Where was tvOS 27 at WWDC?

Every year, Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference gives us a first look at what’s coming next for the company’s many systems. But missing from today’s big event, apart from a single image of Apple OS next to the big “27”, was any mention of tvOS.

The overall design of this year’s WWDC was different, with a display of features instead of parts for any OS update. But there were no major mentions of macOS 27, iOS 27and iPadOS 27. They’re getting Siri AI, clear Liquid Glass options, and new child safety features. Even visionOS is integrated with the new Siri AI. tvOS did not exist, including from Apple website.

In a the latest announcement of what’s to comeApple also announced that larger text is coming to tvOS, allowing those with limited vision to increase the size of text on the screen (Amazon announced its own version of this. Fire TV Stick HD in April). But I expected this to be a precursor to more content at WWDC than nothing at all.

My hope was a combination of Apple Home and Apple TV 4K, where it can act as the center of your entire smart home. At the moment it is possible to view camera feeds or start various events that have been set up, but it is less than the interaction you can find on an iPad or iPhone. And it’s behind the TV integration from Amazon Alexa or Google Home.

The biggest limitation is the hardware. New Apple TV has been rumored for several years, starting recently Apple TV 4K It came out in 2022. And according to Mark Gurman, the new Apple TV is really ready to gowhich would be good news. To support Siri AI, or Apple Intelligence, the Apple TV must be very powerful (the A15 Bionic chip in the Apple TV originally came out about five years ago). The effect is felt in Apple’s lineup, where older watches, iPads, and even some Macs are gone. So a new device that can run the products shown at WWDC and bring Apple TV to the same level as Amazon and Google is in high demand.

There is a chance that something interesting will appear when the tvOS 27 public beta update is available. As I write this, other betas of OS 27 are available, including iOS 27 and iPadOS 27 (with a waiting list for Siri AI). So far, my Apple TV 4K app update page has been silent. And without a current Apple TV capable of running the new Siri, we’ll be waiting until the end of the year for anything significant to come to tvOS.