tvOS 14
As usual, Apple’s software update for the Apple TV is perhaps the least interesting of all of its major software updates.
tvOS rarely gets any new groundbreaking features, and although it does offer some nice quality-of-life improvements, this year’s tvOS 14 isn’t any exception to that trend.
What you’ll be getting in tvOS 14 is support for watching YouTube and AirPlay videos in 4K (only on the Apple TV 4K, of course), along with a picture-in-picture experience that’s supposed to now work across the entire Apple TV experience, from third-party apps to videos streamed via AirPlay, rather than just in Apple’s own TV app.
The tvOS Control Center also now adds support for direct HomeKit controls as well, including the ability to bring up any of your HomeKit cameras and view the right on your Apple TV, which is a really nice touch for those of us who have tricked-out home automation setups, although you’ll still need to go to your iPhone or iPad if you want to watch HomeKit Secure Video recordings, as the Apple TV only shows the live view from each camera at this point.
What About HomePod?
At this point, Apple doesn’t yet appear to have released a version 14 update for the HomePod, which otherwise remains at Software Version 13.4.8.
In fact, we haven’t heard much lately about the HomePod software update, although Apple did suggest at WWDC it would be gaining support for new HomeKit features, such as using the iOS 14 face detection for HomeKit Secure Video cameras to announce visitors at your front door by name. There have also been rumours of Apple enabling support for third-party music services, although it’s unclear if that’s coming to HomePod OS 14 or if it’s something planned for later on.