Apple TV: How to Customize the Clickpad on the New Siri Remote (2nd Gen)

[MacRumors]

Apple's second-generation redesigned Siri Remote features a touch-sensitive clickpad that can be used to navigate menus as well as fast-forward and rewind video.

When you first start using the Siri Remote, touch surface tracking is on by default, but if you can't get on with the sensitivity or you're just not comfortable using touch controls on a remote, you can always customize it or turn it off.

Change Siri Remote Clickpad Functionality

1. Launch the Settings app on your Apple TV.
2. Select Remotes and Devices.
3. Select ClickPad.
4. Select Click and Touch to allow both clicking and touch surface tracking, or Click Only to turn off touch surface tracking.

Change Siri Remote Tracking Sensitivity

1. Launch the Settings app on your Apple TV.
2. Select Remotes and Devices.
3. Select Touch Surface Tracking.
4. Select Fast to make smaller thumb movements move farther on the Apple TV screen, or Slow to reduce tracking sensitivity.

If you're having trouble scrubbing through video when playback is paused, check our mini guide to make sure you're using the correct clickpad gesture.

Article Link: Apple TV: How to Customize the Clickpad on the New Siri Remote (2nd Gen)

 

[coolbreeze2]

Is using this remote intuitive? Or does a person need an online class on operating the remote? I don't own one yet but wondering why in the world scrubbing isn't intuitive.

 

[gimmesomemo]

Am I the only one who wishes you could disable touch but keep scrubbing on the wheel?
Scrubbing is super nice - but having touch everywhere is horrible, every time i pick up the remote it’s like a lottery of what will happen 🤦

 

[johnparjr]

Is using this remote intuitive? Or does a person need an online class on operating the remote? I don't own one yet but wondering why in the world scrubbing isn't intuitive.

If you had the previous remote it’s really not a big change took me a day to get used to it being round for the touch area

 

[Braderunner]

Am I the only one who wishes you could disable touch but keep scrubbing on the wheel?
Scrubbing is super nice - but having touch everywhere is horrible, every time i pick up the remote it’s like a lottery of what will happen 🤦

You are not alone.

 

[johnparjr]

Am I the only one who wishes you could disable touch but keep scrubbing on the wheel?
Scrubbing is super nice - but having touch everywhere is horrible, every time i pick up the remote it’s like a lottery of what will happen 🤦

No issues with accidentally touching it

 

[Bearxor]

Am I the only one who wishes you could disable touch but keep scrubbing on the wheel?
Scrubbing is super nice - but having touch everywhere is horrible, every time i pick up the remote it’s like a lottery of what will happen 🤦

Yeah I want the scrubbing functionality but even on the slow sensitivity I’m picking up some swipes that I didn’t mean to make.

 

[mikeyteh]

This thread will be full of complaints by people who don’t have the remote, just like the last remote article. I have 3 new ones and they are a huge improvement from the first Siri Remote and work very well. The scrubber feature is fantastic

 

[Spotlighter9]

One thing I love about this remote is the ability to hold down one section of the click wheel to very quickly zoom to the end of whatever you are looking at (the AT&T TV Guide, for example)...something that could not be done with the previous Siri remote (without swiping your thumb off, that is). I do, however, agree that the touch area will take some getting used to...but the remote is growing on me.

 

[IamTimCook]

I honestly thought Mac Rumors is/was frequented by readers who are tech savvy.

But after reading complaints on this remote like “can’t skip forward 10 seconds”, when the the new action to do that function seems like the obvious action (click the right arrow); I now feel like it’s just the general public in here. Lol

 

[DanTSX]

God this remote is soooooooo ugly. The scrubbing is inconsistent as well.

 

[urbanmacUser]

Am I the only one who wishes you could disable touch but keep scrubbing on the wheel?
Scrubbing is super nice - but having touch everywhere is horrible, every time i pick up the remote it’s like a lottery of what will happen 🤦

"You're holding it wrong"

 

[icwhatudidthere]

Am I the only one who wishes you could disable touch but keep scrubbing on the wheel?
Scrubbing is super nice - but having touch everywhere is horrible, every time i pick up the remote it’s like a lottery of what will happen 🤦

Yes. I wish they'd have "Scroll wheel" as an option and let you use it to scroll through lists also.

 

[Lemon Olive]

It's perfect just the way it is out of the box. I swear some people will change settings just because they exist.

 

[topmounter]

This thread will be full of complaints by people who don’t have the remote, just like the last remote article. I have 3 new ones and they are a huge improvement from the first Siri Remote and work very well. The scrubber feature is fantastic

Agreed, I received two on Friday. Best new Apple product in years (mainly because its predecessor was sooooo interminably awful). I had been using OG Aluminum remotes w/ my Apple TVs. Initially I was going to disable touch entirely, but setting it to 'low' has been a reasonable compromise so far.

 

[citysnaps]

Is using this remote intuitive? Or does a person need an online class on operating the remote? I don't own one yet but wondering why in the world scrubbing isn't intuitive.

I felt comfortable using it in about a minute. Just a matter of summoning some curiosity.

Still not used to the Mic button being on the side. But that's mice nuts and have pretty much adapted.

Overall it's a huge improvement.

 

[steevn]

Is using this remote intuitive? Or does a person need an online class on operating the remote? I don't own one yet but wondering why in the world scrubbing isn't intuitive.

Until reading previous posts about people losing and not knowing how to use remotes, I thought the remote(as in any remote) was one of the simplest items out there that most can understand relatively easily, and wow was I wrong.

I just got the new Apple TV yesterday and the scrubbing feature was exactly as easy as I expected any remote to be, but maybe that is not the case for everyone.

 

[Antoni Nygaard]

Its also possible to change the keyboard from “Linear” to “Grid” default is Auto

I guess the grid is back since it got a directional pad like before Siri Remote

Settings - General - Keyboard

 

[DEMinSoCAL]

Where is the "skip commercial break" button or gesture?

 

[CarlJ]

I honestly thought Mac Rumors is/was frequented by readers who are tech savvy.

But after reading complaints on this remote like “can’t skip forward 10 seconds”, when the the new action to do that function seems like the obvious action (click the right arrow); I now feel like it’s just the general public in here. Lol

Yeah, try that in the YouTube app and tell us how well it works. But keep patting yourself on the back for being smarter than everyone else.

(YouTube seems to have swapped out their “smart tv” codebase for their “game console” codebase - it gains a few other features but loses the skip forward/back 10 seconds ability - clicking the left/right arrows will pause the video and move the cursor, and leave it sitting there with the video paused, not at all what someone used to the old function wants. The “skip forward/back 10 seconds while the video continues to run” feature seems to be heavily dependent on the underlying software.)

 

[icwhatudidthere]

Yeah, try that in the YouTube app and tell us how well it works. And keep patting yourself on the back for being smarter than everyone else.

(YouTube seems to have swapped out their “smart tv” codebase for their “game console” codebase - it gains a few other features but loses the skip forward/back 10 seconds ability - clicking the left/right arrows will pause the video and move the cursor, and leave it sitting there with the video paused, not at all what someone used to the old function wants. The “skip forward/back 10 seconds while the video continues to run” feature seems to be heavily dependent on the underlying software.)

Yeah, but that's very much YouTube's fault for changing the behavior. They also don't support jog wheel functionality so it's clear they don't use the standard UI that Apple provides.

Apple's biggest contribution here is that they don't enforce UX behaviors across the platform. Trackpad behavior was already inconsistent prior to the release of the new remote.

 

[CarlJ]

I felt comfortable using it in about a minute. Just a matter of summoning some curiosity.

Still not used to the Mic button being on the side. But that's mice nuts and have pretty much adapted.

Overall it's a huge improvement.

It’s a good remote, but it continually bugs me that the pause and mute buttons are in their current locations instead of swapped - mute is on the corner of the array in the spot that’s easier to get to without looking, but the ATV is fundamentally a streaming box, and the majority of streaming is on-demand, not live. Generally, no one wants to hurriedly mute a movie while letting it run, they want to pause the movie. Without looking, the pause button requires sliding your finger over the button above it or below it to get to the right place, while the mute button is immediately locatable by sliding your finger up from the bottom, which is a shame. They’ve made the more useful button harder to get to, and the less useful button easier to get to. Oh well, it’s still a good remote.

 

[Lounge vibes 05]

My only complaint with the new remote is just simply that the mute button and play/pause button should be swapped.
That’s it though, everything else is perfect.
I mean, except for the obvious, no find my integration

 

[IamTimCook]

Yeah, try that in the YouTube app and tell us how well it works. But keep patting yourself on the back for being smarter than everyone else.

(YouTube seems to have swapped out their “smart tv” codebase for their “game console” codebase - it gains a few other features but loses the skip forward/back 10 seconds ability - clicking the left/right arrows will pause the video and move the cursor, and leave it sitting there with the video paused, not at all what someone used to the old function wants. The “skip forward/back 10 seconds while the video continues to run” feature seems to be heavily dependent on the underlying software.)

Come on now. Most of theses complaints are people using it wrong for general use and Mac Rumors having to post “how to” documents for some users here.
I mean… “How to” for a remote on a tech site. Geez.

So far it’s mainly YouTube and Disney that’s breaking the remote. Can’t believe that people are only using those apps to test the remote. Lolz

 

[steevn]

It’s a good remote, but it continually bugs me that the pause and mute buttons are in their current locations instead of swapped - mute is on the corner of the array in the spot that’s easier to get to without looking, but the ATV is fundamentally a streaming box, and the majority of streaming is on-demand, not live. Generally, no one wants to hurriedly mute a movie while letting it run, they want to pause the movie. Without looking, the pause button requires sliding your finger over the button above it or below it to get to the right place, while the mite button is immediately locatable by sliding your finger up from the bottom, which is a shame. They’ve made the more useful button harder to get to, and the less useful button easier to get to. Oh well, it’s still a good remote.

I would honestly like the play/pause button to be above the volume, the home/tv button to be top left, back button below it, and mute where it is.

I see it similar to how you do that most people pause instead of mute, and when watching stuff I’m really only going to use volume up/down and play/pause during viewing and prefer them stacked so they are near.

I feel the home/tv and back buttons are similar enough to be next to each other and then the mute button to me is fine where it is, mainly because I wont use it much and it’s next to the volume down button, resulting in basically what you are going for if you happen to hit the wrong button.

This is a lot of thought I’ve put into a remote with hardly any buttons lol and I’ll memorize them in the next day or so and never think about it again, but that’s how I would have preferred the remote setup.