tvOS 16 brings Siri voice recognition and other new Apple TV features

Aside from other new features, tvOS 16 brings support for Siri voice recognition which lets your Apple TV recognize each household member by their voice.

Apple TV sitting underneath a huge Samsung smart TV
Siri in tvOS 16.2 recognizes users by their voice | Image: Brandon Romanchuk/Unsplash

How to download and install tvOS 16.2 on Apple TV

You can update the tvOS software powering your Apple TV by going to Settings → System → Software Updates and choosing the Update Software option.

If you see a message saying an iOS 16.2 update is available, click Download and Install. After downloading tvOS 16.2, your Apple TV will restart to install the update. Keep the device connected and plugged into power until the update is complete.

New Apple TV features in tvOS 16.2

tvOS 16.2 is a minor release that doesn’t bring many new features. Aside from the usual bug fixes and performance improvements, tvOS 16.2 includes these new features for the fourth-generation Apple TV, Apple TV HD and all Apple TV 4K.

Support for Apple Music Sing

The Apple Music Sing feature showcasing lyrics views on iPhone, iPad and Apple TV
Apple Music Sing requires the latest Apple TV 4K | Image: Apple

Apple Music Sing is a new lyrics experience in iOS, iPadOS, macOS and tvOS that includes multiple views for beat-by-beat lyrics in real-time. Taking advantage of machine learning, Apple Music Sing separates vocals and automatically lowers the volume of the vocals when you start singing, resulting in a smoother karaoke experience. This feature requires the third-generation Apple TV 4K model.

Siri voice recognition

Your HomePod can recognize household members by their voice, and now your Apple TV can, too! With tvOS 16.2, the Siri voice recognition feature kicks into action when someone other than the current Apple TV user picks up the remote and invokes Siri. If the new user is a household member that has created a user profile in tvOS, the device will automatically switch over to their profile.

With automatic voice-based user switching, every registered user will get their own personalized recommendations without having to manually switch profiles in the Control Center. The feature supports up to six different users.

New Home app architecture

iOS 16.2, iPadOS 16.2, macOS Ventura 13.1 and tvOS 16.2 feature a whole new underlying technology architecture to make make the Home app perform faster and let you control your smart home appliances more reliably.

What’s new in tvOS 16.2?

For a detailed overview of all the new features, enhancements, bug fixes and other improvements use your browser to check out a support document on the Apple website providing a list of what’s new in tvOS 16 for Apple TV 4K and Apple TV HD.

According to Apple’s release notes, tvOS 16.2 introduces a more personalized Siri experience and makes singing along with Apple Music even more fun.

Siri

  • Get personalized recommendations, play your favorite music, and more at any time with Recognize My Voice support for up to six different family members. Try “What should I watch?” “Play my music,” or “Switch to my profile.”
  • Set your Siri language to be different from the one your Apple TV displays. Go to Settings → General → Siri Language.
  • Now includes language support for Danish in Denmark, French and German in Luxembourg, and English in Singapore to help you find shows, music, and more using just your voice.

Apple Music

  • Sing along to your favorites with beat-by-beat, real-time lyrics.
  • Control the vocal volume on millions of songs with Apple TV 4K (3rd generation).

To get a sense of some of the most important enhancements, choose Settings → System → What’s New upon installing tvOS 16.2 on your Apple TV. The Apple TV User Guide lists all the new Apple TV features across the tvOS 16.x updates.