if you don't want them, changing settings is ignored by the device, ARE YOU SERIOUS ?

Whenever Apple loudly advertises a new Version of its OS, FROM NOW ON I WILL WAIT AT LEAST FOR 6 MONTHS in order to let them fix their brand new bugs (LMFAO)

Updates are meant to make things better.
The world is laughing at Apple for this deployment quality.

Where is QA's Head at?
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
23 months ago
I was really hoping that we'd be able to delete the two iTunes Store icons by now. They've been redirecting to the AppleTV app since 17.something. I understand why they leave them there on first start, but at least give us the ability to hide or delete. Otherwise I haven't seen much new in tvOS 18.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)