Apple TV Tips: 5 Things You Didn’t Know You Could Do

These lesser-known tricks are helpful for new and long-time Apple TV owners alike.

Published November 21, 2024

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Updated November 21, 2024

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The Apple TV 4K is the best streaming device for anybody with an iPhone. And if they have other Apple devices, like an iPhone, Mac or AirPods, that’s even better.

Apple’s TV streamer is fast and powerful. It lacks ads, and it has many cool features that interact with other Apple devices. Its interphase feels super familiar — like it is an extension of your iPhone.

Also, Apple continuously rolls out software updates to the Apple TV — both older HD and newer 4K models — so it gets better over time. And a lot of these new features and abilities go under the radar.

Below, we’ve rounded up a few lesser-known tricks that will be useful for both new and long-time Apple TV owners.

Do a quick rewind (and temporarily turn on subtitles)

You likely look at your phone more than a few times while watching a show or move — we all do it. If you miss something and want to rewind whatever you were watching, your Apple TV gives you more than a few ways to do just that.

You can click the clickpad or trackpad (depending on your remote) to quickly rewind or fast-forward 10 seconds. A long hold will do a continuous rewind or fast-forward. You can hit the Play/Pause button and then scroll backwards or forwards. You can even hold the Siri button on your remote and ask it to “Rewind/Fast-forward X seconds.”

However, a sneaky cool thing you can do is hold down the Siri button and ask: “What did they/he/she say?”

Once you do, your Apple TV will automatically rewind 15 seconds and temporarily turn on subtitles (if they’re not on already). Pretty neat.

Bring back the Home button on your Apple TV remote

If you’re a long-time Apple TV owner, you’ll remember a time when your Siri remote had a dedicated Home button that brought you back to your Apple TV’s Home Screen.

In 2019, Apple rolled out an update that changed that — pressing the TV button switched to bringing you to the Apple TV app. If you’re not a fan of that, the good news is you can change it back. You just have to adjust a setting.

Turn on your Apple TV.
Open the Settings app.
Scroll down and select “Remotes and Devices.”
Select “TV Button.”
Make sure it’s changed from “Apple TV App” to “Home Screen.”

Once changed to “Home Screen,” a single tap TV/Control Center button will bring you back to Home Screen.

Set a timer for your Apple TV to turn off

When Apple rolled out tvOS 17 in September 2023, it brought a long overdue feature to the Apple TV: sleep timer. This lets you set a timer for when you want your Apple TV turn off.

Open the Control Center by long pressing TV button on your remote.
Select Sleep Timer.
Choose a time range.

Apple offers four time ranges: 15 minutes, 30 minutes, one hour, or two hours. Once you have selected a range, you can check how much time is left by reopening the Control Center. You can also cancel the timer here.

If you and somebody want to watch a movie or show without waking the rest of the house — sleeping children, maybe? — you can actually share audio between two pairs of AirPods or compatible Beats headphones.

They need to be AirPods or compatible Beats headphones as they feature Apple’s special chips. And at least one needs to have previously been paired to your Apple TV. If you check both boxes, follow the below steps:

Both put your AirPods (or Beats headphones) in your ears.
Press and hold the TV button on your Siri remote to open the Control Center.
Select the AirPods tab.
Select Share Audio.
Follow the on-screen instructions to pair the second pair of AirPods.

If both AirPods (or Beats headphones) had been previously paired to your Apple TV, you should be able to select both via the Audio tab in the Control Center.

When connected, each person can control the volume levels of their own AirPods (via the Control Center). If you simply use the remote to increase or decrease volume, it will adjust both headphones that are sharing audio.

Locate Your Missing Siri Remote with Your iPhone

If you misplace the Siri Remote, you can control your Apple TV just the same with your iPhone — just open the Remote app via your iPhone’s Control Center. But you probably knew that already.

One thing you may not have known, however, is that same app can now help you locate your missing Siri Remote. With tvOS 17, Apple rolled out a “Find My Remote” feature that basically tracks your Siri down just like an AirTag.

Open Control Center on your iPhone (by swiping down from the top-right corner).
Select the Apple TV Remote icon.
At the top of your screen, select your Apple TV.
Tap the “Find” option next to the remote icon.

From here, follow the on-screen instructions to track down your remote. This feature works on both new Siri Remotes as well as Apple TV Remotes (2nd generation or later). Your Apple TV and iPhone both need to running the latest operating systems, too.