First developer beta of tvOS 9.1 for Apple TV now available
Apple on Tuesday issued the very first beta for tvOS 9.1, its new Apple TV operating system, to developers for testing, less than a week after the next-generation set-top box became publicly available.
tvOS 9.1 is now available for developers to download from Apple's developer portal. Accompanying release notes warn that the beta release should only be installed on devices registered with the Apple Developer Program, and attempting to install it on an unauthorized device could render it in an unusable state.
Potential major new features of iOS 9.1 remain unknown, as the release notes accompanying the first beta do not disclose any significant changes. One change is that Explicit Congestion Notiifcation is enabled by default on both Ethernet and Wi-Fi, reducing network delays and packet loss.
Though the Apple TV launched only last Friday, Apple has already made changes to the experience over the air, enabling a list of top applications on the App Store Monday evening.
tvOS is only compatible with the new fourth-generation Apple TV with Siri Remote.
tvOS 9.1 is now available for developers to download from Apple's developer portal. Accompanying release notes warn that the beta release should only be installed on devices registered with the Apple Developer Program, and attempting to install it on an unauthorized device could render it in an unusable state.
Potential major new features of iOS 9.1 remain unknown, as the release notes accompanying the first beta do not disclose any significant changes. One change is that Explicit Congestion Notiifcation is enabled by default on both Ethernet and Wi-Fi, reducing network delays and packet loss.
Though the Apple TV launched only last Friday, Apple has already made changes to the experience over the air, enabling a list of top applications on the App Store Monday evening.
tvOS is only compatible with the new fourth-generation Apple TV with Siri Remote.
Comments
They should have started tvOS at 0.
Also I'm surprised Its had this many revisions.
tvOS is strongly tied to iOS, so makes sense to sync the major versions up with iOS.
And I'm sure they had a lot of those changes coded when the aTV launched, but they had to freeze the code to get everything ready and the new changes hadn't gone though QA yet.
I am sure someone spoke up about the Remote app not being compatible--because, hey, who needs a keyboard to type in email addresses and passwords?!--but it probably required the Remote app team to drop what they were doing in the race to get tvOS out the door in time.
Then again, if you let the same engineering team dictate the Gantt chart, it'd stretch out to infinity. Because features.
watchOS isn't strongly tied to iOS??
watchOS isn't strongly tied to iOS??
Yes it is.
According to Jason Snell, when he asked an Apple employee at the September event if the remote app will work with ?TV they said no. The fact it wasn't available at launch makes me think it's not coming. Snell talked about his unboxing on his blog. I think Apple needs to remember the unboxing doesn't stop after the device is pulled out of the box. You can have beautiful hardware and packaging but if the setup process is a pain in the ass you're going to be left with a negative impression.
https://sixcolors.com/post/2015/11/apple-tv-nice-box-bad-unboxing/
According to Jason Snell, when he asked an Apple employee at the September event if the remote app will work with ?TV they said no. The fact it wasn't available at launch makes me think it's not coming. Snell talked about his unboxing on his blog. I think Apple needs to remember the unboxing doesn't stop after the device is pulled out of the box. You can have beautiful hardware and packaging but if the setup process is a pain in the ass you're going to be left with a negative impression.
https://sixcolors.com/post/2015/11/apple-tv-nice-box-bad-unboxing/
He also did say this about ATV4;
"Once I got my Apple TV up and running, I was impressed with it. It’s fast, the new interface design is beautiful, and I’m excited about how native apps will improve the Apple TV experience. I’ll write more about all that in due time."
I am a bit disappointed with my new ATV. The app store is a great start but the remote is poor at best and if that was an insult already: the Remote app does not support the new AppleTV OUCHHHHH
Baloney! The new remote is fantastic. I totally reject your opinion. Siri is great. The touch pad is great. Don’t like it? Return it!
OK this might be a stupid question but why is tvOS on version 9 when watchOS started out on version 1?
Because Apple threw a dart at the wall and said, “This is how we’ll name it.” They can do that you know. It’s also quite possible, even probable, that tvOS is built on iOS 9 code and technology. In my experience so far tvOS is much more like iOS than previous iterations of Apple TV software.
The interface needs a dark mode IMO. Some times white text on light gray background can be hard to read. I wonder if Apple went this way just to be different than every other TV interface that is mostly black. Of clouds they're black for a reason...easier on the eyes.
Baloney! The new remote is fantastic. I totally reject your opinion. Siri is great. The touch pad is great. Don’t like it? Return it!
I am not returning it and I will express my opinion as you do. The entire experience of the remote and the lack of support by the Remote app demonstrate lack of planning. I am hopeful that Apple will take their finger out and fix the remote App compatibility issue. The Remote App has similar overshoot issue as this remote but I really like the Remote on my AppleWatch. Apple seems to be thinking only from those who want to use the device for gameplay i.e. the physical remote has to be used no matter what ... OUCH again...
The siri worked but only showed me programs from iTunes but that could easily be my search not including anything from Netflix. I think Siri is clever but it remains useless unless it can search across multiple databases. I have an app called "JustWatch" and it shows me what i like to see across multiple services so I can decide where to direct my funds or get it free on services like Netflix, Amazon, HBO that I have a subscription or even the ad supported services like Crackle. Just recently I watched San Andreas movie and I was able to watch the movie for $1.99 on Amazon instead of $3.99 on iTunes and AirPlay to my large TV (thanks to JustWatch).
.... The usual rationalizing.
Im sick of all the excuses on fan sites when someone asks a question.
WatchOS shares a ton of features with iOS, now let's hear the excuse for that one too.
Following iPhone's versions sounds like a disaster.
OK this might be a stupid question but why is tvOS on version 9 when watchOS started out on version 1?
Over at 9to5mac there's a little discussion about this very topic. My thoughts echo Grayson Mixon's on this post;
http://************/2015/11/03/apple-releases-first-tvos-9-1-beta-for-new-apple-tv/
"I think they just need to call it iOS. It doesn’t have to be identical to iOS on iPhone or iPad. The versions of iOS on iPhone and iPad aren’t even identical to each other.
They said it’s heavily based on iOS, and the first version of tvOS is called 9.0 to align with iOS. They just need to brand it as Apple TV running iOS 9."
I agree.
I know I'll get hate for saying this but with Apple Music and now Apple TV we have two products/services that clearly were released before they were ready for prime time. I don't know if this is a result of marketing forcing things to be released even if they're not ready or something else but it's not good. Quite honestly I think Eddy Cue has done a mediocre job running services and perhaps Cook needs to replace him or give some of his workload to someone else.
I agree.
I know I'll get hate for saying this but with Apple Music and now Apple TV we have two products/services that clearly were released before they were ready for prime time. I don't know if this is a result of marketing forcing things to be released even if they're not ready or something else but it's not good. Quite honestly I think Eddy Cue has done a mediocre job running services and perhaps Cook needs to replace him or give some of his workload to someone else.
I can't say why regarding Apple Music, but there's a good chance ATV4 was released now specifically for the holiday quarter but I get what you're saying. You can make a case that Apple Watch should be added to that list.
"Quite honestly I think Eddy Cue has done a mediocre job running services and perhaps Cook needs to replace him or give some of his workload to someone else."
I've agreed with for awhile now.