With the release of tvOS 14.5 beta 5, Apple made a change to how it mentions Siri Remote in Apple TV. It has now been renamed to Apple TV Remote, which hints at a branding change for Apple TV remote across all countries where the product is available.
Siri Remote renamed to Apple TV Remote in newest tvOS 14.5 beta
As Siri for Apple TV is not available in all countries, Apple has already been selling its set-top TV box remote with the name ‘Apple TV Remote’, however, with this change, it is calling it an Apple TV remote in all locations now. This also points to the possibility that Apple will change the name on all marketing material to Apple TV Remote soon, however, as of writing, this is not the case. If you look at the Apple TV website in the United States, it still refers to the remote as Siri Remote. Perhaps this will change once tvOS 14.5 is released to all users.
Along with the name change of the remote, Apple has also changed the name of the “Home Button” on the remote to “TV Button”. This is another minor change that will likely be reflected in marketing material and product packaging soon. It is also possible that these changes point to an updated Apple TV release soon, which has been rumored for a long time but has not seen the light of the day.
tvOS 14.5 beta also features support for new PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S controllers, 29.97Hz and 59.94Hz video playback refresh rates, and a new “Type to Siri” accessibility feature that will allow users to type to use Siri, similar to how it works on iOS and Mac. Users can also set specific speakers as default audio output now so that that output does not need to be changed every time.
The final version of tvOS 14.5 is expected to release in the next couple of weeks for Apple TV HD and Apple TV 4K models.
Imran Hussain is the founder and editor of iThinkDifferent, which he launched in 2008 to cover Apple news, reviews, and how-to guides. He has spent over 15 years writing about iOS, macOS, and the wider Apple ecosystem, with a focus on hands-on guides - installing developer betas, troubleshooting, and walking through new features on his own devices. Based in Dubai, he also loves to cover photography, gaming, and the tech industry more broadly on his social media profiles.
