Apple's tvOS 18 & Home app updates boost home experience

Apple has unveiled a suite of software updates across its Home products, designed to amplify entertainment experiences and enhance daily convenience for users. The most significant updates come with tvOS 18, which introduces intelligent features like InSight, Enhance Dialogue, and improved subtitles for a more immersive cinematic experience.

According to Stan Ng, Apple's vice president of Apple Watch, Audio, Health, and Home Product Marketing, these updates are aimed at ensuring that home products provide even greater convenience and connectivity, thereby enhancing everyday life.

One of the standout features of the tvOS 18 update is InSight. This feature offers real-time information about actors, characters, and music for Apple TV+ movies and shows, displayed onscreen. Users can easily select an actor to access their background and filmography or identify and add songs playing in a scene to an Apple Music playlist. Additionally, InSight details are accessible via an iPhone when used as an Apple TV remote.

Enhance Dialogue, another innovative feature included in tvOS 18, utilises machine learning and computational audio to improve vocal clarity over background noise, music, and action sequences. Initially available on HomePod speakers, this feature now extends to built-in TV speakers, HDMI-connected speakers, AirPods, and other Bluetooth devices. It also works on iPhones and iPads when playing supported content.

The update also brings advancements in subtitle functionality. Subtitles will now automatically appear at the most convenient moments, such as when the language does not match the device's language, when the content is muted, or when users skip back in a video.

tvOS 18 introduces several other features, including support for 21:9 aspect ratio for projectors and new screen savers like Portraits, TV and Movies, and an animated Snoopy sequence. The update enhances Apple Music and SharePlay on HomePod and HomePod mini, allowing users to share control of music more collaboratively.

New updates to FaceTime with Continuity Camera are also notable. These include the introduction of Live Captions for English in the US and Canada, thereby enabling users to read conversations on a FaceTime call directly on their largest screen at home.

Apple Fitness+ has been redesigned within tvOS 18, making its extensive library of workouts more accessible and motivational through features like a personalised For You space, new search functionalities, and enhanced awards.

In terms of home access and energy management, the Home app with iOS 18 introduces guest access, enabling users to grant controlled access to locks, garage doors, and security systems. It also supports hands-free unlock with home keys, which automatically unlock entry locks when a user is within six feet of their door.

The Home app partners with utilities, beginning with Pacific Gas & Electric Company, to help users monitor and manage their electricity usage more effectively. Users can view their electricity consumption data via the Home app's Energy category once they connect their utility account.

Additional features coming to the Home app include the compatibility of robot vacuum cleaners with HomeKit, enabling voice activation through Siri, and the inclusion of Spatial Audio via AirPlay for an immersive sound experience through HomePod and compatible third-party audio devices.

The updates, currently available in developer beta versions, are expected to be released to the public as free software updates this spring. These enhancements aim to further integrate Apple's ecosystem of services and devices, promising a more seamless and enriched user experience.