Apple Seeds Fourth tvOS 14.5 Beta to Developers [Update: Public Beta Available]

Apple today seeded the fourth beta of an upcoming tvOS 14.5 update to developers for testing purposes, with the new beta software coming two weeks after Apple released the third tvOS 14.5 beta.

Designed for the fourth and fifth-generation Apple TV, the tvOS 14.5 developer beta can be downloaded onto the ‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌Apple TV‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌ via a profile that's installed using Xcode.

tvOS 14.5 brings support for the latest PlayStation 5 DualSense and Xbox Series X controllers, which can be used to play games from the tvOS App Store and Apple Arcade.

Support for the new controllers has also been included in iOS 14.5 and iPadOS 14.5, so the latest gaming controller options from Sony and Microsoft are now compatible with Apple's product lineup.

We don't yet know if there's anything else included in tvOS 14.5 in terms of features because tvOS updates are often minor in scale, but the release of tvOS will see Apple begin enforcing its new App Tracking Transparency rules, with developers now required to ask for and receive a user's permission to access their random advertising identifier (known as the IDFA) to track user activity across apps and websites for ad customization purposes.

Going forward, when an app wants to access a person's advertising identifier on tvOS, users will have a prompt with options to "Allow Tracking" or "Ask App Not to Track." Selecting "Ask App Not to Track" will prevent the app's developer from accessing the user's IDFA, and developers will also have to respect the user's tracking preference and refrain from using other invasive cross-app tracking methods.

The main tvOS 14 update released in September brought expanded Picture in Picture support, new HomeKit integration with HomeKit Secure Video cameras, support for multiple ‌Apple Arcade‌ profiles, and more, with details available in our tvOS 14 roundup.