We have known since the beginning of this year that several TV manufacturers were planning to update their smart television sets to support Apple’s AirPlay 2 and, in some cases, HomeKit.
LG was one of those companies to announce support for this new initiative, and the update to most of its smart TV lineup started back in July. There are still a few models from the Life’s Good crew that have yet to be updated, but that number is getting whittled down. Today, for instance, sees the update to support AirPlay 2 and HomeKit rolling out for the UM7X series of Ultra High Definition (UHD) smart TVs.
MacRumors was the first to pick it up. Owners of this model of TV can download the new software, which is version 04.70.03, right now to enable AirPlay 2 support along with HomeKit. Once the download is finished and the new feature is present, AirPlay 2 will allow users to stream content from their iOS, iPadOS, or macOS devices directly to the TV.
No Apple TV required.
With HomeKit support, functionality expands quite a bit. Once the TV is updated it will show up in the Home app on iOS, iPadOS, and macOS. The Home app will allow users to quickly switch inputs on the TV, adjust the volume to their liking, or turn the TV on/off.
What’s more, with HomeKit support users can also bring Siri into the mix, using the wake word and then saying something like, “Turn down the TV volume”. You can turn the TV on or off like this, too.
The announcement that TV manufacturers like LG, Samsung, Vizio, and others were going to support AirPlay 2 (and HomeKit) was huge, making waves right at the start of 2019. Now that TVs with the feature are out there in the wild, it would be interesting to hear just how much of an impact this is making.
If you have a TV that now supports AirPlay 2 and/or HomeKit, are you taking advantage of the new feature?