Apple today released the fifth beta of tvOS 14.5, and there are some small but notable changes to the update found by MacRumors taxpayer Steve Moser. Apple is removing mentions of “Siri Remote” and replacing them with “Apple TV Remote” throughout the operating system.
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The Siri Remote has always been the Apple TV remote in countries where the Siri functionality is not available on the pleApple TV, but Apple is now using the Apple TV Remote in countries where the remote control was previously referred to as the Siri Remote.
This could be just a general cleansing of the language because there is no real need to refer to it as the Siri Remote anymore, but it suggests that the next generation of the Apple TV remote will not be called the Siri Remote and will have a simpler name.
Apple is rumored to be working on a new version of Apple TV due out this year, and will be accompanied by an updated remote control with Find My features. Little more is known about the remote at this point.
TvOS 14.5 also renames the “Home button” in the “Remote and devices” section to “TV button”, but the functionality is basically the same and can be configured to go to the Apple TV or app or the home screen. This can also be an adjustment made for a future remote control.
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Previous beta introduced support for the latest PlayStation and Xbox controllers, plus frame rate options have been tweaked with Apple now offering refresh rates of 29.97 Hz and 59.94 Hz instead of 30 Hz / 60 Hz.
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There is also an optional “Type for Siri” accessibility feature that can be enabled, which mirrors the Type for Siri feature on iOS devices, a new option for choosing “Other wireless speakers” as the standard audio output and settings on the Podcasts app to align it with the changes introduced in iOS 14.5.