Published on June 4th, 2018 | by Brad Gibson

WWDC 2018: Apple releases first tvOS 12 beta to developers

Following Monday’s Worldwide Developers Conference keynote that saw the introduction of tvOS 12, Apple has seeded the first beta of the new operating system for developer testing.

Designed for the fourth and fifth-generation Apple TVs, the new tvOS 12 developer beta is for developers only, with a public beta to testers scheduled for later this summer.

tvOS 12 brings support for Dolby Atmos 3D audio. Starting this fall, iTunes will release what it said will be the largest collection of Dolby Atmos-supported movies. All purchased iTunes movies will be upgraded for free.

A new aerial screensaver on Apple TV will include images captured from the International Space Station starting later this year,

Apple introduced a new ‘zero sign-on’ feature for customers of the Charter Spectrum cable systems that will let users watch live channels and on-demand programs without needing to sign-in to each provider app.

Charter Spectrum will also be releasing this year a streaming Spectrum TV app allowing users to replace their traditional cable boxes with the Apple TV.

Other tvOS 12 features include autofill passwords from the iPhone to sign into Apple TV apps more quickly, an Apple TV Remote default option in Control Center on iOS devices, and support for Home Control systems like Crestron and Savant to control the Apple TV.

Tags: Apple, apple tv, Apple Worldwide Developers Conference, developers tvOS, tvos, tvos 12, wwdc

About the Author

Brad Gibson Brad is co-founder and editor-in-chief of BESTAppleTV.com. He has been a technology reporter since the late 1980s having previously worked for MacUser, MacFormat, and iCreate magazines, as well as MacNN.com, MacObserver.com, MacCentral.com, MacMinute.com, and Macworld.com. He hosted and produced the MacFormat This Week podcast for three years. He was also a reporter, editor, and producer for the AOL, the BBC, Associated Press, and United Press International.