Reprinted from TidBITS by permission; reuse governed by Creative Commons license BY-NC-ND 3.0. TidBITS has offered years of thoughtful commentary on Apple and Internet topics. For free email subscriptions and access to the entire TidBITS archive, visit http://www.tidbits.com/ tvOS 10 Adds Dark Mode and More Josh Centers Apple has released tvOS 10, which you can install on your fourth-generation Apple TV by navigating to Settings > System > Software Updates > Update Software. tvOS 10 doesn't offer any earth-shattering changes, but it does include a few niceties. Automatic App Downloads -- When you first install iOS 10, it asks if you want to install apps automatically. When you enable this option, tvOS automatically installs any tvOS apps for which you already own the corresponding iOS app, either free or paid. You can turn this feature on or off later in Settings > Apps. Dark Mode -- Those of us blinded by the bright-white look of tvOS 9 will appreciate the new Dark mode, which you can enable in Settings > General > Appearance. Dark mode not only turns the Home screen dark, but also darkens the user interface elements of many apps. [1][tn_tvOS-Dark-mode.jpg] Siri -- tvOS 10 includes some new Siri tricks. You can now search for movies by topic, and you can combine search criteria, so you can tell Siri to 'Show me movies about time travel' or 'Show me boxing movies from the '80s.' Siri can also now search YouTube. Say 'Search YouTube' and then your query, like so: 'Search YouTube for iPhone 7 videos.' After processing your request, Siri takes you to the YouTube app's search screen with your query. [2][tn_tvOS-Siri-YouTube.jpg] HomeKit -- tvOS 10 brings some support for HomeKit to the Apple TV, but so far, only in the form of Siri commands. As long as your Apple TV is signed into the same iCloud account that is linked to your HomeKit devices, the same Siri commands you use on iOS and watchOS should work on your Apple TV, like 'Dim my Living Room Lights' and 'Set scene Movie Mode.' It may take a little time after you install the tvOS update for everything to sync. (If you're interested in HomeKit, I recommend the Philips Hue system ' see '[3]Getting Started with the Philips Hue Smart Light Bulbs,' 1 August 2016) Even though the tvOS-HomeKit combination has a lot of potential, HomeKit on tvOS is currently disappointing. It's simply faster and easier to use the iPhone, which now features a Home app and a Control Center panel. But there may be more interesting integrations in the future: for instance, there are iOS apps that can change the color of Hue bulbs based on the dominant color on your TV, but these apps require your device's camera to be pointed at your TV. In theory, the Apple TV could have this functionality built in. Photos -- tvOS's Photos app is largely unchanged, but it gains the Memories feature from iOS 10. Memories are automated collections of photos based on date and location. Photos adds new Memories regularly, so be sure to check back often. (Unfortunately, you can't set them as screensavers.) [4][tn_tvOS-Memories.jpg] Music -- Apple redesigned the Music app in tvOS 10 to look like the refreshed app in iOS 10. It looks good and is a big improvement. [5][tn_tvOS-Music.jpg] The new Music app also offers two new rotating playlists for Apple Music members: My New Music Mix and My Favorites Mix. Apple updates My New Music Mix every Friday with new songs that Apple Music's algorithms think you'll enjoy. My Favorites Mix is a mix of older songs that Apple knows you like, and it updates every Wednesday. I've enjoyed both playlists, although My Favorites Mix is a bit too on the nose, since I've heard all those songs thousands of times. I think of it more like the new Memories feature in Photos, in that it helps me revisit content I may have forgotten about. Gaming -- Developers can now create games that require a dedicated game controller. That change may lead to more complex Apple TV games, at the cost of alienating users who don't have the requisite game controller. Single Sign-On -- Many tvOS apps require authentication with a TV provider, and you have to activate each app individually. The good news is that Apple has introduced Single Sign-On for those authentications. But here's the bad news: based on my reading of Apple's developer documentation, this capability is technically called the Video Subscriber Account framework, and it must be implemented by the app developer. What this likely means in the real world is that if you activate an app from A&E Networks, like the History Channel app, then the Lifetime app (also from A&E Networks) will also be activated, assuming you subscribe to both. However, you would still separately have to authenticate an app developed by Viacom, such as Comedy Central. (Assuming that these companies update their apps to use the Video Subscriber Account framework.) So Single Sign-On has the potential to improve things a bit, but the question is how quickly developers will take advantage of it. Don't hold your breath, given that the nearly year-old Netflix app still hasn't been updated to support category browsing ' a feature that is available on almost every other platform. To be honest, the tvOS 10 update is relatively unimpressive, even if it does include some welcome additions. We can hope that Apple gives the Apple TV more attention in future releases. References 1. http://tidbits.com/resources/2016-09/tvOS-Dark-mode.png 2. http://tidbits.com/resources/2016-09/tvOS-Siri-YouTube.png 3. http://tidbits.com/article/16656 4. http://tidbits.com/resources/2016-09/tvOS-Memories.png 5. http://tidbits.com/resources/2016-09/tvOS-Music.png .