How to Use the Apple TV Siri Remote

The Apple TV remote has a touch surface, swipe gestures, and a Siri button — once you know how it works, navigating Apple TV becomes much easier.

In this guide (5 steps):

1.Navigate With Swipes and Clicks
2.Use the Back and Home Buttons
3.Control Playback
4.Use Siri for Voice Control
5.Control TV Volume and Power

Navigate With Swipes and Clicks

~26s

Lightly swipe your thumb up, down, left, or right on the clickpad (top portion) to move the selection highlight on screen. Press the center firmly to select. Press the outer edge of the clickpad (top, bottom, left, right edges) to move without swiping. Swipes tend to scroll faster; edge presses move one item at a time.

Quick Tip

If swiping feels too sensitive, go to SettingsRemotes and DevicesTouch Surface Tracking → change the speed to Slow.

Use the Back and Home Buttons

~18s

The Back button (←) goes back one screen. Press it repeatedly to exit any app and return to the main menus. The Home button (TV icon) goes directly to the Apple TV Home Screen from anywhere. Press and hold Home to switch between running apps or access the Sleep/Restart/Shutdown menu.

Control Playback

~16s

While watching a video: click once to pause or play. Hold the clickpad down briefly to bring up a scrubber to skip through the video. Swipe left to jump back 10 seconds; swipe right to jump forward 10 seconds. Press the outer ring left/right to skip back or forward.

Use Siri for Voice Control

~25s

Press and hold the Siri button (circle with microphone). Speak your request. You can ask Siri to: open specific apps ("Open Netflix"), search for content ("Find comedies from the 1980s"), control playback ("Skip ahead 5 minutes"), answer questions about what you're watching ("Who plays the main character?"), or enable captions ("Turn on subtitles").

Quick Tip

"What did she say?" asks Siri to rewind 15 seconds and turn on captions temporarily — helpful when dialogue is hard to hear.

Control TV Volume and Power

~19s

Use the Volume Up (+) and Volume Down (-) buttons on the right edge of the remote to control your TV's volume — this works through HDMI-CEC. You can also press and hold the Home buttonSleep to put Apple TV to sleep. The remote's power button (circle with line) controls the TV directly.

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The Apple TV Siri Remote looks simple — just a slim aluminum rectangle — but it works differently from a traditional TV remote. Instead of pressing directional arrow buttons, you swipe on the top portion of the remote like a touchpad. This surprises many first-time Apple TV users.

The top section of the remote is a clickpad — it's a smooth surface you can swipe across to move the highlight on screen, and you can also press it like a physical button. Swipe up, down, left, or right to navigate menus. Click (press firmly in the center) to select. Press the outer ring of the clickpad to go up, down, left, or right without swiping.

Along the right side are volume up and volume down buttons. If your TV is connected via HDMI or ARC, these control your TV volume directly — you may not need your TV remote for volume at all.

The Back button (arrow pointing left) goes back one screen, the same as the back button on a phone. The Home button (TV shape) takes you back to the Apple TV home screen from anywhere. The Mute button silences audio.

The Siri button (the circle with a microphone icon) is one of the most useful features: hold it and speak a command. "Play The Queen's Gambit on Netflix," "Show me action movies," "What did he just say?" (replays the last 15 seconds with captions), "Turn on captions," or "How long is this movie?" — Siri handles all of these.

The remote also controls playback: single click the clickpad to pause/play. Click and hold briefly to scrub through a video. Swipe left or right to skip back or forward.

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