[Update: VLC incorrectly included Apple TV support in today’s release notes. That release is coming “very soon” but not available today. The iOS/watchOS updates are out today.]

[Update 1/12/2016: VLC for Apple TV is now available.]

The popular VLC app for playing a variety of media formats not supported by iTunes has now made its way to the new Apple TV. We heard in September that VLC for Apple TV was in the works, and last month the team started accepting beta testers. Today VLC for Mobile delivered a major update that includes the first Apple TV version as well as a handful of new features on iPhones and iPads.

VLC is especially useful for playing video and audio formats on Apple products that would otherwise require converting to compatible formats. The iOS app can plug into cloud services like Dropbox and even iCloud Drive to pull source files. The app is in the entertainment/utility category similarly to Plex which wouldn’t have been whitelisted for the old Apple TV model but is possible on the new Apple TV thanks to the App Store model.

In addition to including the first Apple TV version of VLC, the latest update includes an updated watchOS 2 app for Apple Watch users and several new iOS 9 features for iPhone and iPad.

VLC now supports system wide search through Spotlight, Split View for side-by-side apps on the latest iPads, and Touch ID unlocking on iPhones and iPads with fingerprint scanners.

VLC for Mobile version 2.7 also includes a list of other changes and improvements as well:

∙ Dropped support for iOS 6.1. VLC requires iOS 7.0 now ∙ Added support for SMB file sharing ∙ Media stored in folders on remote servers is now played as a list ∙ Reworked networking UI ∙ Added improved UI support for Right-to-Left languages ∙ Added option to configure playback continuation ∙ Added option to configure gestures ∙ Added support for music albums with more than 1 disk ∙ Display chapter duration in playback UI ∙ Recently played network stream URL are now shared across all devices ∙ Stored login information is now shared across all devices ∙ Cloud login credentials are now shared across all devices

You can grab the latest version of VLC for iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch from the App Store.

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