Michael Heiss outlines some key points from Apple’s Worldwide Developers’ Conference (WWDC) to share what's new in home and consumer entertainment.
June 2025 brings a lull in the action for smart home professionals after six months of trade shows and product introductions. With the arrival of summer, the industry is winding down before things start up again in September: I’m talking IFA, CEDIA Expo, Google Pixel and more.
Marking the first half of the year is Apple’s WWDC, the last main event before summer. As the name indicates, it’s something of a geek-fest where software and app developers learn about the new operating systems behind Apple devices. There were some interesting revelations at WWDC 2025, mostly around key products like iPhones, Macs and the Apple Watch. We’ll leave that coverage to the relevant experts... For now, let’s take a deep dive into the residential technology market to see what announcements will impact you.
OS 26
Apple has unified all operating systems under one name to make it easier for users to run the latest top line version. The new versions for iOS, iPadOS, WatchOS, Vision OS and TVOS will have a “26” as the suffix.
Liquid glass
All the new systems have a new, common software design language called Liquid Glass. The key elements are a more fluid, glass-like appearance using real-time rendering to dynamically react to movements with specular highlights. It will be interesting to see how the home automation and entertainment apps use this design for communication and control.
Generally, these new OS systems are going to developer betas before the general public has access to them, most likely in the autumn. It should also be noted that with all the focus on the above, there was no mention of a new “Home OS” or HomeKit in the keynote presentation. Perhaps these announcements will be revealed in September 2025 or later in the year – new products are rumoured to include a HomePod-type product with a display similar to the Amazon Alexa Echo Show.
Apple’s new Liquid Glass extends across all its product categories, including TVOS 26 for the Apple TV 4K, credit: Apple
TVOS 26
For all of this, what improvements will we see for entertainment-centric Apple OS products with the “26” identification? Most notable on the home entertainment side is the new TVOS 26. While there are undoubtedly some code changes behind the scenes, the main focus seems to be on using the new Liquid Glass design to simplify device usability and improve content selection.
The new design focuses the viewer’s attention on content with controls and commands such as rewind, fast-forward, changing audio parameters or other adjustments to benefit from the transparent look of Liquid Glass. That lets users operate controls without covering up the content.
Personalisation is improved with profiles and recommendations displayed automatically when the Apple TV wakes up. Another user experience simplification is a new API for TVOS 26 allowing developers to link app logins directly to the user’s Apple Account, greatly simplifying sign in when setting up a new device.
As an example of the connection between the new OS and a redesigned Apple TV app, there will be more cinematic poster art style graphics for content description.
And remember Apple TV devices are used for more than just watching movie and video content – two of the more interesting new updates are for such interactive applications.
With TVOS 26, karaoke-style singing sessions will be enhanced by real-time lyrics and new visual effects. Even better, there will be lyrics translation and pronunciation that will let users sing along even if the song itself is in a different language. Lyric translation from Korean and Spanish to English will be available, alongside a host of other languages from English like simplified Chinese or Japanese.
Lyric pronunciation will be available between different variations of certain root Asian and East Indian languages, from Chinese to Pinyin, Korean to Katakana or Romanised Korean and Hindi to Romanised Hindi.
To make spontaneous karaoke nights easier without extra kit, TVOS 26 on a third-gen Apple TV 4K means singers can use an iPhone 11 (or later model running iOS 26) as a mic. Users can also queue songs from iPhone as well as on the Apple TVs menu.
As to the speaker beyond the TV, users will now be able to designate any AirPlay-enabled speaker as the default, not just a HomePad as was the case before.
Being able to use the mic in your iPhone along with seeing lyrics with additional translation and phonetic assistance will make karaoke nights easier and more fun, credit: Apple
Introduced in previous TVOS versions, FaceTime on the Apple TV will be more in line with iOS. There will be Contact Posters that display a contact’s photo and name, while Live Captions will be added for French, German, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin and Spanish.
Finally on non-movie and video device capabilities, TVOS 26 will support the new Games app rolled out to iOS, iPad OS and Mac Tahoe OS devices.
With these announcements, keep in mind the missing element is the long awaited update to the Apple TV 4K device. There is hope we might see it in the autumn, perhaps with a new and faster processor and other features that we can all guess at.
Who knows, maybe a new Apple TV 4K (or even 8K?) might be the first mainstream consumer device with the new HDMI 2.2. Suffice to say, as soon as we have any news on a new Apple TV device you’ll read about it here… right after I put in my pre-order.
That’s it for the new TVOS 26. Perhaps not as major an update as those for the other Apple devices, keep in mind that TVOS is used with a product tightly focused on a few specific tasks and functionalities.
Let’s reconvene later in the year when it is released and we can see how it improves the total viewing experience to integrate with other Apple devices and the larger home entertainment ecosystem.
Main image source: Apple