Introduction to tvOS 12
This document provides a high-level overview of new and updated tvOS 12.
To get started building tvOS 12 apps with Xamarin, take a look at the getting started guide.
TVUIKit
tvOS 12 includes TVUIKit, a set of APIs that make it possible for tvOS developers to use common tvOS controls such as poster views, caption buttons, card views, and monogram views. tvOS 12 also introduces a property that allows labels to scroll text that is too long to be completely visible.
Password AutoFill
With tvOS 12, users can use their iOS devices to sign in to a tvOS app with
a single tap. This is enabled through a combination of UITextContentType
usage to specify username and password fields, associated domains to
establish a relationship between an iOS app and a tvOS app, and preferred
focus environments to select an item to receive focus after a user
provides a username and password.
Focus Engine enhancements
tvOS 12 allows all apps, no matter how they are rendered, to interact
with the Focus Engine. Through a user's interactions with the Siri
Remote, the Focus Engine can be used with any app to select an item, hint
at possible focus changes, and naturally update focus. This is enabled in
custom applications through UIKit's IUIFocusItemContainer interface,
the UIFocusMovementHint class, the IUIFocusItemScrollableContainer
interface, and other related classes and methods.
Vision framework
The Vision framework includes an improved face detector that can detect faces in various orientations. Also, request revisions can now be used to select a specific Vision framework algorithm revision.
Natural Language framework
The Natural Language framework enables applications to perform various types of language analysis. For example, it can be used to identify parts of speech and determine the language represented by a block of text.
Deprecations
With tvOS 12, Apple has deprecated OpenGL ES, encouraging developers to adopt Metal.