Today’s viral tweet highlights a rather frustrating limitation with the Apple TV software. As of a recent software update, tvOS expects users to be able to access their iPhone or iPad to do things like accept the new iCloud terms and conditions, or update their Apple ID settings.
Although most people who use a Apple TV 4K Square deep in the Apple ecosystem, and that doesn’t apply to everyone. Until recently, it was possible to use the Apple TV standalone. It was meant to be a standalone device, not an accessory. Not much anymore. What’s more, these changes mean that Apple TV users who have Macs — but no personal iOS devices — are also left in the lurch.
Most Apple TV devices can be used without having to access other Apple devices. You can set up Apple TV completely independently from scratch, install apps, and make purchases. Typical Apple ID management duties can be performed from a web browser on a computer, if necessary on occasion.
However, there are some tasks — which seem more prevalent than ever in tvOS 16 — that Apple TV will expect you to do on an iOS device signed in with the same account.
This is amazing Viral tweet from @hugelgupf He offers perhaps the most outrageous example: accepting the new iCloud terms and conditions requires an iOS device.
Instead of letting users read and accept the new terms on Apple TV on the TV itself, the box says you have to use an iOS device to do so. Specifically, an iOS device running iOS 16 or iPadOS 16 or later.
In addition to turning away people who don’t own any other Apple devices at all, the minimum operating system requirements mean someone has a new Apple TV but an old-generation iPad, for example, that’s also stranded.
A similar prompt asking customers to “Update Apple ID Settings” can appear by bringing their iPhone near the Apple TV.
In either case, these claims can be temporarily denied. But it recurs too often to be dealt with. Some system features may not be available until resolved. However, if you don’t have an iPhone or iPad handy – that can run the latest version of the operating system – there is no way to do that.
Based on these barriers, the Apple TV cannot be considered a standalone device anymore, even though a non-zero percentage of people have used it this way for many years now.
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