The Apple TV app on LG smart TVs now natively supports Dolby Atmos.
Previously, LG TV owners required an Apple TV 4K streamer to play Atmos titles from the Apple TV+ catalogue. Now, however, the TV's Apple app can itself natively decode the surround sound audio format.
The Apple TV app update was first spotted by 9to5Mac. Having just performed the update on a 2020 LG CX OLED TV review sample, we can confirm it does indeed bring native Atmos compatibility onboard.
That's good news for LG TV owners who subscribe to Apple TV+, considering many of the streaming service's titles have Dolby Atmos soundtracks. Of course, the Apple TV app is also the gateway to Apple's pay-as-you-go film and TV streaming store, which offers one of the biggest collections of 4K HDR and Atmos content around.
It is uncertain exactly which LG smart TVs are privy to the new app update, but we'd expect it to be every model that currently sports the Apple TV app – the LG OLED series (2020, 2019), the LG NanoCell SM9X series (2019), the LG NanoCell SM85 series and above (2019), and the LG NanoCell SM83 series and below (2019).
This new update makes them the first TVs to support Atmos through the Apple TV app. While the app is also part of the Samsung smart TV offering, Samsung TVs do not support Dolby Atmos. Sony and Vizio smart TVs are, however, due to get the Apple TV app sometime this year, so, providing it comes with all the bells and whistles, Atmos through Apple TV may not be unique to LG TVs for long.
Apple TV has also rolled out to the Roku and Amazon Fire TV devices. A list of Apple TV app-supporting devices can be found here.
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