Apple’s new TVOS 26 is here, and a feature I can’t wait to try has nothing to do with the TV. At WWDC 2025, Apple launched the “Sing-Along” conference, which sounds like a traumatic summer camp experience, but is actually a cool new karaoke feature that I can’t wait to test for myself.
According to Apple, the feature allows you to turn your iPhone into a “handheld microphone” that can be used on Apple TV to amplify your voice for karaoke and “bluff out” [your] Favorite song. The singing session also allows other singers to “queue songs or react with emojis on the screen” so you can make Karaoke a more community experience, although there is nothing to stop your selfish friends from queuing in a row, you can enjoy a song like you sing. You can read, understand, and sing.
I’m just as excited about trying to sing, and I have doubts that iPhone mics are the ideal hardware for karaoke – if you have an older device (like me), it sounds awful. Again, a lot of people use fairly cheap Bluetooth microphones at home and don’t hit their lashes, so their experience may indeed be here. The good news is that if karaoke doesn’t do it for you, Apple will introduce other new TVOS features, such as it can promote more control when the option to select a profile appears. This should be great for anyone in a multi-person family. “…When Apple TV wakes up, users can choose to automatically display profiles, allowing them to quickly return to the suggestion and observation lists in the TV app and playlists in Apple Music,” Apple said.
FaceTime has also made some tweaks, including the Contact Poster on Apple TV, which displays custom photos and names for Contact when you launch the FaceTime Call and extend live subtitles, including French, German, Japanese, Korean, Korean, Mandarin and Spanish. FaceTime Audio and call notifications will now be displayed on the screen based on the profile used at the time.
This is a development story…
