Apple is giving the Apple TV Remote app experience a lot of love in iOS 27. That’s as good a sign as any that a new Apple TV 4K box is on the way.
It started with iOS 27 beta 1. Apple is restoring the Remote app from its half-app state as a Control Center tile to a full app that can be placed on the Home Screen.
This applies to both iPhone and iPad. Apple Watch has always had a dedicated Remote app. Meanwhile, on the Mac, well, I recently made an app for that.
Looking ahead, “pdfu” on X has uncovered some really interesting new features coming to the iOS Remote app. These new features aren’t visible yet. Instead, they’re hiding behind feature flags. The code wrangler has managed to show off how they work.
It looks like a great addition to iPhone and iPad Remote app. The current version is all about being a virtual directional pad, basically mimicking what the physical remote does through software. This new version goes further by taking advantage of the fact that it’s software.
Apple is also expected to update the actual physical Siri Remote when it releases a new Apple TV 4K — hopefully in the next month or so.
All of this activity around the software remote is a good sign that Apple is giving extra attention to the hardware box. That typically means there’s a new product in the works.
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