New Apple TV: Tips, Tricks, Siri Remote Shortcuts and Useful Settings

[MacRumors]

The new Apple TV launched on Friday in several countries around the world, giving early adopters a chance to try out the fourth-generation device for a few days now. The consensus opinion is that the new Apple TV is a worthwhile upgrade, particularly because of new features such as the App Store, Siri, and tvOS user interface, with lots of potential to get even better in the months and years ahead.

Press the Home button twice to bring up the new Apple TV's app switcher​

To complement our coverage of the new Apple TV, which includes a trio of hands-on videos, an Apple TV apps roundup, several tidbits, and a reviews roundup, we have created the following list of tips, tricks, and shortcuts for the new streaming device, some of which are outlined in the Apple TV user guide. The tips are centered upon useful Siri Remote shortcuts and Apple TV settings.

Siri Remote shortcuts

Touch Surface
- To rearrange an app, hover over it and hold down the touch surface until the icon starts to jiggle. Then, swipe left, right, up or down to move the app, and press the touch surface once to finish.
- The touch surface has accelerated swiping, meaning that a faster swipe results in faster on-screen scrolling.
- Hover over any letter on the keyboard and hold down the touch surface to bring up a contextual menu, which includes uppercase letters, accents and a backspace key.
- Hover over a song and hold down the touch surface to bring up a contextual menu, which includes various Apple Music options.

Menu Button
- Press the Menu button once to go back.
- Press the Menu button twice quickly from the Home screen to start the screensaver.
- Press and hold the Menu and Home buttons simultaneously to restart the Apple TV.

Home Button
- Press the Home button once to return to the Home screen from anywhere.
- Press the Home button twice quickly to bring up the App Switcher, which displays all apps open. Swipe up on the Siri Remote's touch surface to force close an app.
- Press the Home button three times quickly to access VoiceOver.
- Hold down the Home button to place the Apple TV in Sleep mode.

Siri Button
- Hold down the Siri button to use Siri.
- Press the Siri button once and wait to view a list of commands you can ask Siri.

Play/Pause Button
- Press the Play/Pause button once to change the keyboard between uppercase and lowercase.
- Press the Play/Pause button once to delete an app in wiggle mode, which requires hovering over an app and holding down the touch surface until the icon starts to jiggle.
- Hold down the Play/Pause button for 5-7 seconds to return to the Apple Music app.

Apple TV settings

General
- Apple TV can be renamed in Settings under AirPlay > Apple TV Name.
- Apple TV network strength is displayed in Settings under General > About.
- Universal remotes can learn the new Apple TV in Settings under Remotes and Devices > Learn Remote. Follow the on-screen instructions.

Siri Remote
- The sensitivity of the Siri Remote's touch surface can be adjusted in the Settings app under Remotes and Devices > Touch Surface Tracking.
- The triple-press Home button accessibility shortcut can be changed in the Settings app under General > Accessibility > Accessibility Shortcut.
- The Siri Remote's battery level is listed in Settings > Remotes and Devices > Bluetooth.
- The Siri Remote can power on/off or adjust the volume of your TV and speakers over HDMI-CEC or IR. In some cases, this pairing process is automatic after setup, or manually configurable in Settings > Remotes and Devices > Home Theater Control under the "Turn On Your TV with Your Remote" and "Volume Control" menus.

Article Link: New Apple TV: Tips, Tricks, Siri Remote Shortcuts and Useful Settings

 

[uid15]

I suppose it's just better to BUY one and learn to use it for yourself, instead of reading a list of bullet points

 

[sniffies]

I really hope the remote will get the previous/next buttons with the next tvOS update.

 

[haruhiko]

Please make a tutorial of:

"How to type faster using the Siri remote with a horizontal line of alphabets"

 

[Boltcc]

I don't like that fact that you can't skip songs like you could on the old remote, Especially when playing radio. Everything else on the new remote is good. Also Siri can't do anything with music. iPhone remote app doesn't work with it either.

 

[jpgr15]

Loving the new AppleTV. The volume and auto on functions and Siri are some of my favorite features.

As someone said above, Siri functionality with music would be a welcome addition but I imagine we'll have that in time.

 

[evlfred]

I'm not getting the click twice on the siri button to work

 

[scarecrowmac]

This is great! Learnt some really cool time saving features from this article!! Makes me love my new Apple TV that little bit more All it needs now is the Plex app and I’m all set

 

[eoblaed]

Apple TV settings

General
- Apple TV can be renamed in Settings under General > Name.

This is inaccurate.

To rename it, you must go to Settings->AirPlay

 

[scarecrowmac]

Please make a tutorial of:

"How to type faster using the Siri remote with a horizontal line of alphabets"

Haha! Yes this definitely needs to happen. I’m hoping they let you type with Siri on the Remote soon. Unless you can already do this and I’m missing something!?

 

[dearfriendx]

Thank you author, for putting this together. Really helps! I love my new Apple TV

 

[Takeo]

I changed the triple click setting (in Accessibility Settings) to toggle closed captioning. Very handy.

Also I don't think the article mentioned that when playing a show if you touch the left or right of the touch surface and wait a split second you get a 10 second skip forward / back

 

[jjmcmoon]

What they don't tell you about Siri is that you cannot search your home movies with it. Even if you label them all "movies," Siri will not find and play a movie you've added unless it's already on the screen. So if you have a huge collection of DVD's, you must scroll through them all in order to play any of them... or re-purchase your movies from Apple. I think I'll be returning mine and buying a Roku, thank you very much.

 

[Dionte]

It's better than I imagined it would be.

 

[Tech198]

haha... i like the app switcher on tvOS....

Very original ... not, ios has the same interface...

I gather now when iOS gets updated, this would mean more updates with the Apple TV now too since they now share similar things : App store for one. Siri as well

Using one remote to control volume is good too. however i already have one, its called a harmony remote.

I hope they change the function of siri in the future as to use it.... holding the button seems like using a CB radio... i would of thought..... i can't image any other Apple device that does this...

Hopefully updates will change this behavior.. As for the rest of the settings, with exception of the sensitivity, their all mirrored on the Apple TV 3

 

[adampk17]

Over all I'd say I'm underwhelmed. The lack of Siri search for local or Apple music and the fact that the Remote app hasn't been updated to work with the ATV 4 at launch are baffling.

 

[Tech198]

anyone would think siri cannot search local library would be a first.... it may be a first, but search is not...

I guess its due to movies added/music doesn't comply with meta data Apple would use for looking up via search or siri..

The only explanation i can think of as to why this has never been true for home sharing.

This could be a valid reason...

 

[shiseiryu1]

I can't wait to get my AppleTV next week. Like others on this forum I too have a Harmony Remote already...but unlike everyone else I pretty much hate my remote. I always felt like remotes have too many buttons so I'm looking forward to switching to the AppleTV remote.

One thing I'm a little disappointed in is the fact that they didn't built "Force Touch" into the remote. Seems like that would enable some cool functionality potentially. Also, the fact that you can basically only have one button for gaming is kinda lame. We'll see what kind of games end up in the store; hopefully Apple's rules won't squash creativity and choice too much.

I really like my current AppleTV so I'm super excited about this new one, however, I'm still hoping that Apple will keep working on the device to unleash it's full potential.

 

[SlipperySlop]

I suppose it's just better to BUY one and learn to use it for yourself, instead of reading a list of bullet points

As I read this article, I asked myself how anyone could possibly complain about an article that nicely summarizes the buttons and the various ways to use them, most of which aren't intuitive, and is very helpful to me, and I have the atv 4.

Then I remembered some of the people who post here, and my fantasy evaporated. And sure enough, the first poster found a way to complain about the article. Part of me wants really express myself which will get me kicked off this board. So I'll just stop here. Very sad, but completely expected.

 

[leesweet]

I'm not getting the click twice on the siri button to work

I've seen this hint several times and can't get it to work either.

 

[randyj]

Please make a tutorial of:

"How to type faster using the Siri remote with a horizontal line of alphabets"

Weird thing happened to mine yesterday.
It showed a grid style search like the old Apple TV.
Then this morning it has reverted to the line again.
Maybe there is a way to toggle between the 2.
The line is such a waste of time!

 

[Jason83]

I suppose it's just better to BUY one and learn to use it for yourself, instead of reading a list of bullet points

Not so much. Got mine on Friday and learned a couple things from this list.

 

[yozh]

I dont know guys, after using it for about 2 days, I`m thinking I`m going to return it... Nothing pairs with Bluetooth... Cant get any keyboards to pair, cant get my harmony remote to pair. The interface is pretty dated, its same as the old apple tv just a bit quicker... I love my apple stuff, but this seems like a waste at the moment.. Maybe it`ll get better, but I`m eather going to stick with my Fire TV or get Fire TV2.

 

[miguel cortez]

"- The new Apple TV can also learn universal remotes in Settings under Remotes and Devices > Learn Remote. Follow the on-screen instructions."

MacRumors has it backwards. That is to have your universal remote learn how to control the Apple TV.

http://help.apple.com/appletv/#/atvb0410f604

 

[Jal217]

I dont know guys, after using it for about 2 days, I`m thinking I`m going to return it... Nothing pairs with Bluetooth... Cant get any keyboards to pair, cant get my harmony remote to pair. The interface is pretty dated, its same as the old apple tv just a bit quicker... I love my apple stuff, but this seems like a waste at the moment.. Maybe it`ll get better, but I`m eather going to stick with my Fire TV or get Fire TV2.

The only thing you can pair with Bluetooth is audio devices and game controllers, by design. It isn't a problem pairing.