Apple has released the tvOS 18.1 release candidate to developers and public beta testers for final testing ahead of it’s release to the public. The update will likely become available to the public late this month.
The tvOS 18.1 release candidate is compatible with the Apple TV 4K (1st and 2nd generation) and the Apple TV HD. The new beta can be downloaded to a compatible Apple TV that has the proper profile installed, which can be done by downloading it onto the Apple TV using Xcode.
Public beta testers who have signed up for Apple’s beta testing program can install the tvOS 18 release candidate by opening up the Settings app on Apple TV, clicking on the “Software Updates” section under “System,” and then toggling on the “Get Public Beta Updates” option.
tvOS software releases are usually minor in scale compared to other operating system updates, focusing primarily on smaller improvements rather than outward-facing changes.
While Apple shares information about tvOS releases in its tvOS support document, which is updated after each tvOS launch, the company does not provide notes during beta testing, so we don’t have any information about what the beta brings.
As usual, MacTrast and Apple both warn users to not install any betas or release candidates on their daily driver Apple TV, especially early betas of new operating systems. Instead, only install betas on a device set aside for testing purposes.