Single Sign-on is one of the most important features of tvOS 10, but it wasn’t available with the software update. Apple did not give a specific release date for the feature, but stated that it would be available before the end of this year.

Apple released the tvOS 10.1 beta to registered developers recently. At first, we didn’t notice anything new, but hidden somewhere in Settings, there it was. The Single Sign-on feature finally available.

Single Sign-on

With the Single Sign-on feature on tvOS 10, users can sign-in to a pay-TV provider and it’ll automatically sign them in to all other apps associated with the provider. No need to enter your credentials every time you want to watch something.

This is very useful, as it saves a lot of time, and you can just ask Siri to directly start streaming a show without having to sign-in first. Here’s Apple’s description of the feature;

For the first time, customers in the US will have a simplified way of enjoying pay-TV video channels by using single sign-on. Starting this fall, users only have to sign in once on Apple TV to enjoy immediate access to their favorite video channels that are included as part of their pay-TV subscription.

• Once a user is signed into one network app, any other app on Apple TV from participating pay-TV providers will automatically log the user into all other supported apps requiring authentication.

• During the single sign-on process, customers can view a page of all the authenticated apps that a pay-TV provider offers to more easily discover, download and enjoy all of their favorite video channels.

• Any network-TV app can take advantage of this technology to enable single sign-on and simplify the process for their viewers.

• Single sign-on will be available on both Apple TV and iOS.

As of now, tvOS 10.1 and iOS 10.2 beta users can enjoy the Single Sign-on feature, but not to its fullest. The feature currently only supports cable services such as DISH, GVTC Communications, Sling TV, and HotWire.

The feature will also find all the apps that are compatible with the pay-TV credentials you have. You can then download those and access them whenever.

To enable the Single Sign-on feature on the Apple TV, launch the Settings app, then head to Accounts. Over here, you’ll find and option called TV Provider. Use your pay-TV credentials to Sign-in over here and voila!

All the apps and channels linked to that will be automatically signed in and ready to view. This along with the upcoming TV App should make watch watching your favorite channels, sports and shows a much better experience.

Availability

Like we mentioned earlier, you’ll have to be a developer to be able to try out the Single Sign-on feature. The latest tvOS 10.1 beta has the feature enabled. Therefore, the final version of this software will make the feature available for all.

The feature is still limited to only select cable TV or Pay TV providers, but more should be available in the near future.

Have you tried the feature on your Apple TV 4 yet? Let us know what you think of it. 

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Apple recently released a software update for the public as well. The previous public release, tvOS 10.0.1, was only released a week ago.

The new 10.1 beta comes almost a month after the release of tvOS 10, which included several new features and improvements. Some of the features include better search, improved Siri, Continuity that allows you to use iPhone to input text, a new Dark mode, automatic App downloads, and much more.

tvOS 10.1 Beta

Now, Apple has released the first beta for tvOS 10.1, which is yet another minor update, most likely. The last update, tvOS 10.0.1, did not bring the Single-Sign on feature to the Apple TV.

This update doesn’t include the feature either, so you may have to wait longer to get Single Sign-on, which is a really useful feature.

The latest beta is only available for developers as of now. It is strictly for testing and providing valuable feedback. If you’re a registered Apple developer, you can download the latest update using over the air (OTA).

You will need to have the Apple beta profile installed on your Apple TV to be eligible for the OTA updates. To do so, you’ll need to connect your Apple TV 4 to your Mac using a cable. Then, download and install the beta profile. Follow these instructions to learn how to do it.

Once you’ve installed the profile, you will get the latest tvOS 10.1 beta over the air. You can now install the software and try it out.

This update is most likely a bug fix update, and doesn’t include any substantial changes or new features. We’re not sure how many more betas will be released before this version is available for everyone.

Apple also announced a new TV App, which should also be available next month, along with the Single Sign-on feature.

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Apple released the first beta for iOS 10.0.1 on September 21st, and has released a total of four betas so far. The beta software is only available for registered Apple developers.

tvOS 10.0.1 Beta

The first beta of tvOS 10.0.1 didn’t really bring anything new to the table. It was released only a week after the release of tvOS 10 to the public. The update is a minor one and is only supposed to fix issues with tvOS 10.

In the second beta release, which came two weeks after the first one, there’s still nothing substantially new. You may notice some tweaks here and there, and little bit of lag at times. That’s because this is beta software and is only meant for developers.

The single sign-on feature is still not available in the beta. The third beta was released just one week later. Once again, the update only features performance improvements and bug fixes.

Few days ago, Apple released tvOS 10.0.1 beta 4, and still, no sign of the single sign-on feature. If you’re a developer, you should probably install the betas to test them out and give your feedback.

How to Install tvOS 10.0.1 Beta

To install a tvOS 10.0.1 beta on the fourth generation Apple TV, you will have to install the beta configuration file first. After that, you can choose to either get over the air updates, or do a new install every time a beta is out.

Either way, you will have to connect the Apple TV to your Mac using a USB Type C to USB A cable. Now, follow these steps to install the tvOS Configuration profile from Apple.

1. Go to developer.apple.com/download/ on your Mac and Login to your account.
2. Look for tvOS beta configuration profile and download it.
3. Head to the Mac App Store and install Apple Configurator.
4. With your Apple TV plugged in to the power, connect it to your Mac.
5. Now open Apple Configurator, select Add Profiles and select the downloaded configuration profile.
6. Reboot your Apple TV after the install is complete.

You will now be able to download the latest software updates over the air by navigating to System>Software Updates in Settings app. This is the simplest method to install the latest beta software wirelessly.

Remember, you cannot backup your Apple TV, so if you choose to use the iTunes method, it will be erased completely. Also, you’ll have to plugin the device to the Mac every time.

We will update this article when newer betas are available. Stay tuned. If you find anything new in the latest beta, do let us know in the comments section.

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Apple today released tvOS 9.2 beta for Apple TV 4 that adds Podcasts app, support for Bluetooth keyboards, folders for grouping apps, new Siri languages and a new app switcher.

Pairing Bluetooth keyboards for text entry was available for both 2nd and 3rd generation Apple TV, and it was highly requested feature for the Apple TV 4. With tvOS 9.2 users will be able to easily pair most of Bluetooth keyboards with their 4th gen. Apple TV.

The new beta also adds folders for grouping apps on the Apple TV home screen. As 9to5Mac notes, “pressing the Play/Pause button now brings up a series of options and controls for further management, including quick moves to folders or deletes.”

Siri now includes support for French Canadian (in Canada only) and US Spanish (in the US only). UK English, Australian English, and US English are now available in the UK, Australian, and US Storefronts when English is set as the tvOS language.

tvOS 9.2 also supports an updated app switcher UI and MapKit, allowing developers to implement maps into their tvOS apps.

Here are the official release notes:

tvOS 9.2 includes new features, bug fixes, and improvements in the OS and SDK.
New features and enhancements include:
– Bluetooth Keyboard support
– Folders support for grouping apps on Home screen
– MapKit support
– Siri support for US Spanish (in US only) and French Canadian (in Canada only)
– Siri support for UK English, Australian English and US English available across the UK, Australian and US Storefronts when English is set as the system language
– Updated App Switcher UI

Be sure to follow Apple TV Hacks on Twitter, Facebook or Google+ for all the latest Apple TV-related news.

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Infuse, one of the most popular media players for iOS, is coming soon to the new Apple (it should be availabe on the Apple TV App Store by the end of the year). The first beta has been sent out to beta testers on Wednesday and some of them have already managed to record and share the videos showing the app in action on the Apple TV 4.

YouTube user AskUncleDave has posted a video showing off the setup process and some details on how Infuse 4 will actually work on the 4th generation Apple’s set-top box.

Infuse 4 will be a universal app (iPhone, iPad, Apple TV) and will come as a free update for all current Infuse 3 Pro users.

You can read the review of Infuse 3 for iOS on our sister site What’s On iPhone.

Also read:

• Apple TV 4 hacked to run a web browser
• New Apple TV hacked to enable app folders
• MAME emulator running on Apple TV 4
• AirParrot 2: the ultimate companion app for Apple TV 4
• Official Plex app for Apple TV released
• How Apple is fixing what’s wrong with console gaming today

Be sure to follow Apple TV Hacks on Twitter, Facebook or Google+ for all the latest Apple TV-related news.

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Apple today released the second beta of tvOS 9.1 for Apple TV 4. No visual changes have been discovered yet, so it looks like the new beta only includes typical bug fixes and stability improvements. The release notes for this update include references to networking and scrolling tweaks.

tvOS 9.1 beta 2 is available as an over-the-air update to those who have installed the first beta.

Earlier this week , iDownloadBlog‘s Jeff Benjamin discovered that the first beta of tvOS 9.1 includes Siri support for Apple Music.

You can now direct the remote assistant to play any song or album directly from Apple Music, even if the song or album isn’t in your library. Siri can even search for songs on Apple Music, play Play Beats 1 radio, and more.

Here is a video showing Siri integration for Apple Music on the new Apple TV.

Also read:

• Guitar Hero Live for Apple TV 4 now available
• Apple TV 4 hacked to run a web browser
• New Apple TV hacked to enable app folders
• Official Plex app for Apple TV released
• How Apple is fixing what’s wrong with console gaming today

Be sure to follow Apple TV Hacks on Twitter, Facebook or Google+ for all the latest Apple TV-related news.

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Although it wasn’t officially announced yesterday, it looks that the 2nd and 3rd generation Apple TV won’t be compatible with the new Apple TV operating system – tvOS. Older devices won’t be getting the App Store, Siri and third-part controllers. Basically, they probably won’t get any of the cool features announced yesterday for the “all-new Apple TV”.

The first beta of tvOS, that was released for the developers yesterday, will not run on older Apple TVs.

Apple’s comparison page for the new and older Apple TV models clearly shows that none of the new features is coming to older devices.

It also appears that Apple Music will not be supported on older devices.

If you were wondering why all the new features are absent from the Apple TV 3, scroll down a little bit more on the comparison site.

It is yet to be confirmed if the Apple’s subscription TV service (rumored to be due for release sometimes next year) will be supported on older devices. 9to5Mac’s Mark Gurman reported last month that “the software update that enables Apple’s cable-replacement service is currently planned to also become available for the third-generation Apple TV”.

The revamped Apple TV will be available at the end of October starting at $149 for a 32GB model and $199 for a 64GB model.

Be sure to follow Apple TV Hacks on Twitter, Facebook or Google+ for all the latest Apple TV-related news.

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Nowadays it is hard to find something worth rejoicing for Apple TV 1 users. The best features, regular updates and the elegant looks are all for its black, tiny sisters, while the first gen. Apple TV is usually ignored. Surprisingly, even the jailbreak community has dumped this pioneer these days, but luckily enough, OpenELEC is a great side-route to take for everything-XBMC.

OpenELEC or Open Embedded Linux Entertainment Center is a lightweight Linux-based piece of code which turns computers, Apple TV 1, Raspberry Pi or other supported hardware into an XBMC Media Centre.

It enables you to install XBMC as an entire new operating system, and for Apple TV1 that means you’ll boot readily into a standalone media hub with all your XBMC contents, sorted efficiently and spectacularly. In short, the Apple TV 1 will become a XBMC set-top box.

You can find more on OpenELEC here.

The Beta 7 (internally known as OpenELEC 3.95.7) of their latest major update, OpenELEC 4.0, is now available for download.

Besides the usual bugfixes and package updates, the team behind OpenELEC has updated XBMC with the last fixes to XBMC 13 Gotham RC1, updated the kernel to kernel 3.14.2 and rebuilt the whole distro with the recently released gcc-4.9.0.

Previous betas added experimental ALSA support for RaspberryPi, as well as an experimental 4K support for supported platforms, brought fixes for some WLAN drivers, fixed AirPlay issues with iOS 7 devices, fixed issues with Youtube and other streams, solved some issues with AMD GPU hardware and added initial support for TTS (TextToSpeech) output.

You can learn more on all the OpenELEC betas here.

Be warned that this is not the stable version but only a beta release. The OpenELEC team aims to detect some bugs and glitches if any, from the beta with the help of their user base and roll out a stable 4.0 release, as soon as possible. So if you know what you’re doing and want to help these awesome developers (and only then), go ahead and get the beta version here.

Please make sure to back up the data first and here is the official tutorial on how to upgrade to this beta release.

If you are new to OpenELEC, check out our tutorial on how to install the latest stable version of the software (v. 3.2), then download the latest OpenELEC 4 beta and manually update following the instructions here.

At the end of the day, if you’re an XBMC-only guy or have an old Apple TV 1 lying in the store room, OpenELEC is surely worth a wide open look.

Also read:

• XBMC 13.0 Gotham Beta 1 is out and ready to sneak into your Apple TV
• How to install XBMC 13.0 Gotham on Apple TV 2
• Top 10 best XBMC addons for Apple TV 1 and Apple TV 2

The post XBMC on Apple TV 1: OpenElec 4 beta 7 with support for XBMC 13.0 Gotham now available appeared first on Apple TV Hacks.

It’s been a long time since the name XBMC echoed through our corridors. Apple TV 2 owners can start their celebrations as XBMC has released the Beta 1 of their next major update, v. 13.0. After Eden and Frodo, they’ve come up with Gotham as their codename, just to make sure it’ll never get unnoticed by movie fans.

Let’s see what XBMC 13.0 Gotham brings new to the table.

• Support for 3D movies: SBS, TAB, anaglyph and interlaced formats are supported but not 3D BluRays
• Improved UPnP capabilities: you can now send videos from your tablet or phone to your TV similar to AirPlay or Chromcast
• Massive improvements with the Audio Engine: simpler, faster, better quality and lesser breakage
• Better user experience with improved settings : categorisation of settings from beginner to expert, comprehensive descriptions with each setting and a ‘Reset to default’ button, in case you mess things up
• Better subtitle searches
• Better developer tools – means better add-ons in future
• Various visual changes throughout the skin which should improve usability and logic
• Numerous minor features and bug fixes

I have mentioned only the features relevant to Apple TV users here and in brief. You can read the complete changelog for Gotham here.

Note that Gotham is still in beta, which means it is not free from bugs yet and the public release is still some time away.

Soon, we will have a tutorial on how to install XBMC 13.0 Gotham on the Apple TV.

XBMC and Apple TV

For those who’ve no idea what I’m talking about, here is a little light on the context. XBMC is the major reason why most Apple TVs are jailbroken. It is basically an open-source software media player which can be used to browse and play videos, songs or pictures from your hard disk, network server or even the internet. It is available for all linux based devices, iOS, Mac, Android and PC and supports third party add-ons and skins/themes which makes it quite popular among its users.

Due to the strict guidelines laid down by Apple, it cannot be made available to users in the App Store or Apple TV without dropping some core features. Which is why they’re currently only available for jailbroken devices. Read more – What is XBMC? and Why is it not officially available on App Store?

XBMC 12.0 and above works only on jailbroken Apple TV 2 (latest jailbreakable Apple TV firmware is 5.3). If you have an Apple TV 1 and want XBMC badly, you can find out how to do it here.

More on XBMC:

• Top 10 best XBMC addons for Apple TV 1 and Apple TV 2
• How to change skins in XBMC on Apple TV
• Use XBMC to extend your Apple TV’s hard drive
• How to navigate XBMC’s menus options
• How to clone the XBMC installation

.. and more.

Be sure to follow Apple TV Hacks on Facebook, Twitter and Google+ for all the latest Apple TV-related news.

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One of the main features that keeps my tied into the Apple ecosystem is AirPlay – the ability to stream your content to your Apple TV or AirPort Express, wirelessly. So when CyanogenMod developer Koushik Dutta released AllCast for Android, I was very interested.

This new Android app allows users to push their local content on their device to a variety of set-top streaming boxes, one of which is the Apple TV. In fact, the list of supported boxes includes Roku, Xbox, PS4, and any other DLNA devices.

One AllCast is installed, it’s just a case of finding a video you want to play and tap the cast button in the upper right cornet and a menu will pop up asking where to beam the content to.

The downside is that AllCast only supports local content, and unfortunately does not support videos from streaming services.

AllCast is currently in beta. In order to download and test it, you will need to join the ClockworkMod Beta Testers Community, sign up to be a beta tester for AllCast, and then install the app from the Play Store.

Her’s a video demo:

Be sure to follow Apple TV Hacks on Twitter, Facebook or Google+ for all the latest Apple TV-related news.

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