My Apple TV was the one streaming field I by no means anxious about, till now

There’s no scarcity of fantastic streaming containers available on the market immediately, however the Apple TV has two key benefits that put it forward of the competitors: performance and software. Apple makes use of the identical A-series processors you may discover in its smartphones and tablets inside Apple TV containers, and it reveals. On the software program facet, tvOS feels acquainted to iOS, iPadOS, and macOS customers. But extra importantly, it is lighter on bloat and commercials than, say, Google’s Android TV or Samsung’s Tizen OS. These two perks are precisely why I’ve been a loyal Apple TV person for years — till every little thing modified with one replace.

Apple’s controversial Liquid Glass update really requires an excellent quantity of processing energy to execute correctly. The visible rendering of Liquid Glass person interface components hits older and lower-powered gadgets the toughest. I by no means questioned the capabilities of my years-old Apple TV 4K till I up to date to tvOS 26. Everything felt slower following the replace, and now I’m mulling my choices. With no new Apple TV 4K available on the market, will tvOS 27 optimize efficiency or make issues worse?

I did not replace my Apple TV for years

When my streaming apps lastly stopped working, I gave in

I’m normally the one which advocates for putting in software program updates as quickly as they arrive. When a brand new replace drops, I urge my family and friends to put in it instantly, in order that they profit from the brand new options, optimizations, and safety patches. There are a number of exceptions, although. I sometimes maintain off on putting in main releases on mission-critical gadgets, like my laptop computer, that I depend upon for work. It’s higher to attend a number of weeks for bugs and points to kind themselves out earlier than I load the improve onto my main workstation.

I drag my ft putting in Apple TV updates too, for a very completely different purpose. I do not want my streaming field to have the most recent options or endure main adjustments. I merely want it to reliably stream reveals in the identical approach it at all times has. In my view, an Apple TV replace cannot meaningfully enhance the streaming expertise — however it could actually make issues worse. That’s why, up till just lately, my Apple TV was working an historic model of tvOS 16.

My Apple TV streaming field was a number of main releases outdated, nevertheless it was nonetheless as dependable as ever. That was till I attempted to look at the most recent season of Reacher on Amazon Prime Video and encountered error after error. The app wanted an replace, and it wasn’t appropriate with my tvOS model. So, I reluctantly introduced my Apple TV as much as the most recent software program launch, which was tvOS 26 on the time. The expertise after updating was precisely why I held off updating my Apple TV for thus lengthy.

Liquid Glass slowed my Apple TV to a crawl

The tvOS 26 replace really made my growing old Apple TV 4K worse

Installing tvOS 26 on my Apple TV 4K introduced Liquid Glass to my streaming field for the primary time. Design preferences apart, it is honest to wonder if an Apple TV actually must waste system assets on rendering glassy visible UI components. Apple is effectively conscious of the efficiency calls for of Liquid Glass, as a result of the first-generation Apple TV 4K omits the redesign completely. The A10X Fusion chip powering the unique Apple TV 4K cannot sustain with the graphical necessities of the brand new design language, so it skips it.

I’ve the second-generation Apple TV 4K, which is powered by a more moderen A12 Bionic system-on-a-chip. If you may have the third-generation Apple TV 4K, you get an A15 Bionic chip that is higher suited to dealing with Liquid Glass. However, the second-generation Apple TV 4K that I personal is type of an ungainly center little one — it is highly effective sufficient to run Liquid Glass, nevertheless it’s not highly effective sufficient to do it effectively. If I had a more moderen or older model of the Apple TV 4K, I’d be higher off.

Instead, my five-year-old Apple TV 4K stutters when navigating the house display screen and settings menu on tvOS 26. Considering I had no issues earlier than updating, I’m attributing these issues to Liquid Glass. I’m not the one one — multiple users on Reddit describe related experiences. The issues particularly have an effect on the second-gen Apple TV 4K. If you may have an older mannequin, your system dodges Liquid Glass completely, avoiding the slowdown. Those with newer fashions have the {hardware} to render Liquid Glass with no efficiency dip.

Apple, please promote me a brand new Apple TV 4K

And contemplate whether or not tvOS actually wants intensive animations

If your Apple TV is feeling gradual after tvOS 26 or tvOS 27, there are some settings you’ll be able to tweak to attempt to enhance efficiency. A hidden toggle will be discovered below Settings → Accessibility → Motion → Reduce Motion. When the function is turned on, tvOS will flip off pointless animations, which can make your streaming field really feel sooner. You may also go to Settings → Accessibility → Display → Reduce Transparency to restrict the glassy impact of Liquid Glass, doubtlessly enhancing efficiency.

These adjustments would possibly assist, however they do not tackle the true downside: Apple added pointless design components to tvOS that sure Apple TV fashions have problem rendering. While I could be inclined to contemplate a {hardware} improve, Apple does not have one. The latest mannequin continues to be utilizing an older A15 Bionic chip designed for the iPhone 13 collection. It’s already too far outdated for me to contemplate changing my A12 Bionic model with a brand new A15 Bionic-powered Apple TV 4K.

If Apple goes to bathroom down the Apple TV 4K with intensive software program updates that you’re going to ultimately have to put in, it wants to offer them higher {hardware}. The present specs aren’t slicing it.