Today (April 14), Apple TV 4K is getting an upgrade that NFL Red Zone subscribers have loved for years. Tom’s Guide has just learned that the multiplayer feature will debut in MLB Friday Night Baseball (tonight) and MLS Season Pass (tomorrow, April 15th).
Multiview makes it easy to watch up to four games at once, so you can keep track of more than just one game at a time. And you can control the game volume you hear by selecting it with your remote control. The only catch is that you need to be on the latest tvOS beta, version 16.5. We have update instructions below.
Sports-focused live TV service Fubo has been offering multiple shows for a while (only on Apple TV), and YouTube TV is testing a limited version of the feature. Apple, like Fubo, will let you choose which games to watch at the same time.
When watching two games at once, you can either have both the same size, or choose one to be larger than the other. And if you go for four streams at the same time, you’ll have the option to split them evenly, as YouTube TV does here:
But if you prefer one game over many others, you can choose to move that game to take up the majority of your screen. Other games are stacked on the right side of your screen.
Rumors of Apple TV getting a multi-display system started when people found references to it in the iOS 16.5 beta code. This is an upgrade to the Picture-in-Picture mode currently available in the app, but this only allows the user to see a second stream in a small pop-up box. This upgrade will support up to four streams, displayed in a grid format. Code references were first spotted by Steve Moser (Opens in a new tab)but Apple has not made a confirmation or announcement.
How to get Apple TV 4K Multiplayer
1. Subscribe to Apple TV Plus and/or an MLS Season pass
(Photo: © Apple)
Of course, this feature is currently limited to the sports broadcasts Apple offers: MLS Season Pass and MLB Friday Night Baseball.
Sign up for one (Friday Night Baseball games are included in Apple TV Plus ($6.99 per month) (Opens in a new tab)and MLS Season Pass ($12.99 per month for Apple TV Plus subscribers, $14.99 for those who haven’t already).
2. Update your Apple TV to tvOS 16.5 Beta
(Photo: © Henry T. Casey / Tom’s Guide)
on Apple TV, Open the Settings appand then Select the system. Then select Software Updates. Now, select Get beta updates. You will get a confirmation screen, followed by an update process.
Then, after updating to tvOS 16.5 beta, set MLS Season Pass or MLB Friday Night Baseball and look for the network icon on the right side of your screen, above the timeline – near the other buttons.
The TV app will then show you other matches that you can add to your multiview experience. Various grid views will be available via the onscreen buttons, look out for the More Matches button to add a third and fourth live game show.
Analysis: Please, Apple, make this a standard Apple TV feature
News watchers who want to monitor all the major cable news networks will probably love this job on big news days. But I hope the multiplayer will expand in the future.
As an Apple TV power user, and someone who watches a plethora of shows on a variety of apps, I’m desperate for Apple to offer multiple viewing across different apps. It probably depends on the apps themselves to agree, but I often found myself wishing for YouTube, YouTube TV, Twitch, and other apps to run simultaneously.
If any of the best streaming devices have the ability to run such a feature, it would almost certainly be the Apple TV 4K. Its A15 Bionic chip makes for one of the fastest user experiences on any streaming device
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