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tvOS 26 Now Available With Liquid Glass UI and Enhanced Apple TV Features

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Apr 12, 2001
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Apple today released tvOS 26, the latest version of the tvOS operating system that runs on the Apple TV 4K.

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 automatically.

tvOS 26 uses the same Liquid Glass look that's available in Apple's other operating system updates, providing a unified design language across the company's platforms.

The Apple TV app has new poster art and an interface that displays more movies and shows at once, and profiles can be shown when the Apple TV wakes, making it easier for each person to select their personalized settings and recommendations.

When using Apple Music Sing, the iPhone can serve as a microphone, and it supports Lyrics Translation and Lyrics Pronunciation. The FaceTime app supports customized photos for each contact, and Live Captions now support French, German, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, and Spanish.

There are new Aerial screen savers captured in India, an option to personalize screen savers by selecting specific categories, and the ability to designate any AirPlay-compatible speaker as a permanent speaker for the Apple TV.

tvOS 26 is compatible with the original Apple TV HD from 2015 as well as all Apple TV 4K models. Liquid Glass requires the second-generation Apple TV 4K or later.

Article Link: tvOS 26 Now Available With Liquid Glass UI and Enhanced Apple TV Features
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2025/09/15/apple-releases-tvos-26/
It looks like Apple won't release the Audio Passthrough API capabilities until the new Apple TV 4K is announced. I suspect this feature and possibly others will only be enabled for the more recent Apple TV box(s).
 
hoodlum90 said:
It looks like Apple won't release the Audio Passthrough API capabilities until the new Apple TV 4K is announced. I suspect this feature and possibly others will only be enabled for the more recent Apple TV box(s).
Click to expand...
Really?

I updated my apple tv 4k ONLY for this! pufff
 
hoodlum90 said:
It looks like Apple won't release the Audio Passthrough API capabilities until the new Apple TV 4K is announced. I suspect this feature and possibly others will only be enabled for the more recent Apple TV box(s).
Click to expand...
Wait…what?? Audio Passthrough API capabilities? What’s this mean
 
hoodlum90 said:
It looks like Apple won't release the Audio Passthrough API capabilities until the new Apple TV 4K is announced. I suspect this feature and possibly others will only be enabled for the more recent Apple TV box(s).
Click to expand...
What led you to this conclusion? The Apple Developer docs that describe the passthrough capability https://developer.apple.com/documentation/avfaudio/avaudiocontentsource/passthrough indicate tvOS 26+. Because this is an API update, it seems that individual apps would need to opt in to accommodating that change.
 
I just updated my 2nd and 3rd (latest) ATV4ks to tvOS 26 and my goodness on 2nd gen ATV4k the open and close animation is absurdly sluggish and not smooth.

Does anyone test these devices out?
 
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cyberguyiphone said:
What led you to this conclusion? The Apple Developer docs that describe the passthrough capability https://developer.apple.com/documentation/avfaudio/avaudiocontentsource/passthrough indicate tvOS 26+. Because this is an API update, it seems that individual apps would need to opt in to accommodating that change.
Click to expand...

Not everything makes it into the initial release.

www.flatpanelshd.com

Mini-review of tvOS 26 for Apple TV: Liquid Glass and new features

Everything new in tvOS 26
www.flatpanelshd.com www.flatpanelshd.com

Rumors about audio passthrough remain unresolved for now. The API appears to exist but is not finalized in tvOS 26.0, according to developers, so the wait continues.
 
hoodlum90 said:
It looks like Apple won't release the Audio Passthrough API capabilities until the new Apple TV 4K is announced. I suspect this feature and possibly others will only be enabled for the more recent Apple TV box(s).
Click to expand...
lol this was proven to be a false rumor on Reddit by someone who had no idea what they were talking about.
 
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Got a 2nd-gen AppleTV ,and not yet seeing tvOS 26. Over in the macOS article, practically every comment was "I don't see it yet! MacRumors is lying!"... but we all know that they distribute releases over time to keep load down on the servers.

Strangely, I had Beta Updates turned on and my device never saw the Public Beta of tvOS either. Was there one?

Curious.

EDIT — Turning off "Get Beta Updates" and turning it back on prompted me to choose which Beta program I wanted to join. I chose tvOS 26 Public Beta, and then my device offered up the latest release. It's downloading now.
 
Last edited:
thadoggfather said:
I just updated my 2nd and 3rd (latest) ATV4ks to tvOS 26 and my goodness on 2nd gen ATV4k the open and close animation is absurdly sluggish and not smooth.

Does anyone test these devices out?
Click to expand...
my 2nd gen ATV 4k is sluggish on tvOS 18 ... could it be any worse???
 
cyberguyiphone said:
What led you to this conclusion? The Apple Developer docs that describe the passthrough capability https://developer.apple.com/documentation/avfaudio/avaudiocontentsource/passthrough indicate tvOS 26+. Because this is an API update, it seems that individual apps would need to opt in to accommodating that change.
Click to expand...
The actual documentation and header files associated with the enum states this value is for something else. Its not retained to the passing through of audio. It's an input to the AVAudioConverter. It's a hint on how to handle DRC when compressing to a format that supports DRC. The other possible values for the enum indicate this as well.
 
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