Today, Apple released tvOS 16.3.3 for owners of the third-generation Apple TV 4K, which was unveiled at the end of last year. This update fixes an issue where the Siri Remote could become unresponsive.
Interestingly enough, while the Apple TV 4K released in 2021 also shares the same redesigned Siri Remote, Apple is addressing this update exclusively to the 2022 model. Here’s what the release notes say:
This update fixes an issue where the Siri Remote can become unresponsive on Apple TV 4K (3rd generation).
This software version comes after several users on Reddit reported that their Siri Remotes weren’t working as expected. One of them said:
I thought maybe the remote was dead, so I charged for a few hours. Then the remote showed in the top corner as “connected” then 30 seconds later it disconnects. This cycled a few times over the next few minutes. I restarted Apple TV and then it reconnected, thought nothing of it. Now two days later, same thing. It’s requiring a full restart of Apple TV to get it to connect. The whole time, I could use control center remote on my iPhone no problem.
tvOS 16.3.3 should fix all issues users were experiencing with the Siri Remote on the third-generation Apple TV 4K. In February, Apple released tvOS 16.3.2 and tvOS 16.3.1 to users by fixing bugs and improving general stability.
If you don’t have the latest Apple TV, this update won’t appear to you.
Before that, with tvOS 16.3, Apple enabled temperature and humidity sensors for HomePod mini and HomePod 2 models. 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 brought 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 Apple releases other small software updates besides tvOS 16.3.3.
