Possible New Features of Apple TV

Among the iProducts that Apple regularly peddles and updates, Apple TV is being left behind by its sleeker and lighter cousins. However, clues have slowly trickled in various bits of software – iOS 9 betas, OS X El Capitan betas, HomeKit frameworks – that hints of a new version of the Apple TV that will come sooner than expected.

There’s no greater sign that the new Apple TV is imminent than the one Apple has pasted all over one of its support documents. The document, titled "Set up and use HomeKit-enabled accessories with your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch", can be found here.

The document explains how to use HomeKit devices with iOS devices. The pertinent part is this:

"Control your accessories away from home

If you have an Apple TV (3rd generation or later) with software version 7.0 or later, you can control your HomeKit-enabled accessories when you're away from home using your iOS device.

Sign into iCloud with the same Apple ID on your iOS device and Apple TV, and you'll be able to use Siri commands to remotely control your accessories. If your remote access isn't working, sign out out of iCloud on your Apple TV, then sign back in."

It also says that “If you have an Apple TV (3rd generation or later)”. Right now no “or later” exists. The Apple TV is only 3 generations old, suggesting a new one is coming soon …

Further clues to the next Apple TV are found within the code for the latest OS X 10.11 El Capitan beta. As 9to5Mac points out:

"A new file inside of El Capitan seems to confirm that Apple has been working on a new Bluetooth Remote Control. According to our scan of the file’s contents, this new piece of hardware integrates a dedicated Bluetooth wireless chip, can connect with devices via an infrared sensor, and includes a Multi-Touch trackpad with inertial scrolling support. There is also a reference to what could be Force Touch support, but we are less certain about that."

The code also reveals a hook for audio, which could signal Siri support built right into the remote. This would allow users to perform voice searches for content on a new Apple TV.

But the most pertinent hints of what the next Apple TV will be like are derived from the iOS 9 betas Apple has been releasing. The biggest hint comes from iOS 9’s ability to search in-app. In iOS 9 users will be able to use Spotlight search to not only retrieve results from the main apps on their iPhone and the web, but also release from inside third-party apps as well.

As Josh Centers of Tidbits writes:

"One of the biggest complaints about streaming boxes like the Apple TV is that search is a mess. Let’s say you wanted to watch the brilliant, but recently cancelled, show "Hannibal." Since the Apple TV offers no system-wide search, you have to dive into each app to see if the show is there. After a bit of digging around, you might figure out that it’s for sale in iTunes and recent episodes are on Hulu Plus, but it will take some work …

Thankfully, iOS 9 offers a solution: in-app search. Thanks to a new Spotlight API, developers will be able to tie their apps’ data into the system-wide search. For example, searching Spotlight for "bacon" might bring up a number of bacon-related recipes in Paprika. How great would this be on the Apple TV? With in-app search, you could use a single search box to find out that "Hannibal" is available in iTunes, Hulu Plus, and on Amazon Prime Instant Video."

Centers also believes that the new picture-in-picture mode available on the iPad in iOS 9 hints at the same feature coming to the Apple TV.