Apple TV Remote Sucks

[LarryJoe33]

Well documented I know but I had to get it off my chest. So friggin frustrating. How could Apple take a very well designed remote and replace it with this touchy, frustrating, POS. It’s like you need to make sure you put it in a secluded area after you start a show or god forbid you touch it.

Got that off my chest. Maybe the worst designed Apple product EVER.

 

[retta283]

The first Apple remote was almost completely white, which made it a lot easier to find. It was also a lot more durable.

I think it needs to be white again.

 

[kohlson]

100% agree. How something like this was ever released is beyond me. I love the article about how the Swiss telecom company thought it was so bad they worked with Apple to create an approved, aftermarket remote.

Yeah, you'll want to notch that one on the resume.

 

[Juicy Box]

Definitely an example of form over function.

The Siri Remote is just one of many examples of how Apple has changed over the past 7-8 years. Apple used to have good balance with form and function, with the user experience being paramount. Lately, user experience has taken a backseat to form and profits, imo.

I have been a long time fan and user of Apple TVs, having owned each generation and using them for almost 13 years.

I followed all the rumors leading up to what is now considered the ATV4, and was very excited about it.

Watching the Apple Event announcing the ATV4, I was very disappointed in many things, one of which was the Siri Remote. You can just look at the remote and tell that there will be problems with it.

I love the article about how the Swiss telecom company thought it was so bad they worked with Apple to create an approved, aftermarket remote.

What I don't get about that Salt remote is that it isn't really anything special. Every Apple TV generation has a remote learning feature that can learn any IR remote. It would be totally different if the Salt remote included Siri or at least a home button, but it is missing both of those things.

Another bad thing about the Salt or any IR remote on tvOS is that some apps do not support the D-pad and you still have to use the Siri Remote.

I really wish Apple just released their own remote that included all the features of the Siri Remote, but with a D-pad instead and felt natural to use.

 

[HDFan]

There are some things that you can do with the remote that you can't do on any other remote. With the touch pad the fine grain control when scrolling through a video or youtube video gives you almost frame precision.

I found that a number of problems, like its slipperiness, the way it tends to hide itself, can be solved by:

1. Using an Apple remote loop in the lightning slot. Much easier to grab, easier to find

Apple TV Remote Loop

The Remote Loop keeps your Siri Remote safely tethered to your wrist so you won’t have to worry about accidental slips or drops. It clicks into the Lightning connector on the remote for secure attachment and easy removal. And you can adjust the size for a snug and secure fit.

www.amazon.com

2. Putting a case on it. It makes it easier to hold so it doesn't slip from your hand.

Remote Cover Case Compatible with Apple TV 4K 4th Generation Remote Controller, Pinowu Anti-Slip Protective Silicone Sleeve for TV 4K Siri Remote Control (2pcs:Red and Green)

The silicone sleeve gives the remote a very nice grip and extends the length mostly and a touch of the width, much easier to hold. If you own apple tv 4th / 4K, you've found that the ATV remote is very, very easy to drop into your couch. It's also really slippery in your hand too....

www.amazon.com

I purchased the teather and case separately, but I see this new item on Amazon. May be a bit too much "tail":

StreamerTails Apple TV Remote Case - Protective Cover with New, Never Before Available Patented Tail Design - for Apple TV 4K, 4th Generation, Siri Remote - Never Lose Your Remote Again - OG Red

www.amazon.com

When I want fine grain control I use my Apple remote. In other cases I use my Harmony remote.

 

[LarryJoe33]

The touch pad is the whole problem. Sure when you can actually get it to do what you want, you can scroll frames fine grain, but most the time the sensitivity just plain causes it to do what you don’t want to do. Either inadvertently but god forbid touching it by accident or being unable to fast forward or reverse with ease and simplicity. I can’t tell you how many times over the past two years my family members have said, I hate this remote and liked the old one so much better. If only Apple listened.

 

[waw74]

The old white or silver remotes still work if you have one laying around.
or a lot of the smart remotes also have the apple codes built in,

also a trick I've learned, if you tap the four edges (not click) it works like the old directional buttons, a lot of the time when I'm having issues navigating, that normally works for me.

Or if it's being really obnoxious, if you hold the menu and volume up button, it will reboot the remote.
just be aware a lot of times, this turns the volume up in addition to rebooting.

Don't know if you had an aTV 4 at original launch, but at least they changed it so that now you have to be paused before you can fast forward / rewind. on the first version of software every time you touched the remote, you wound up a few minutes away from where you were watching

I swear 100% of the testing was done by someone sitting at a desk, and then they would set it down nicely beside their keyboard when they weren't using it, as opposed to randomly thrown on the couch in the dark like almost everyone who uses this in the real world.

 

[chris4565]

I'm in the minority here but I absolutely love the remote. Are there sometimes moments where I scroll e. g. a bit farther than I intended to? Sure. But as HDFan said, the touchpad gives you types of interaction that wouldn't be possible with a "normal" remote. It even makes it possible to play some games where you can move around 360° via the trackpad.

 

[Ghost31]

Dude I couldn’t agree more. Agree x10000000. I have an Apple TV4K in both the living room and bedroom and while i liked them when i first got them, ohhhh man. The one in the living room i just stopped using altogether. The remote becomes unresponsive sometimes and sometimes when i flick right or left it’ll stop and then 3 seconds later make the gesture. And just...how crappy the remote is in general. Anybody ever picked it up upside down? I have. A lot.

It’s gotten to the point where I’m just using my built in smart tv functions for all the same stuff. And that should be bad for apple. What do i do on my Apple TV?

-sometimes i airplay. But oddly enough, my samsung tv has airplay built in and it works BETTER than my newer apple tv’s! Makes no damn sense to me

-i stream. Netflix, hulu, YouTube. The usual suspects. Know what’s weird? YouTube has a better app on my smart tv than my Apple TV. It also plays in 4K. Not only that, colors pop better on Netflix and hulu on the tv vs apple tv

-If i wanna watch Apple TV or iTunes content, i can do it with my tv’s built in Apple TV app anyway.

Apple TV is kinda an overpriced pointless streaming box at this point

 

[LarryJoe33]

Dude I couldn’t agree more. Agree x10000000. I have an Apple TV4K in both the living room and bedroom and while i liked them when i first got them, ohhhh man. The one in the living room i just stopped using altogether. The remote becomes unresponsive sometimes and sometimes when i flick right or left it’ll stop and then 3 seconds later make the gesture. And just...how crappy the remote is in general. Anybody ever picked it up upside down? I have. A lot.

It’s gotten to the point where I’m just using my built in smart tv functions for all the same stuff. And that should be bad for apple. What do i do on my Apple TV?

-sometimes i airplay. But oddly enough, my samsung tv has airplay built in and it works BETTER than my newer apple tv’s! Makes no damn sense to me

-i stream. Netflix, hulu, YouTube. The usual suspects. Know what’s weird? YouTube has a better app on my smart tv than my Apple TV. It also plays in 4K. Not only that, colors pop better on Netflix and hulu on the tv vs apple tv

-If i wanna watch Apple TV or iTunes content, i can do it with my tv’s built in Apple TV app anyway.

Apple TV is kinda an overpriced pointless streaming box at this point

Oh man, I forgot to mention the lack of intuitive orientation! The friggin thing looks the same on the bottom and top save for a the gloss, it’s symmetrical, so always licking it up backwards to adjust the volume and ending up hitting the home button or Siri. Or hitting the touchpad.

I was too in denial when I first got it and kept yelling at everyone in my house complaint telling them they just don’t know how to use it, which is the point of all apple products that are successful, you should not have to work at figuring it out.

 

[kohlson]

A number of times when I've picked it up the program jumps to a different place, or even a different program. I approach this thing as if picking up a bottle of acid, certain that an inadvertent action will result in unpleasantness - usually me muttering obscenities. I can't just reach over and grab it, like any other remote. I have to pay attention, because it looks the same from either end.

I get that it works for some. Perhaps this should be called the Pro Edition. All I want is the D'oh Edition

 

[LarryJoe33]

A number of times when I've picked it up the program jumps to a different place, or even a different program. I approach this thing as if picking up a bottle of acid, certain that an inadvertent action will result in unpleasantness - usually me muttering obscenities. I can't just reach over and grab it, like any other remote. I have to pay attention, because it looks the same from either end.

I get that it works for some. Perhaps this should be called the Pro Edition. All I want is the D'oh Edition

Exactly, well said.

 

[HDFan]

Oh man, I forgot to mention the lack of intuitive orientation!

Yeah, had the same problem. The Apple Remote loop fixed that.

 

[OddyOh]

Agreed, truly terrible remote. The touch pad can be handy for scrolling through videos (when you're not fighting with it), and I like the "what did he/she say?" feature for quickly replaying a scene with subtitles turned on.

Those are the only positives. The rest of this remote is a complete joke. I have it in a bright red third party case that I like to think would send chills down Jonny Ive's spine. And I've programmed an old cable box remote to handle any d-pad movements, plus that one is backlit.

Apple starting to miss the boat more often than not these days.

 

[LarryJoe33]

And sorry to create another "I hate this remote" thread. With all this downtime and Netflix watching, the poor design is right in my face all the time and I had to vent and get it off my chest. I am not going to spend money on workarounds, cases or loops.

 

[Beelzbub]

Thanks to the latest update, I can now turn on my Apple TV 4K with the TV remote. I have an Amazon Fire TV, and that remote controls the Apple TV 4K perfectly. The only thing I cannot do is the Siri stuff, but for me I don't care, never used that anyway on my Apple TV. So now when I turn on my TV, and then hit the Apple TV input, I can tap the home button on the Amazon Fire TV remote and it turns on my Apple TV. And I can navigate just fine and operate the apps normally and when I am done and hit the power button, both devices turn off. I have now disabled automatic updates on my Apple TV because I really like this feature and do not want it to go away like it did before and the previous version of tvOS.

 

[LarryJoe33]

Kind of ironic that the Amazon Fire remote is works perfectly with Apple TV! In terms of Siri, that's the only thing I LIKE about the remote. Speaking into it for searches or logging in is helpful. They should have just added a Siri button to the old silver remote and called it a day!!

 

[eawmp1]

Remote is flaky. I use the Remote app on the iPhone.

 

[shakopeemn]

I agree that a remote case is a necessity. It makes the remote easier to find and because it covers the bottom, you know which end is up the moment you touch the remote.

Great remote - the Siri and locating programming is the killer function for myself.

 

[LarryJoe33]

I agree that a remote case is a necessity. It makes the remote easier to find and because it covers the bottom, you know which end is up the moment you touch the remote.

Great remote - the Siri and locating programming is the killer function for myself.

I find the Siri functionality the only good thing about this remote.

 

[jasg49]

Thanks to the latest update, I can now turn on my Apple TV 4K with the TV remote. I have an Amazon Fire TV, and that remote controls the Apple TV 4K perfectly. The only thing I cannot do is the Siri stuff, but for me I don't care, never used that anyway on my Apple TV. So now when I turn on my TV, and then hit the Apple TV input, I can tap the home button on the Amazon Fire TV remote and it turns on my Apple TV. And I can navigate just fine and operate the apps normally and when I am done and hit the power button, both devices turn off. I have now disabled automatic updates on my Apple TV because I really like this feature and do not want it to go away like it did before and the previous version of tvOS.

Which Amazon remote? From an Amazon Fire television or a Fire TV Cube or Stick? I tried to pair the remote from the Fire TV Stick 4K with my Apple TV and hosed both. Need factory resets on both to recover.

 

[Beelzbub]

The Amazon Fire Television, sorry I should have made that clearer in my previous post.

 

[iCal]

<rant>

I totally, totally hate it (the Apple remote) as does my whole family.

Precision fast-forward/re-wind? Are you kidding me?

Even to select something on the home screen takes me 5 goes of scrolling past it each time, normally I give up and use my iPhone Remote app.

I thought it was broken until I bought another one for another room and found it was just as terrible.

We even have some old white ones we use most of the time as the new one is the worst Apple product ever (even beats the Apple Watch which is some achievement. I have two Apple watches sat in my bedside drawer as they are so terrible to use. Just like the Apple Remotes they are terrible at their primary function).

</end rant>

 

[ignatius345]

The first Apple remote was almost completely white, which made it a lot easier to find. It was also a lot more durable.

Oh man, I forgot to mention the lack of intuitive orientation! The friggin thing looks the same on the bottom and top save for a the gloss, it’s symmetrical, so always licking it up backwards to adjust the volume and ending up hitting the home button or Siri. Or hitting the touchpad.

I put a strip of bright yellow electrical tape around the bottom. It makes it easier to find in a darkened room and also lets me quickly orient it in my hand (since the idiot thing is totally symmetrical otherwise).
[automerge]1586118126[/automerge]

<rant>

I totally, totally hate it (the Apple remote) as does my whole family.

Precision fast-forward/re-wind? Are you kidding me?

Even to select something on the home screen takes me 5 goes of scrolling past it each time, normally I give up and use my iPhone Remote app.

I thought it was broken until I bought another one for another room and found it was just as terrible.

We even have some old white ones we use most of the time as the new one is the worst Apple product ever (even beats the Apple Watch which is some achievement. I have two Apple watches sat in my bedside drawer as they are so terrible to use. Just like the Apple Remotes they are terrible at their primary function).

</end rant>

Quick tip: in the settings you can adjust the sensitivity of the touch pad to be a bit slower. I think it might be under Accessibility. It definitely helps.

While you're in Accessibility, there are options there to make the ATV on-screen text bolder and to make it highlight selected items a bit more visibly.

 

[LarryJoe33]

I think the worst part of social distancing is having to use this remote.