tvOS 13 is Now Available For Apple TV HD & Apple TV 4K Including Control Center, User Profiles, Xbox/PS4 Support, & PIP

At their Worldwide Developer’s Conference (WWDC) earlier this year, Apple announced new features for their Apple TV devices coming in tvOS 13 — the latest version of their operating system. The update, which is now available to download, focuses on making the device feel more personalized and modern.

One enhancement that was never announced, but had been a surprise in one of the early beta of tvOS 13 is support for picture-in-picture (PIP). While this is currently only available for content streaming from the TV App, it would be nice if they gets extended to third-party developers with an update.

The tvOS 13 update will be downloaded automatically over-the-air or can be forced by going to System -> Software Update.

Whats New in tvOS 13

1. Re-designed Home Screen

Taking a page from their updated tvApp which they launched this month, the new design is much more visual and will play trailers and content as you are browsing the interface.

2. User Profiles

Apple is introducing user profiles so each user of Apple TV devices can get their own “Up Next” list and personalized list of recommendations

3. Control Center

The way you will control your profile is a new control center which looks similar to that on iOS devices. Control center will come from the side of the screen and you can control user profiles and presences from it.

4. Updated Apple Music App with Lyrics

The integrated support of Apple Music will allow a personalized experience so you see only the music you care about. They are adding a karaoke mode, so you can see lyrics as you are listening to music so you can get your jam on.

5. Apple Arcade with support for PS4 & Xbox Controllers

Earlier this year, Apple announced a new subscription service called Apple Arcade, which gives access to a wide-selection of games for just $9.99 a month. In order to make gameplay easier, they are adding support for Xbox and PS4 controllers, so you can play games just like you would on a video game console

6. New Underwater Screensavers

Last year, Apple added screensavers from outer space, today they announced they will add underwater screensavers in a partnership with BBC.

7. PIP Support for TV App

From the PIP, you can select the “TV” button for options like switching the position of the PIP window or closing it out completely. It isn’t clear, whether this will be available to all app developers, similar to how it works on iPad. If it does that could be nice for those who use some Live TV Streaming Services like PlayStation Vue — as they already support the feature on iPad.