Netflix enables Spatial Audio support for iPhone and iPad

AppleInsider

Netflix on Wednesday began to roll out Spatial Audio support on its iPhone and iPad apps, offering users with compatible AirPods models an immersive listening experience when watching TV shows, movies and other content.

Spatial Audio is currently rolling out to iPhone and iPad users running iOS 14 as a settings option, reports iPhonesoft. The French language publication claimed Netflix began testing the feature in January.

Netflix confirmed the rollout to 9to5Mac in a statement earlier today, though the feature might not be immediately available to all users.

When it is accessible, the option will appear in Control Center only when a pair of compatible AirPods are connected to the host device. Opening Control Center and performing a long press on the volume slider brings up options to activate noise cancelling and, new for Netflix, Spatial Audio.

Netflix support for Spatial Audio is currently limited to AirPods Pro and AirPods Max.

Introduced in June 2020, Spatial Audio is Apple's take on 3D audio for headphones. Built on Dolby Atmos technology, the solution applies directional audio filters and frequency modulation to simulate an immersive surround sound listening experience.

Apple's upcoming iOS 15 includes a feature called "Spatialize Stereo," which simulates Spatial Audio for content not recorded or mastered in Dolby Atmos.

Read on AppleInsider

winstoner71

Kind of a big deal. Love it. 

peterhart

winstoner71 said:

Kind of a big deal. Love it. 

Same. I was on the elliptical the other day and watching a movie on my iPhone via Plex while wearing my AirPods Pro. I turned my head at one point but the audio “stayed” in front of me. It was the first time I experienced spatial audio and thought ‘wow, that was cool.’ 

wwinter86

But not on the Apple TV box?

japhey

wwinter86 said:

But not on the Apple TV box?

Right? The experience is “immersive”, but only on the smallest screens we can access it from. 

canucklehead

wwinter86 said:

But not on the Apple TV box?

Already announced for next major TVOS update. Apparently, currently only works with iOS and M1 Macs due to hardware that allows the devices to recognize relative direction. A software implementation is being worked on.

edited August 2021

japhey

canucklehead said:

wwinter86 said:

But not on the Apple TV box?

Already announced for next major TVOS update. Apparently, currently only works with iOS and M1 Macs due to hardware that allows the devices to recognize relative direction. A software implementation is being worked on.

That’s good to know, thank you. I guess I’ll hold off on canceling Netflix for a bit. 

fred1

This is cool. Which iPhone and iPad models does Spatial Audio work on?

macpro

canucklehead said:

wwinter86 said:

But not on the Apple TV box?

Already announced for next major TVOS update. Apparently, currently only works with iOS and M1 Macs due to hardware that allows the devices to recognize relative direction. A software implementation is being worked on.

So, it begs the question,  isn't the latest Apple TV using the latest hardware?

applezulu

MacPro said:

canucklehead said:

wwinter86 said:

But not on the Apple TV box?

Already announced for next major TVOS update. Apparently, currently only works with iOS and M1 Macs due to hardware that allows the devices to recognize relative direction. A software implementation is being worked on.

So, it begs the question,  isn't the latest Apple TV using the latest hardware?

It’s more complicated than you think. When watching a movie on your iPhone, you’re just about guaranteed to be holding the phone directly in front of you, centered in your field of view. It’s pretty easy to orient your AirPods to that. 

Your AppleTV box is probably off to one side of your TV, and you may be sitting upright and centered in front of your TV screen, or you might be off to one side a bit and reclining, with your head at 25-degrees off vertical on the left-right axis, 18 degress off vertical front to back, and viewing position 12 degrees off-center, to the right. 

No, wait, you reached for the Chex mix bowl and sat back down in a different position. 

Now, with no additional hardware affixed to your TV to identify where your TV screen actually is in relation to you or your AppleTV box, orient everything correctly so the sound consistently matches the action on the screen, so that customers don’t complain and demand to return their “defective” AppleTVs and AirPods for a full refund. Also, at some point, you’re probably going to want to do all that for multiple viewers with connected AirPods, everyone arrayed all around the room. OK, go!

What’s surprising is that they’ve already announced that this feature will somehow actually be available soon.