Follow along with us as we show you how to turn on and use the Siri personal assistant on your Apple TV, even if you live in an unsupported country or region.
Help, Siri isn’t available in [MY_COUNTRY]!
The Apple TV remote makes it a cinch to invoke Apple’s personal assistant anywhere in tvOS by pressing and holding the dedicated Siri button. With Siri, you can control what’s playing, search Apple Music, launch apps, check the scores, follow stocks, get the weather forecast and much more—all with simple voice commands.
The problem is, tvOS Siri is unavailable in the same languages and countries as Siri on other devices. Read: All the ways you can invoke Siri on Apple devices
What’s more, Apple says you can only use Siri if your Apple TV is configured with a language and country or region that are offiically supported. So what should people who live in unsupported countries to make the assistant work? Change their tvOS language and region settings to a supported country, but of course!
Follow along with us as we show you how to do it.
How to use Siri on Apple TV if your country is unsupported
You can use Siri on your Apple TV HD or Apple TV 4K as long as the device is configured for any language and region that Siri officially supports.
I live in Croatia but Siri isn’t officially supported over here. With the Apple TV region set to “Croatia,” I get an error message when trying to turn on Siri. But if I change my region to “United States,” I can use Siri in English even though I’m still in Croatia.
- Open the Settings app on your Apple TV
- Choose General in the root list.
- Click Apple TV Languages below the Language And Region heading.
- Select Add Language, then choose English or English (US) from the list.
- Under Preferred Languages, drag English to the top spot.
Reboot your Apple TV in Settings → System → Restart for the changes to take effect, just to be sure. You should now be able to converse with the assistant in English on your Apple TV even though you don’t live in a supported Siri country.
To test if Siri works, press and hold the Siri button on the remote. When the animated orb appears on the screen, say what you want and then release the button.
You may need to use a US App Store account
If you still get an error saying you can’t use Siri in English because your App Store language is different, changing the App Store country to match the selected Apple TV region should resolve this conflict. tvOS Siri works in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Germany, France and other countries.
If you still can’t use Siri, go to Settings → Users & Accounts and click the default Apple TV user, then click Store under Apple ID. Next, log out of whatever App Store account is selected there and then log in with a US App Store account?
If you don’t have a US App Store account, our explainer shows you how to create a new Apple ID without a payment method so you can use Siri in tvOS and download free apps and games from the US App Store even if you don’t live there.
Which countries support Siri on Apple TV?
As per Apple’s support document titled ”Use Siri on Apple TV”, last updated on January 22, 2022, tvOS Siri is available in these countries and languages:
- Australia (English)
- Austria (German)
- Belgium (Dutch, French)
- Brazil (Portuguese)
- Canada (English, French)
- France (French)
- Germany (German)
- Hong Kong (Cantonese)
- Korea (Korean)
- India (English)
- Ireland (English)
- Italy (Italian)
- Japan (Japanese)
- Mexico (Spanish)
- Netherlands (Dutch)
- New Zealand (English)
- Norway (Norwegian Bokmål)
- Russia (Russian)
- Spain (Spanish)
- Sweden (Swedish)
- Switzerland (French, German, Italian)
- Taiwan (Mandarin)
- United Kingdom (English)
- United States (English, Spanish)
- Chile
- Israel
- Malaysia
- Saudi Arabia
- Singapore
- South Africa (English)
- United Arab Emirates
More tips for Siri on Apple TV
- Tips for making the most out of Siri on your Apple TV
- How to disable the click sounds on your Apple TV
- How to choose the aerial screen saver theme on Apple TV
- How to type to Siri on your Apple devices
How do you use Siri on Apple TV?
The Apple TV remote allows you to navigate the tvOS user interface with ease, but Siri is your best friend when you want to watch or listen to something, maybe check the weather, dictate something into the YouTube search field and so on.
That said, tvOS is stricter than iOS in terms of using Siri in unsupported countries. But now that you’re privy to this workaround, you no longer need to be one of those people who don’t talk to their television. Read: How to force-quit Apple TV apps