During the WWDC 2016 keynote, Apple announced a few key important updates coming to tvOS for Apple TV, which Apple announced already supports over 1,300 video channels and 6,000 native apps.
The first feature introduced is the new Apple TV Remote app for the iPhone, which includes all of the features of the physical Siri remote that comes with the Apple TV. This is a truly handy feature, as I own an Amazon Fire TV and have already lost the remote somewhere in my living room, but have been able to save the day with the Fire TV remote app for my phone. Apple introducing Remote for Apple TV is definitely an awesome thing for people who have a habit of losing things.
Siri will now support commands searching for YouTube videos.
Apple also introduced some new apps and channels that will be available for tvOS, including Sling, Fox Sports Go, NBA 2K, and Minecraft: Story Mode, and live TV.
If you’ve ever signed in to a streaming app from a smart TV before, you’re probably familiar with the initial sign-in process: you’re prompted to confirm the use of the app via a web browser for each and every app. Apple decided that this was unnecessary to go through each and every time, so the new Single Sign-On app allows you to do this just one time in order to gain access to all of your streaming apps on your Apple TV.
Dark Mode was introduced as well (which gives us hope that this will appear for iOS 10, expected to be announced shortly).
Finally, it was announced that streaming apps downloaded to your iOS devices can now sync and download to your Apple TV automatically.
Readers, what are your thoughts on these changes to tvOS? Which new feature is your favorite?