During this year’s Worldwide Developer’s Conference in San Francisco today, Eddy Cue, Apple’s SVP of Internet Software and Services, provided more details on its next-generation version of tvOS. While Cue conspicuously omitted any kind of version number, he highlighted key features in the next tvOS release, including a redesigned Apple Remote app for iOS that will provide the full capabilities of the Siri Remote, including voice control and accelerometer and gyroscope support for games, the ability to search movies and TV shows by topics, search YouTube using Siri, and expansion of the Live Tune-In feature added earlier this year to more channels. A new Single Sign On feature will improve the authentication process for TV network apps, allowing users to sign in once — presumably with their Apple ID — to authenticate to multiple apps directly on the Apple TV. Apple has also added a new “Dark Mode” to tvOS, which replaces the light background on the main menus with colors more reminiscent of prior Apple TV generations, support for up to four game controllers, and ReplayKit, HomeKit, and PhotoKit APIs to tvOS for developers.
