18 Cool Things About Your Apple TV

Use your third-party remote to control your device if an Apple TV remote slips into another dimension of your couch.

Go to Settings, then Software Updates. Press the Play/Pause button four times. A hidden menu appears. You can set sleep settings, load a VPN profile, and do many other cool things.

Tell Siri what you want to see or hear. You can be specific. Say, “Show me dramatic”.Siri can find Robin Williams movies.You search across all apps or inside a single app.

To resume watching, tell Siri, “Start from the beginning,” if you want to restart an episode. Ask Siri, “Turn on closed captioning” or “turn on English subtitles” to start captions. If you miss plot points, say “What did she say?” and Siri jumps back 15 seconds, showing captions for that part.

Control music and sound effects volume by saying, “Reduce loud sounds” to hear dialogue better. You can also pull up a movie by quoting lines, like, “Smokey, this is not Nam. This is bowling. There are rules.”You can ask Siri...Siri can tell you who directed the movie, who wrote it, or who the lead actor is.Siri can tell you who directed the movie, who wrote it, and who the lead actor is.

AirPlay Mirroring lets you project your device's screen onto a bigger TV. You skip the HDMI cable and dongle.

On your laptop, go to Settings > Displays. Select AirPlay Display as On. On your iPad or iPhone, swipe up from the bottom to open Control Center > Select AirPlay > pick your Apple TV name > AirPlay to > Mirroring.

Go to Settings > Audio and Video. Choose TV Resolution, then select your desired resolution.

New screen savers freshen up nature scenes. Gen 4 users get aerial screen savers. Go to Settings > General > Screensaver and change Download New Videos to Daily or Weekly. This feature uses much bandwidth, so keep that in mind. You cannot change what shows on your video stream.

Use your own photos by going to Settings > General > Screensaver > Type. Select Home Sharing, photos from your Apple devices, or My Photos.

If you have multiple Apple IDs, separate viewing preferences easily. Set up separate accounts using each Apple ID. Go to Settings > Accounts > iTunes and App Store > Add New Apple ID > Sign In. To add another, sign out and add the next Apple ID.

Download the Apple Remote App from the App Store. Open it on your phone and enter your iCloud/Apple account details. You will see the same buttons on your iPhone screen. Entering searches with your iPhone keyboard is easier than using the Apple TV remote.

Fourth-generation Apple TV users press the Home button once to view open Apps. Press the Home button twice to see all open Apps. Press the Home button three times to enable the Accessibility Shortcut menu for VoiceOver or Zoom. Enable the Accessibility Shortcut in Settings > General > Accessibility > Accessibility Shortcut. Press the Home button seventeen times to get Norman Reedus to appear at your house in a panda onesie with sushi and whisky.

Apple TV 4 lets you move things by using the Siri remote and holding the touch surface. Icons on your screen wiggle or vibrate, just like on your devices. Drag them to your preferred order. You can also remove icons, channels, or apps you want.

On an older remote, select the icon you want to move. Hold the center/Home button down. The icon will rock or wiggle. Then use the directional keys to move it up, down, or sideways.

Forget the remote. Use your game controller to move around, download apps, and play games. Apple TV 4 allows MFI-based controllers.

Setting a passcode lets you approve purchases fast while keeping security. Go to Settings > General > Restrictions > Turn restrictions on > Set up a four-digit passcode. This is much faster than typing a long or complex password.

You can do many things with your remote's touch surface.

- Hover over any letter on the text keyboard and hold it down to get the contextual menu with uppercase letters, backspace, and symbols.

- Skip long opening or closing credits during a binge-watch by tapping the right corner of the trackpad to fast-forward or the left corner to rewind.

- Skip iTunes tracks by clicking the right side of the trackpad. Restart by clicking the left side. Back up to a previous track by double-clicking the left side of the trackpad.

Select an item once and go back to the Home screen, no matter where you are. Double-click to bring up the App Switcher. Switch between or remove apps from there. Hold the Home button to put Apple TV to sleep and turn off your TV if it is connected to your Apple TV remote.

You can open subtitles, chapters, speaker settings, and closed captions.

The long way is to go to Settings > System > Restart. Alternatively, hold down the Menu and Home buttons at the same time.

Go to Settings > Remotes and Devices > Bluetooth. Pair your headphones as normal. You can also pair Bluetooth speakers!

If an app is stuck, double-tap the Home button. Access the Task Switcher. Quit the app by swiping up on the touch trackpad.