Two weeks after releasing tvOS 16.3 to all users, Apple is now making tvOS 16.3.1 available to Apple TV and HomePod owners. According to the release notes, this update brings “general performance and stability improvements.” It’s unclear if other Apple operating systems will get an x.x.1 update today or if it’s just focused on Apple TV and HomePod since a new smart speaker was released.
HomePod 2 owners have complained about not being able to add someone to their Home apps due to the new Home architecture bug.
With tvOS 16.3, Apple enabled temperature and humidity sensors for HomePod mini and HomePod 2 models. Interestingly, it was already known that the HomePod mini offered these sensors. Still, they have been disabled from the start, and Apple decided to launch them later alongside a new HomePod model.
In addition, this operating system update brought remastered ambient sound as they are now more immersive and can be added to the Home app’s scenes, automation, and alarms.
Find My on HomePod enables users to ask Siri for the location of friends and family members if they share it with you.
In addition, tvOS 16.3 brings these features to HomePod users:
- Recurring Home automation can be set up using just your voice;
- Siri confirmation tone will now play to indicate when smart home requests are completed for accessories that may not visibly show a change or are located in a different room;
- Audio tuning optimizes spoken content such as podcasts for even greater clarity on the largest HomePod models;
- Updated volume controls on HomePod (1st gen) give you more granular adjustments at lower volumes.
BGR will let you know if we learn more about this update or if it just brings small improvements. Apple is also expected to launch the first beta of iOS 16.4 this week.
