Apple’s two home devices have received new software updates today. tvOS 18.2 and HomePod 18.2 are available now. Here’s everything that’s new.
tvOS 18.2 adds new screensaver, projector support, and more
The Apple TV 4K is getting several upgrades in tvOS 18.2:
- there’s a brand new Snoopy screensaver
- plus, more screen aspect ratios are now supported, a feature built for projectors
These two updates were originally announced by Apple back in June at WWDC.
They didn’t make the cut in tvOS 18.0, however, but have finally arrived in 18.2 before the year ends.
Projector users will especially benefit from the new 21:9 aspect ratio support, which can be configured inside the Settings app under Audio and Video settings.
It’s also likely that tvOS 18.2 brings natural language support to Siri when searching for TV shows and movies—a feature found in iOS 18.2 as well. From the iOS 18.2 release notes, it’s described as: “Natural language search in Apple Music and Apple TV app lets you describe what you’re looking for using any combination of categories like genres, moods, actors, decades, and more.”
HomePod 18.2 brings improved Apple Music Siri experience and Enhance Dialogue upgrade
HomePod has received several other software updates throughout 2024, but today’s version 18.2 is the first release that offers much of substance.
In addition to the usual bug fixes and stability improvements, HomePods benefit from two new features. Per Apple’s release notes:
Siri on HomePod is now integrated with Apple Music natural language search so you can describe what you want to hear using any combination of categories like genre, mood, decade or activity.
This sounds like a fantastic addition, and one that accompanies a similar upgrade in Apple Music for iPhone in iOS 18.2. Apple Music requests are undoubtedly the most common Siri use on HomePod, so this should make it better than ever.
Next up is a change exclusive to 2nd gen HomePods:
Enhance Dialogue on HomePod (2nd generation) when paired with Apple TV 4K gives you the option to hear speech more clearly over background sounds using real-time audio processing and machine learning.
I’m a big fan of the Enhance Dialogue feature in tvOS 18, and now if you use the 2nd generation HomePod as your TV’s speaker, Apple has given it a boost. I haven’t been able to test this, but I’m interested to see what kind of difference this upgrade makes.
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