When you start your Apple TV, you’ll be presented with an easy-to-use profile selection screen, allowing you to quickly select the right profile for a personalized experience. Previously it was only possible to switch profiles via the control panel.
No more hassle with hidden menus: turn on your Apple TV and easily choose between your own account, your partner’s account, the kids’ account or even a guest profile – all with unique recommendations in the TV app, music library and AirPods connection.
Profiles for Apple TV
Since tvOS 26.2, it has been possible to easily create profiles on an Apple TV, making Apple profiles in tvOS play a central role in the user experience. Choosing a profile has been given a prominent place every time you start the Apple TV.
What makes a profile useful? When switching to another profile, several things adapt to the user’s preferences. The Apple TV app shows different recommendations, shows your viewing history and personal library, depending on the profile you choose. In the Music app you get access to your own music library, and in the Games app you can see your personal progress in Apple Arcade.
Practical matters also change: AirPods automatically connect to your profile, you can set the system language per user, and if you have an iPhone, iPad or Apple Watch that uses the same account, certain settings and preferences will sync.
Choose profile at startup
It was already possible to switch between profiles on Apple TV via the control panel. With a profile you can automatically log in to apps and set your own preferences in, for example, the Apple TV app and activate your personal music library in the Music app.
Since tvOS 26 you can set that you automatically sees all profiles when Apple TV wakes from sleep. You can immediately switch on the desired profile and the Apple TV will be adjusted accordingly.
Automatically with Apple devices
When you turn on your Apple TV with the remote, a screen will appear showing all your available profiles, each shown as a profile icon with a name below it. Each profile shows a unique emoji or avatar that you chose during setup. You simply navigate to the profile you want to use and select it. The Apple TV then switches to that profile and loads all content, preferences, and app logins associated with that profile.
This feature also works smartly in combination with other Apple devices. When you turn on the Apple TV via your iPhone, iPad or Apple Watch, the Apple TV automatically recognizes which Apple Account you are using on that device and selects the corresponding Apple TV profile—without you having to do anything.
Disable profile selection at startup
Don’t want to use the profile selection when starting up the Apple TV? Then you can easily disable this using the steps below:
- Open ‘Institutions‘ on the Apple TV
- Go to ‘Profiles and accounts‘
- Set the option ‘Choose profile when switching off sleep mode‘ out
When you enable this option, the profile selection screen will always appear when you turn on Apple TV with the remote (not when you turn it on with your iPhone). If you disable the option, you will have to switch profiles via the Apple TV control panel.