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Apple TV gains iCloud Photo Library + Live Photos support with tvOS 9.2 beta 2

Screen Shot 2016-01-25 at 5.14.37 PMEarlier today, Apple rolled out the second beta of tvOS 9.2 for the fourth-generation Apple TV. The original beta included new features such as folder organization and Bluetooth keyboard support, but one highly requested new feature has been added today with the second beta. With tvOS 9.2 on Apple TV, users can now access their full iCloud Photo Library.

The feature is turned off by default, but can be activated via the Settings app. Simply head into Settings, go to the ‘iCloud’ menu, and choose to enable iCloud Photo Library. Prior to the second beta of tvOS 9.2, only Photo Stream content was available via the Apple TV.

With iCloud Photo Library support, users can now view all of their images on Apple TV just like they would on an iOS device or Mac. The interface is in-line with what you would expect from an Apple TV application. There’s album support for the included default albums such as ‘All Photos,’ ‘Recently Added,’ ‘Favorites,’ and ‘Selfies.’ One thing that’s missing, however, is support for Smart Albums and albums that you created. There’s also no support for the slideshow feature or deleting images.

There’s also support for Live Photos, which certainly will be useful on the large-screen interface of Apple TV. To play Live Photos, users can simply click and hold the trackpad button on the Siri Remote.

Earlier today, Apple released tvOS 9.1.1 to the public. tvOS 9.2 is expected to ship to all fourth-generation Apple TV users later this year. You can view our initial hands-on with the update, including folder support and the new Podcasts app, here. 

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Comments

  1. yojimbo007 - 8 years ago

    Folder… Fantastic!
    Next big missing feature that need attention immediately imho is :
    Consolidation of favorites in user creadted interapp folders (universal) with notification of content availibility for each folder…
    Ex.. My fave comedy folder… My fave scify …etc. where content from many different apps is consolidated.

  2. ikir - 8 years ago

    Finally!!! :)

  3. infiniteloopusa - 8 years ago

    I am waiting for the Notification feature, which will be very useful, when a new video or new live streaming is being don in any channel or any tv app.

    Also I think tvOS 9.2 should get released in March along with new iOS devices like iPad. Why are you expecting it for “Later this year ” ? It has already published 2 betas.

  4. taoprophet420 - 8 years ago

    I been using iCloud photo sharing on Apple TV 4 since its been released. It is more reliable for me then iCloud Photo Library. I use both to make sure sure I have an additional backup online. It’s nice both will be available soon.not sure why photo sharing was available and library wasn’t from the start.

  5. Graham J - 8 years ago

    So the ATV can play Live Photos but my iPhone 6’s lock screen can’t. Neat.

  6. Liam Deckham - 8 years ago

    What do you do when there are pictures that you take that you do not want automatically shared everywhere on your stream? What if you just want it on your source iOS device? Why must everything go to the stream?

  7. PMZanetti - 8 years ago

    I’m glad its optional…to me it always more sense for it NOT to be there. The AppleTV is a shared device, and the more you tie it to one person’s iCloud account, the more iffy that becomes. Shared photos made sense, and kept it neater.

    • taoprophet420 - 8 years ago

      They need to add the option to mark photos as private and hide it it from other devices. The current hide method does not work for me at all.

      Even with shared photos you end up with photos you probably don’t want everyone accessing them on your Apple TV.

      A parental lock or passcode would be nice to have for Photos on the Apple TV. Anyone can switch shared albums or iCloud stream on or off.

  8. Zac Hall - 8 years ago

    Nice selfie

  9. Ray Sharpe - 8 years ago

    The current OS does not play solo mo in slo mo, have they fixed this?

Author

Avatar for Chance Miller Chance Miller

Chance is an editor for the entire 9to5 network and covers the latest Apple news for 9to5Mac.

Tips, questions, typos to chance@9to5mac.com