Apple TV users are getting this great free upgrade

(Image credit: Apple)

published 20 October 2022

There was good news for existing Apple TV 4K users in Apple's announcement of the new Apple TV 4K 3rd gen: a software update is coming to deliver some worthwhile improvements to your existing kit too.

According to Apple, the new features are coming "this fall" and include updates to Siri including a complete redesign of the Siri user interface. The new version is much nicer and less intrusive, and according to Apple will "make it even easier for customers to use their voice to control Apple TV and interact with the results."

Siri's getting smarter on your Apple TV

The feature I'm looking forward to the most is Siri's imminent ability to recognise different people's voices and customise things accordingly, so when one of my kids talks to the TV Siri will focus on their movies, shows, music and games instead of mine. They'll also be able to ask "What should I watch?" and get personalised recommendations based on their own Apple TV history.

There are some other useful new features too. You'll be able to Hey Siri from your AirPods or AirPods Pro without needing to use the remote, and the iCloud Shared Photo Library from iOS, iPadOS and macOS is coming to the Apple TV too.

I really like my Apple TV – I've been using it since the second generation, which came out 12 years ago – and there's not much I'd change about it other than better Netflix integration, which is a Netflix thing rather than an Apple TV thing. While the new model looks pretty good, I reckon these tvOS updates will keep me happy enough with mine for a while yet.

Apple hasn't given a date for the updates but I'd expect them to arrive shortly after iPadOS and macOS Ventura drop later this month.

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Writer, musician and broadcaster Carrie Marshall has been covering technology since 1998 and is particularly interested in how tech can help us live our best lives. Her CV is a who’s who of magazines, newspapers, websites and radio programmes ranging from T3, Techradar and MacFormat to the BBC, Sunday Post and People’s Friend. Carrie has written more than a dozen books, ghost-wrote two more and co-wrote seven more books and a Radio 2 documentary series; her memoir, Carrie Kills A Man, was shortlisted for the British Book Awards. When she’s not scribbling, Carrie is the singer in Glaswegian rock band Unquiet Mind (unquietmindmusic).