Apple TV users just got a cool free upgrade

The new Apple TV 4K was released just over a week ago. The updated third generation of Apple's media streamer gets the same A15 Bionic chip found in the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus, doing away with the need for a cooling fan. That reduces noise and case dimensions. There's also updated support for HDR10+ video.

Now, another brilliant update looks set to make its way to the platform. Twitter user and self-proclaimed Apple TV aficionado, Sigmund Judge, has shared a handful of screenshots from a developer beta of tvOS 16.2, showing off a new feature called Recognise My Voice.

Recognise My Voice works by taking the Siri voice recognition data from your iPhone and linking it to your Apple TV profile. In theory, that means that Apple TV will be able to tell who is speaking and use that to tailor suggestions to your specific profile.

It's a feature that is already present in the Apple HomePod range, enabling users to receive personalised playlists when they ask Siri to play music, for example. Adding it to Apple TV seems like a sensible next step for Apple's smart home offering.

I hope it features parental controls. I can just imagine a kid asking Siri for dragons and being met with an episode of Game of Thrones. In theory, they should have their own voice recognition data, so it should be possible to block. Parental controls are already present on the best streaming services, such as Netflix and Disney Plus, so this should be an easy feature to include.

So, can you install this now? Not quite. At the moment, the updates seen in Judge's tweet are part of the developer beta. That means it's not available to the general public just yet. Judge said in a later tweet that the ETA was November, but this is unconfirmed.

When it does get released, though, Apple TV users are in for a much better experience.