Apple quietly brings new iMovie Theater channel to Apple TV

imovietheater

As part of today’s iPad keynote, Apple has unveiled long-expected updates to iLife and iWork apps, with the iMovie for the iPhone and iPad containing a new feature called iMovie Theater. What this does is sync all of your iMovie projects, movies and trailers across your devices through the power of iCloud.

If you own an Apple TV, you should now start seeing the new iMovie Theater icon on your main menu…

According to Apple, iMovie Theater taps iCloud to let you watch your shared clips, movies and trailers on all your Apple devices, even your Apple TV. Of course, you will need to sign into the same Apple ID used for your iCloud account across all your devices in order to access shared iMovie Theater content.

Any project that has been created using the just-updated iMovie application on the Mac, iPhone or iPad and shared using iTunes Theater should automagically appear within the new iTunes Theater channel on your Apple TV.

This was a silent update so the icon should automatically appear on the main menu when you next turn on your Apple TV. Apple has also issued updates to iMovie for both iOS and Mac so you can grab these as well.

iMovie for iOS costs $4.99 on the App Store.

Other new features added to iMovie for iOS include a revamped user interface, simplified editing tools “that let you quickly improve the look of your movie, add fun effects, and speed up or slow down your video”, as well as create split screen and picture-in-picture effects or advanced audio edits.

It’s worth remembering that the iMovie iOS app, as well as the iPhoto program and the iWork suite, is a free download with every new iOS device purchase.

According to Tim Cook, Apple thinks that “iWork is a really key advantage for our customers’ productivity, and iPhoto and iMovie are great for their creativity.”

Apple has long bundled iPhoto, iMovie and GarageBand free with every new Mac so making their iOS counterparts free is a great way to give people yet another reason to switch to Apple’s platform.

Speaking of GarageBand, the iOS edition has also gone free today, with in-app purchase of additional content.

The Mac version of iMovie is a $14.99 download.

Screenshot top of post via MacRumors.