Apple Releases tvOS 26.2 With New TV Profiles, Dedicated Kids Mode

[roken70]

Apple today released tvOS 26.2, an update to the tvOS 26 operating system that came out in September. tvOS 26.2 is available on the Apple TV 4K and the Apple TV HD models, and it comes a month after Apple released tvOS 26.1.

tvOS 26.2 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 26.2 automatically.

The tvOS 26.2 update changes the way that profiles work on the Apple TV, adding an option to create a profile without an Apple Account. With no need for an Apple Account, profiles can be created for guests and children.

For profiles made for children, there is an age-restricted mode that limits the content that kids can access in the Apple TV app. The ‌Apple TV‌ app will only show content that is appropriate for the limits that have been established for the account, and rating options include TV-G, TV-PG, TV-14, and more.

Apple shares full release notes for tvOS in its tvOS support document when new versions are released, so check that out for additional details.

Article Link: Apple Releases tvOS 26.2 With New TV Profiles, Dedicated Kids Mode

Since Apple started crippling the experience of the bought film library, they have reached a point, where buying anything in Apple‘s films store feels like a total waste of money. At least if you are into owning things and not renting:

• The library stopped showing titles and most of the info is stripped too.
• Artwork is changed frequently, and the artwork lacks a readable title (so you cannot find titles visually either)
• The library‘s content is notoriously unreliable (missing owned titles).
• Apple wants you to go through the subscription-based TV interface which is polluted such that you don’t see your owned stuff at all. This is like having a news paper, where content makes up minuscule fraction of a percent of the page filled with commercials otherwise.
• Ordering keys are strangely fixed (i.e. sometime initial „The“ is part of the key, sometimes not) and may change

This is not an oversight. This is strategy.

I am royally brassed off. I’ll find a way to move away from this app entirely.

P.S. oh, and I hate iOS autocorrect too..

 

[getoffmylawn]

Don't care.....where is pass through audio?

^^^ This... so, much this.

 

[ELman]

I am in Canada, region set to Canada, everything Canada. Everything was fine with 26.1 then updated to 26.2. The APP seems to only be showing US results and most of my Canadian APPs either do not load or just show limited info, they've all disappeared from the app store. Resetting does nothing.

Seems to me locked to the US.

The merger has begun.

 

[thadoggfather]

how has 26.2 been on tvOS? thinking for the latest ATV but also the 2021 ATV4k 2nd gen model..

 

[SalisburySam]

Would it be so revolutionary to have 'joint profiles'? I have mine. My wife has hers. It would be nice it we had a 'joint' profile for shows we watch together instead of having them all mixed in to each of our Continue Watching lists.

Yeah, this. We just eliminated the extra profile entirely; now we only have the one profile and it works very well for us.

 

[SlasherKG]

Does anyone with an AppleTV 4k gen 1 have their ethernet port working?
I have 2 of them and both no longer link when plugged into ethernet.
I have verified that the cable is good and that it links when plugged into other devices, just not working on the AppleTVs.

 

[enigmatut]

How do I switch a profile to become a kids one? Right now all the profiles are managed under a family with individual Apple IDs…

I do the same, and kid’s Apple ID profile was already a kid profile with specific media restrictions in place, and it just loads as a kid profile now.

And f’ing finally, Apple. It was super “fun” having my kid pull up her profile to watch Snoopy and be terrified by a preview of Invasion (or similar). It was frustrating to be able to set specific media limits (TV-7, etc) in iCloud family management but then still have R and TV-MA media be suggested when the kid profile was selected 🤦‍♂️

 

[Ben1980]

The Browse continue watching whilst long pressing centre button is useful.

No more having to scroll right for days.

Now just needs the option to filter between movies and shows and then new seasons and in progress.

 

[Edd70]

They got rid of the screen grab for the Up Next queue on the home screen, now showing the show/movie art instead. They previously removed this from inside the TV app. I’ll quite miss seeing a static preview of the show and calling out when the scene shows in the episode.

Yes, the thumbnails on Up Next are generic for the show instead of episode specific. Bad change, I’m guessing it was not intentional.

 

[somnolentsurfer]

The Browse continue watching whilst long pressing centre button is useful.

No more having to scroll right for days.

Now just needs the option to filter between movies and shows and then new seasons and in progress.

Heck yes! I just noticed this and it’s a feature I’ve wanted for so long! But searching here and other news sites and seemingly no one reported it as part of the update.

But yes, if they could just make it a little more visible (perhaps a link in the sidebar), and also add some filters then that would be great. The ones you suggested, and also one for just content I have access to in my existing subscriptions.

 

[SalisburySam]

My AppleTV4K upgraded itself to tvOS v26.2 when it was first released. Amazon Prime no longer works well. Paramount+, Netflix, YouTube, AccuWeather all work as before, which is to say “ok.”

I’ve never liked the AppleTV user interface for other apps…too many steps to continuing watching programs, odd search results at times, a lot of clicking and scrolling, etc., but the v26.2 interface for Amazon Prime seems to be broken. Specifically, I can select my profile (the only profile), then open a program and watch it…but not hear it. Completely muted with volume levels set normally. It will work only if I exit the program and go back in a 2nd time. Odd, annoying, absolutely reproducible, seems like it could have been easily tested, just another failure added onto the V26.2 product line across all platforms. Apple’s OS v26.n all seem to be beta versions released as gold to the public, and the public does the testing. I hate this. If software has become this complex that it cannot be solid when released, take out some of the complexity.