Blog

Updated July 6 with details on other upcoming Apple TV news, more features coming to tvOS 18 this fall, and home device news.

This is how you know Apple is doing it right: when it introduces a feature you’ve never thought of, but once here, you think, of course it’s brilliant. Here’s a new iPhone feature coming to Apple TV: a subtle but clever update to how the mute button works. Even better news, this is just one of the many video playback features coming to Apple TV this fall in the next major software release, tvOS 18.

One of these is a gift to anyone who finds hearing dialogue difficult at times. Enhance Dialogue is designed to make vocals clearer against music, special effects and background noise. The feature already exists, but will be upgraded thanks to machine learning in tvOS 18 and will work with AirPods, speakers connected via HDMI and Bluetooth speakers, instead of just the HomePod as it is now. The settings increase to four options: mute, enhance, boost and isolate.

ForbesApple will upgrade the iPhone 16 design in a major way, new leak claimsfrom David Phelan

Another change in video playback coming to Apple TV is support for full widescreen format at 21:9 ratio, which did not exist before. What’s more, along with the mute button-linked captioning feature detailed below, FaceTime Live Captions, currently available on iPhone, will also be coming to tvOS.

You can now use your iPhone as an Apple TV camera for apps like FaceTime. Starting this fall, “With tvOS 18, users will have the option to set a specific iPhone as a dedicated Apple TV camera that will always be ready to use,” as reported by 9to5Mac.

And then there’s InSight, which lets you display details about actors in a scene or songs performed in a show. Amazon’s Prime Video has had something similar for years, so it’s a welcome addition here. Other updates include a redesigned Fitness+ app for Apple TV and new screensavers.

Word has just leaked that the Apple TV lineup is changing in other ways, too.

MacRumors has identified code “discovered in Apple’s backend” that says Apple is working on a new home accessory to sit alongside the HomePod and Apple TV.

The report says: “The code references a device with ID ‘HomeAccessory17,1’, which is a new ID category. The name is similar to the ‘AudioAccessory’ ID of the ‌HomePod‌.”

This ID is particularly intriguing because it suggests, by mentioning 17.1, that it could include the same processor expected in the Apple iPhone 16, the A18 chip. Which means the new device will have advanced features, perhaps related to AI.

What’s more, the code applies to two models that have not been released to the market and are Apple TV devices. This fuels earlier rumors that a new Apple TV (or two) could be released this year, perhaps in September, when the iPhone 16 series is expected to debut.

But the big news here is the assumption that a new device will be so powerful that it needs an A18 chip in it, whatever that turns out to be. Could it be the rumored Apple TV hybrid with a display? That would be innovative.

Apple has a history of intriguing innovation with the Apple TV. Years ago, it improved video playback in a way that no other company before or since has.

If you miss what someone said on TV, you can pick up your Siri remote and say, “What did he/she/they say?” Whichever pronoun you use, the result will be the same. The video will fast-forward 10 seconds, then play the part you didn’t hear again, with subtitles front and center, and only for those few seconds. If you haven’t tried it, it’s fantastic.

Now, with the next-generation software for iPhone and Apple TV, iOS 18 and tvOS 18, respectively, there will be another key innovation.

It will work on the upcoming iPhone 16 series, but also on iPhones all the way up to the iPhone XS once the software is installed. The software is currently in its second developer beta. It will go into public beta later this month and reach general release in September.

So how can someone improve the mute button? It just works, right? Apple’s change is brilliant: when you mute video playback on the iPhone, or by pressing the mute button on the Apple TV remote during silence, the subtitles automatically appear on the screen. Tap the button again and as the sound fades, the subtitles disappear. How cool is that?

The feature will also be available, with a satisfying sense of completion, on iPad and Mac when watching a video using the default video player.

Now I can see some downsides to this: if you’ve muted the TV, iPhone or whatever, so you can take a call or listen to your significant other in the living room, say, and still focus on the screen as you can still see words, instead of listening to your interlocutor, you may end up in a crapper, be warned.

All in all, though, it’s one of the cleanest video viewing enhancements to come along in ages. Apple only.

ForbesApple confirms iPhone upgrade with 2 key new features is here in daysfrom David Phelan