10 Life Hacks Every Apple TV User Should Know
Like many Apple devices, your Apple TV works great right out of the box. You plug it in, load up your favorite streaming services, and that’s it— most of your data stays intact . But while this is a perfectly acceptable way to watch shows and movies, there are things you can (and should) change to make your Apple TV work even better. Here are 10 such tricks every Apple TV owner should try:
Disable fullscreen profile selection.
When I first turned on my Apple TV after updating to tvOS 26, I was greeted by a full-screen profile selection screen. I soon discovered that I had to face this screen every time I turned on my Apple TV. For a large family who wanted separate recommendations and viewing history, this might be logical. But for my TV, choosing my profile instead of my wife’s every time was more of an annoyance.
If you’re experiencing the same issue, you can disable this screen in Settings > Profiles & Accounts . Here, disable the ” Choose profile when waking” option. Disabling this feature doesn’t delete profiles; you can still switch between them using the power button.
Return the TV button to the Home position.
Every time I set up a new Apple TV (or reset my old one), this is the first setting I change. For years, pressing the TV button on the Apple TV remote would open the TV app instead of returning to the Home screen. To get back to the Home screen, I had to press and hold the TV button. It was annoying. Luckily, there’s a setting that changes this. Go to Settings > Remotes & Devices > TV Button and toggle the switch to Home Screen . Now, pressing the TV button will return you to the Home screen.
Disable auto-play videos in all your apps.
If you use the Apple TV app to watch TV shows and movies, there’s an easy way to turn off auto-playing videos. Go to Settings > Accessibility > Motion > Auto-Play Video Previews > Off.
While this is the only app with this setting built into Apple TV, you can also disable autoplay videos for other apps, such as Netflix and Prime Video. While each service has its own method for disabling autoplay videos, you’ll likely find similar solutions for each. To change this setting for Netflix and Prime Video, for example, you’ll need to use their respective websites. Open the Netflix website, tap the profile icon, go to Manage Profiles , select a profile, and then tap Playback Settings . Next, turn off Autoplay Previews . Then, sign out of your account on Apple TV and sign back in to see the update. For Prime Video, tap the profile icon, go to Account & Settings > Player , and turn off Autoplay Videos and Live TV .
Make the Apple TV remote easy to use for everyone.
I love the gesture on the Apple TV touchpad. Swiping is second nature to me. But when my parents use the Apple TV remote, they always have trouble with it. They prefer the D-pad for navigation, but they’re constantly accidentally swiping up on the touchpad. If children or older adults frequently use the Apple TV remote, you might want to disable this gesture entirely.
Go to Settings > Remote Controls and Devices > Tablet and switch to “Press Only” mode. Now the center button will function as a regular “Press” or “OK” button, but you won’t be able to use it as a touchpad, which should avoid confusion.
Control Apple TV with your iPhone or Apple Watch.
The Apple TV remote is very easy to lose, but fortunately, you don’t really need it. If your iPhone is nearby or you’re wearing an Apple Watch, you can control your Apple TV directly from your Apple devices. On your iPhone, open Control Center , then tap the Apple TV remote button. If you don’t see it, long-press an empty area of Control Center to change its location. From there, find and add your Apple TV remote. If you’re on the same network, you’ll see your Apple TV in this list. You may be required to authenticate with a code the first time you connect. Once activated, you can control playback and navigate the device using your iPhone.
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It’s the same story on Apple Watch, but there’s a dedicated app for this. Open the Remote app on your Apple Watch, select the Apple TV nearby, and start controlling it.
Use HomePods or any other AirPlay-enabled speakers as your default audio output device.
Did you know that HomePod or any other AirPlay-enabled speaker can be used as the primary audio source for Apple TV? If you have two wireless speakers, they can even work in stereo mode. And since HomePod is always paired with Apple TV, you don’t have to change the audio source every time you start watching something.
To set this up on your Apple TV, go to Settings > Video & Audio > Audio Output , then select HomePod or a stereo pair as the default output. If you have two HomePods, you’ll first need to set them up as a stereo pair through the Home app on your iPhone ( follow Apple’s instructions here ).
Use AirPods with Apple TV.
If you want to watch something in the evening without waking the whole family, use AirPods with Apple TV. Like other Apple devices, AirPods are tightly integrated with the Apple TV software. You just need to first connect them via Settings > Remotes & Devices > Bluetooth .
The next time you put them on, Apple TV will prompt you to automatically connect to your AirPods. After that, press and hold the TV/Home button, and they’ll connect. You can also use Control Center to quickly switch the audio output to your AirPods or any other Bluetooth audio source. Open Control Center using the power button, then select the audio output button.
Force close apps that bother you.
Apple TV is no different from your other devices. Sometimes tvOS apps may malfunction or freeze. For me, this usually happens with Netflix. Instead of waiting for the problem to resolve itself, you can force-quit the app, just like on iPhone. Double-click the TV button to open the app switcher. Then, swipe up on the app to close it. Relaunching the app can fix common issues like audio lag, buffering, and playback problems.
Speeding up animation on older Apple TV models
The Apple TV is a powerful device, but if you’re using an older model, it may sometimes start to lag. Go to Settings > Accessibility > Notion and turn on Reduce Motion to speed up animations. This will speed up your Apple TV because you won’t have to wait for complex animations to complete.
Turn off annoying notifications while you’re watching something.
In my opinion, your TV shouldn’t notify you of anything. Apple TV, however, does notify you of things like incoming phone and FaceTime calls, Home app updates from your webcam, and workout notifications from the Fitness app. To turn these off, go to Settings > Notifications , then turn off notifications for all apps. If you don’t want to turn off notifications completely, you can always press the power button once to open Control Center and turn on Do Not Disturb mode.
You can also disable call notifications directly on your iPhone. To do this, go to Settings > Phone > Calls on Other Devices and disable the Apple TV option.