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TiVo Bolt owners can now watch TV anywhere thanks to a new software update

By Kris Wouk June 3, 2016

Tivo Bolt 4K — Bill Roberson/Digital Trends

When we reviewed the TiVo Bolt last year, we were mostly impressed, but there were a few areas in which it was lacking. Perhaps the biggest issue was that, unlike the TiVo Roamio, the Bolt didn’t feature out-of-home streaming. While the older Roamio eventually gained features that launched on the Bolt, such as SkipMode and QuickMode, the newer model didn’t seem to be receiving the same treatment when it came to missing features.

On Thursday, TiVo announced a software update in a blog post that brings changes and updates to a number of models, but the biggest news is that out-of-home streaming has finally come to the Bolt. With this, Bolt users can finally watch both recorded and live programming on the go via the TiVo app for iOS and Android.

If you know you’re headed to a place where internet access is spotty or nonexistent, another new feature coming to the Bolt will solve that problem. While inside their home network, Bolt users can now download programs from the DVR to compatible mobile devices to watch while on the road. Compatible devices include iPad, iPhone, and iPod devices running iOS 7.0 or better, and Android devices running Android version 4.1 or better on standard chipsets — e.g. not Intel or AMD.

The software update also brings fixes and updates to a number of TiVo devices, including the Bolt. Major issues that have been fixed include random Netflix crashes, Bolt models not properly syncing OTA channel-list changes, and the Spotify app not outputting audio when the output is set to Dolby Digital. The update also brings numerous UI improvements for the Bolt and stability improvements for the Amazon, Pandora, and YouTube apps.

For a full list of all the changes across all models in the 20.6.1 update, see the software version information on the TiVo support website. And for more information on the Bolt, see our review.

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Former Digital Trends Contributor

Kris Wouk is a tech writer, gadget reviewer, blogger, and whatever it's called when someone makes videos for the web. In his…

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