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Apple Releases tvOS 26.1

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Apr 12, 2001
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Apple today released tvOS 26.1, an update to the tvOS 26 operating system that came out in September. tvOS 26.1 is available on the Apple TV 4K and the Apple TV HD models, but Liquid Glass is only available on the second-generation Apple TV 4K or later.

tvOS-26-Feature.jpg

tvOS 26 can be downloaded using the Settings app on the ‌‌Apple TV‌‌. Open up Settings and go to System > Software Update to get the new software. ‌‌Apple TV‌‌ owners who have automatic software updates activated will be upgraded to tvOS 26.1 automatically.

Apple shares release notes for tvOS in its tvOS support document when new versions are released, but no new features were found during the beta testing process.

Article Link: Apple Releases tvOS 26.1
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2025/11/03/apple-releases-tvos-26-1/
This literally broke my wifi on the latest ATV. All my apps load insanely slow or don’t load and I have gig fiber. I was watching just fine before the update.
 
Radeon85 said:
iOS 26 and 26.1 are horrible on the Apple TV 4K 2nd gen, the UI is just a laggy stuttery mess. 18 ran very smoothly in comparison. They really should have dropped liquid glass for the 2nd generation because the A12 GPU can't handle it very well whatsoever.
Click to expand...

I appreciate your report and am so happy I'd kept my ATV 4K 1st gen units on "manual update mode".
 
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turbineseaplane said:
I appreciate your report and am so happy I'd kept my ATV 4K 1st gen units on "manual update mode".
Click to expand...
I still have an Apple TV HD so definitely no liquid glass, but it is the oldest device that can still run 26 and 26.1, the UI on that actually runs a lot smoother, a device 10 years old running the A8 CPU which is nuts. I love liquid glass, but I wish we could fully disable it on these older devices. I did try turning on "Reduce Transparency", but it does nothing to increase the performance.
 
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Radeon85 said:
I still have an Apple TV HD so definitely no liquid glass, but it is the oldest device that can still run 26 and 26.1, the UI on that actually runs a lot smoother, a device 10 years old running the A8 CPU which is nuts. I love liquid glass, but I wish we could fully disable it on these older devices. I did try turning on "Reduce Transparency", but it does nothing to increase the performance.
Click to expand...

Yes. Visuals should never be taking precedence over acceptable and smooth performance.
 
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Radeon85 said:
iOS 26 and 26.1 are horrible on the Apple TV 4K 2nd gen, the UI is just a laggy stuttery mess. 18 ran very smoothly in comparison. They really should have dropped liquid glass for the 2nd generation because the A12 GPU can't handle it very well whatsoever.
Click to expand...

turbineseaplane said:
I appreciate your report and am so happy I'd kept my ATV 4K 1st gen units on "manual update mode".
Click to expand...

Radeon85 said:
I still have an Apple TV HD so definitely no liquid glass, but it is the oldest device that can still run 26 and 26.1, the UI on that actually runs a lot smoother, a device 10 years old running the A8 CPU which is nuts. I love liquid glass, but I wish we could fully disable it on these older devices. I did try turning on "Reduce Transparency", but it does nothing to increase the performance.
Click to expand...

turbineseaplane said:
Yes. Visuals should never be taking precedence over acceptable and smooth performance.
Click to expand...
I have the current 4k and am not experiencing any of this. All my video consumption is through it including Live TV.

Maybe I am lucky.
 
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The 3rd gen Apple TV 4K is using the A15, the 2nd gen is using the much older A12, the A12 simply can't render the effects smoothly enough, the A15 shouldn't have any issues as it's significantly faster than the A12. When playing back content, there are no issues at all there, it's just the home screen UI that's stuttery and a little laggy.
 
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Radeon85 said:
The 3rd gen Apple TV 4K is using the A15, the 2nd gen is using the much older A12, the A12 simply can't render the effects smoothly enough, the A15 shouldn't have any issues as it's significantly faster than the A12. When playing back content, there are no issues at all there, it's just the home screen UI that's stuttery and a little laggy.
Click to expand...

I wonder how my A10X's would do

1762215827847.gif


(absolutely no plans to test this anytime soon)
 
Radeon85 said:
The 3rd gen Apple TV 4K is using the A15, the 2nd gen is using the much older A12, the A12 simply can't render the effects smoothly enough, the A15 shouldn't have any issues as it's significantly faster than the A12. When playing back content, there are no issues at all there, it's just the home screen UI that's stuttery and a little laggy.
Click to expand...
My 3rd and 2nd (A12) Apple TV 4K are doing fine without stutters. All the effects are being rendering smoothly.
 
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I'm still on the Apple TV HD (still not got a 4K TV), but it this update seems to have rearranged the apps on the home screen. Not a huge issue, but not something I remember happening on a point update and I've been using Apple TV for 15 years.
 
kostthem said:
My 3rd and 2nd (A12) Apple TV 4K are doing fine without stutters. All the effects are being rendering smoothly.
Click to expand...
Same here, I am using both versions and don't understand what people are complaining about. Using mostly Disney, Netflix, HBO and apps from my tv-provider. No VPN or random IP-TV apps tho.
 
This Liquid Glass is so cool that you can actually see it being implemented in various menus, like in the AppleTV app, if you go up to Library menu, you can see it being drawn, like it has to work it out...
 
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Reverend Benny said:
Same here, I am using both versions and don't understand what people are complaining about. Using mostly Disney, Netflix, HBO and apps from my tv-provider. No VPN or random IP-TV apps tho.
Click to expand...

It's hard to know what to make of subjective reports.

For instance, we have people on the forum who say they can't tell the difference between 120hz & 60hz (ProMotion or not), so it's not surprising that some folks on ATV 4k Gen2 would say "everything is great and super smooth!" and others would say "it's not".

I'm on ATV 4k Gen1, and I know it won't be perfectly smooth, as it already isn't in places on tvOS 18 - lol 😂
 
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turbineseaplane said:
It's hard to know what to make of subjective reports.

For instance, we have people on the forum who say they can't tell the difference between 120hz & 60hz (ProMotion or not), so it's not surprising that some folks on ATV 4k Gen2 would say "everything is great and super smooth!" and others would say "it's not".

I'm on ATV 4k Gen1, and I know it won't be perfectly smooth, as it already isn't in places on tvOS 18 - lol 😂
Click to expand...
It could be what you describe but also that people are using different apps, having it hooked up to different devices with different configs, network, different use cases and a pile of other things. I remember giving out about my new Apple TV that it "stuttered" in some movies. Was dead sure it was TvOS but it could just as well have been a firmware update on my Samsung TV that did it. A bit of a tweak in settings (think it was Hz and HDMI cable settings).

The only reason I update is to get new Peanuts screensavers, best move Apple made when it comes to Apple TV :)
 
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I wish they would have fixed profile switching. My son can no longer play Sneaky Sasquatch because it won't switch away from my data even when his profile is selected.
 
My Apple TV HD will turn 10 in a few days so I was not in a hurry to update to tvOS 26 when it came out however yesterday I finally bit the bullet and updated directly to tvOS 26.1. I’m so glad I did. The update freed up 1/4 of my storage space (I never gained this amount of space after any update in the past). And to my surprise the thumbnails in my Apple TV app movie library (750 titles and counting) loaded in an instant. With previous updates I had to wait for days for any thumbnails to display right after an update.
 
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