When tvOS 26 lands this September, your Apple TV will get a fresh coat of “Liquid Glass” paint—because apparently, what we’ve all been dying for is shinier UI and more artsy screensavers. Somewhere in Cupertino, Steve Jobs is rolling his eyes from the iCloud.
Also arriving: the ability to use your iPhone as a karaoke mic with Apple Music (finally, the tech bro party trick nobody asked for) and a new “quick switch” feature for display profiles that activates when your Apple TV wakes up—because God forbid you manually toggle anything in 2025.
Useful? Maybe. Groundbreaking? Let’s just say Jobs probably wouldn’t have wasted a keynote slide on it.
One feature actually stands out in this update — and not just because it looks pretty. With tvOS 26, Apple TV is finally stepping outside its walled garden and supporting third-party wireless audio gear. That means you might be able to build a real wireless home theater system around your Apple TV — without chaining yourself to a pair of overpriced HomePods.
It’s a welcome change, albeit one that feels like it’s arriving a decade late. You can almost hear Steve Jobs muttering, “We should’ve done this before giving people karaoke mics and animated jellyfish.”
More Wireless TV Speaker Options Are (Finally) Coming to Apple TV
Starting with tvOS 26, Apple TV will finally let you designate any AirPlay-enabled wireless speaker as your default output. That means when you turn on your TV, sound will automatically play through your chosen speaker — no more re-connecting every time. Until now, this level of integration was limited to Apple’s own HomePod and HomePod mini. Everyone else? Stuck in the “temporary connection” penalty box.
Why does this matter? Because most wireless speakers these days — from Sonos and Audioengine to KEF — support AirPlay. The feature update essentially gives you the freedom to build a legit wireless TV audio system without being handcuffed to Apple’s own hardware.
There’s no HDMI cable to snake around your media console. No eARC port to fight with. Just open up your Apple TV, link your AirPlay speaker, and boom — you’ve got wireless sound every time the system powers on.
It’s a big win for simplicity and a solid workaround for anyone who’s skipped the soundbar tax or doesn’t want a full-blown AV setup. Of course, this still requires you to buy an Apple TV — because why give you flexibility without putting another Apple logo in your living room?
Somewhere, Steve Jobs is probably shaking his head that this wasn’t baked in from the start. But hey, wireless freedom… a decade later.
The Bottom Line
tvOS 26 finally gives Apple TV users a no-hassle way to default any AirPlay-compatible wireless speaker — including stereo pairs — as their main audio output.
This update turns your Apple TV into the central hub of a wireless home theater setup — no HDMI cables, no extra boxes, and no sacrifice in sound quality if your speakers are up to snuff. For those already invested in the AirPlay ecosystem, it’s a smart, frictionless upgrade that finally brings Apple’s “it just works” philosophy to your living room audio.
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ORT
July 27, 2025 at 6:38 pm
There is a reason I refer to Apple as “fApple”…Think about this dear reader. Yes, I am being priapically, sophomoricaly, totally ORTishly, juvenile.
I like fApple’s stuff. I also like HEOS and while I am pleased that fApple is going to allow me to use any of my 12 HEOS speakers in my (oooops! “Our” home!) to listen to fAppleTV, I must admit I don’t have fAppleTV or fApple Music. Is there even iTunes anymore? I own a 9th Gen. iPad and have given 2 more to my daughter and her husband along with a MacBook Pro. I own an iPhone 16 Pro Max and a fApple Watch 8 (I tend to fall a LOT!).
But no fAppleTV. I can be weird in what I want and pay for. I recently tried to sign up for Newsmax Plus and it kept redirecting me to join after I had just joined. This happened enough times I switched browsers (I’m part browser on my mother’s side!) 3 times. I gave up and emailed their hep-desk but to no avail. Same with MGM+. Hmmmmmmm…Maybe it has something to do with the use of “Plus” or “+”?
Nah. It’s me. I am as Bugs used to say, quite a maroon. I had problems with Qobuz Connect both at home with HEOS and on the road with CarPlay. I cancelled and will return when HEOS natively ports Qobuz in. But the CarPlay thing is….a puzzlement.
So perhaps one day, in the not too distant and dystopian future. I will give a look-see at fAppleTV. I am closerer and closerer to cancelling Jisney Plus (there’s that “Plus” again!) for their sheer weirdness, obsequiousness and outright wokeness. If it weren’t for watching the old films (but never Ol’ Yeller!) I would have rid myself of their less than Mar-Vellous pUniverse. Deadpool & Wolverine saved them for awhile but I weary of their mostly pathetic gnuer profferings.
Not even allowing me to use my HEOS speakers can save them from themselves. Hades hath not the testicular fury ‘n’ fortitude of a P.O.’d ORT.
Thee ORTacle at HelFi
0ID
August 2, 2025 at 9:03 am
Sonos Connect, Tidal Connect, Qobuz Connect… but no Apple Connect to stream music directly to a streamer using the iPhone just as remote control! Not enough IQ at Apple to do that ???
Ian White
August 2, 2025 at 1:10 pm
OID,
Apparently not. They won’t even consider spending more to work with other Bluetooth codecs. Weird.
IW