Tips

How to control your TV or receiver volume using the Apple TV remote

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 13, 2023

In addition to using your Siri Remote to navigate the tvOS user interface and play games on the fourth-generation Apple TV, you can program it to control power and adjust volume levels of your television set or home theater receiver.

That's because your Apple TV and the Siri Remote that came with it are compatible with HDMI-CEC and outfitted with a built-in infrared receiver and blaster.

This means owners of the new Apple TV can adjust the volume of their TVs and home theater receivers via the HDMI cable or line of sight, using just their Siri Remote.

In this tutorial, you'll learn how to program your Siri Remote and configure it to work with your home entertainment equipment.

Read More

How to set up carrier billing as payment method for App Store, iTunes Store and iBooks Store

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 2, 2015

In October 2015, Apple began rolling out support for carrier billing on iTunes in select markets, starting with Germany. This feature joins the existing payment methods accepted on the App Store, iTunes Store and iBooks Store and permits customers to have apps and media bought through these content stores charged to their monthly mobile phone bill or deducted from their prepaid amount.

If your carrier supports it, you too can opt-in to pay for your iTunes Store, App Store, and iBooks Store purchases—and your Apple Music membership—through mobile phone billing.

In this tutorial, we're going to cover setting up mobile phone billing as your payment method in the iTunes Store, App Store or iBooks Store.

Read More

How to force-quit apps on Apple TV

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated May 20, 2022
Apps on Apple TV screen with Apple TV box and remote in front of the screen

Although Apple TV is designed to just work, there are instances when a misbehaving app needs to be purged from the memory. And with the device's ability to download third-party apps and games, more things can now go wrong than ever before.

Like your iPhone, iPod touch, iPad and Mac, your Apple TV also lets you easily close a running app to free up system resources. In this brief tutorial, we show you how you can force quit an app on the Apple TV HD, 4K, or older models using your Siri Remote.

Read More

How to restart or put your Apple TV into sleep or standby mode

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 13, 2023

By now, you have learned how to use the new Apple TV's task switcher, rearrange and delete apps on the set-top box, take screenshots, disable password prompts for free and paid downloads and more.

Our coverage of the device continues with this tutorial which will teach you how to restart your Apple TV or put it into sleep or standby mode using either its remote or by selecting an option in the Settings menu.

Read More

How to disable password prompts for both free and paid downloads on Apple TV

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 7, 2020

You are probably aware that you can disable password prompts altogether for free downloads made on your iPhone, iPod touch, iPad and Mac. As an added layer of protection, iOS and macOS will either require your Apple ID password for each paid download or after fifteen minutes of making your last purchases in the iTunes Store, App Store, Books Store or Mac App Store, depending on your preference.

What you cannot do on iOS and macOS is disable password prompts for both free and paid downloads. On the Apple TV, however, it's possible to turn off password protection for both free and paid items and this tutorial will help you do just that.

Read More

Helium brings Picture in Picture options to the Mac

Jeff Benjamin ∙ October 29, 2015

Picture in Picture mode is a cool new feature for the iPad on iOS 9. As we showed you earlier today, you can even take advantage of Picture in Picture mode on the iPhone, if you're willing to jailbreak.

But what about the Mac?

Fortunately there's a Mac app called Helium that does a pretty good job of emulating the Picture in Picture effect on the desktop. It's especially handy for watching YouTube videos. Watch our hands-on video to see what I mean.

Read More