tvOS Development

Overview

tvOS shares UIKit and SwiftUI with iOS but diverges in critical ways that catch every iOS developer. The three most dangerous assumptions: (1) local files persist, (2) WebView exists, (3) focus works like @FocusState.

Core principle tvOS is not "iOS on TV." It has a dual focus system, no persistent local storage, no WebView, and a remote with two incompatible generations. Treat it as its own platform.

tvOS 26 Adopts Liquid Glass design language with new app icon system. See axiom-liquid-glass for implementation patterns.

tvOS Porting Triage

Before shipping a tvOS port, verify these five areas — they account for 90% of tvOS-specific bugs: