Apple tvOS 26 turns Apple TVs into sing-along karaoke boxes
Apple has unveiled tvOS 26 for its Apple TV streaming media devices. The OS update adds new features along with a fresh interface design. Developers can access the OS today, while the public will receive a public beta next month.
The highlight of tvOS 26 is its ability to turn Apple TVs (2nd gen. or later, like this one on Amazon) into karaoke sing-along boxes when paired with iPhones (11 or newer), which are used as the microphones. The Apple Music app will play music with lighting effects along with real-time translations and pronunciation of the lyrics for music in supported languages. Viewers can support those singing by sending on-screen emojis. Users can select any AirPlay-enabled speaker (like this HomePod on Amazon) to be the permanent output speaker for their Apple TVs.
Apple TV users will see expanded language support for Live Captions during FaceTime video calls in French, German, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, and Spanish. Contacts can be customized with photos to better identify them at a glance.
The interface has received the Liquid Glass design refresh, and movies and shows are displayed with new poster art. The design renders buttons and GUI elements as semi-transparent elements that display lighting interactions with the underlying images.
These low-key interface elements are designed to be not distracting while watching movies, but can pose a challenge for users with poor vision. It remains to be tested whether a high-contrast version of the user interface in tvOS 26 can be enabled.
Personalized recommendations and watchlists are tied to user profiles, which are now displayed upon Apple TV wake for quick log-in selection. Porting watchlists and apps to new Apple TV devices is simplified for developers who use the new APIs linking app logins to accounts, and this will simplify the migration from older Apple TVs to newer models by users.
Users who never turn off their Apple TVs can enjoy cityscape, earth, landscape, or underwater photographs from the air as screen savers.
