In addition to iOS 11.3 beta 1, Apple has released the first tvOS 11.3 developer beta for Apple TV (fourth gen) and Apple TV 4K.

The new beta follows one day after the release of tvOS 11.2.5 for all customers. When used with iOS 11.2.5 on iPhone and iPad, content playing on tvOS 11.2.5 appears as a Now Playing option in Control Center.

In the future, tvOS will support AirPlay 2 and turn connected speakers into AirPlay 2 speakers. The new feature should be out later this year.

We’ll dig in to the first tvOS 11.3 beta and update with any changes discovered. A public beta version will also likely follow.

  • Apple TV shows up in Home app with tvOS 11.3, doesn’t work as hub for automation and remote access without tvOS 11.3 on iOS 11.3, AirPlay 2 also working
  • Apple TV (fourth gen) now supports frame rate matching, previously required Apple TV 4K
  • Match Content has been improved per release notes
  • New Privacy explainer at launch
  • Apple TV location now pulls from HomeKit rooms
  • See how your data is managed section

Notes and Known Issues

General

New Issues

  • The TV Provider sign-in prompt may not appear during initial tvOS setup (36559610)

Workaround: Authenticate with the TV provider using the Settings app.

Foundation

Known Issues

  • Clients of NSURLSessionStreamTask that use a non-secure connection fail to connect when an error occurs during PAC file evaluation and the system is configured for either Web Proxy Auto Discovery (WPAD) or Proxy Automatic Configuration (PAC). A PAC evaluation failure can occur when the PAC file contains invalid JavaScript or the HTTP host serving the PAC file is unreachable. (33609198)

Workaround: Use startSecureConnection to establish a secure connection.

Mobile Device Management

New Features

  • Added the following settings to device management. For more information, see the Configuration Profile Reference and MDM Protocol Reference.

  • Restrict explicit music and book store erotica by rating.

  • Restrictapps,moviesandTVshowsbyrating.

  • Skip the Privacy screen during setup.

  • Skip the “Where is this Apple TV” screen during setup.

  • Restrict Remote app connections to specified iOS devices.

  • Update an app while in Single App Mode.

  • It is not possible to skip all initial setup screens when using an MDM server configuration with Device Enrollment Program supervised devices. (35919886)

  • Upgrade installs will trigger additional setup prompts for supervised devices. A remote is needed to complete the upgrade. (36674710)

Mode Switching

  • New Features
  • Added support for automatic frame rate to AVKit for the 4th generation Apple TV. Apps that don’t use AVKit for video playback can add support using APIs previously introduced in the tvOS 11.2 SDK. For more information, see: https://developer.apple.com/fall17/503.