Apple TV 4th Generation with Siri Remote User's Guide: Your Media Tips & Tricks Manual (7 page)

Privacy settings on your Apple TV will include Location Services, Diagnostic Data and Advertising. You can go into the Settings icon and then to General > Privacy to move through these options and select those you wish to turn off or on, or read more about.

As you make voice requests using your Siri remote, the requests will be recorded and sent to Apple to help process the requests. You can delete your history of these requests and the associated data at any time by going into the Settings icon and then to General > Siri. Set the switch for Siri to “Off.” All of the User Data as well as recent voice input data will be deleted.

As of this initial publication, there were two different models of the Apple TV available: one with 32 gigabytes of storage, and one with 64 gigabytes of storage. This is helpful for any downloaded data for apps, games, movies, music, photos or other items. You can go to Settings > General > Manage Storage to see how much storage is being used by specific apps or games. However, you are unable to get a general picture of the total storage being used or free storage you have available.

To solve this, there are two apps you could consider adding to your Apple TV. As of this publication, both cost $0.99 on the App Store but will give you storage and/or other information too. These apps you can search for are called “tvStorage” and “System Activity Monitor.” The tvStorage app is much more simple in nature, as it will show you on your screen how much Apple TV storage is used, free and total.

The second of these apps, System Activity Monitor (shown in screenshot), will give you a much more comprehensive look at your system info including how much disk is being used, your CPU Core Usage and Runtime memory. It will also allow you to run a Network test to make sure that your network (internet connection) is available.

Consider adding either of these apps if you’d like a way to check on your Apple TV storage, or you might wait to see if Apple TV adds this feature somewhere to the settings in a future update.

Apple TV is more than just programming! You can use AirPlay to bounce items from your tablet or phone to the big screen, making your entire iOS suite of devices completely functional with your newest Apple family member. Here are some of the best options available with Apple TV!

AirPlay allows you to stream photos, videos and music to your Apple TV wirelessly, so you can share all of your content with the entire room – instead of everyone hovering around your computer, phone or tablet.

1. Turn your Apple TV on.
   
2. Go to Settings > Airplay and make sure Airplay is “On.”
   
3. Swipe the Control Panel Up on your iPhone or iPad (from the bottom of your screen).
   
4. Tap and select the AirPlay icon.
   
5. Tap the Apple TV Icon and make sure the slider for “Mirroring” is switched on.
   
6. What you Show on Your Personal Screen will now be Mirrored on the Television Screen
   
7. To stop the Airplay/Mirroring, simply swipe up from the bottom of your device and tap on the Airplay icon to switch it back to your device.
   

Note:
If you are playing a video clip or movie from your iOS device, the AirPlay icon will appear in the lower-right hand corner, so all you have to do is tap it with your Apple TV on to mirror the content
.
You may also see the AirPlay icon show up on your Safari web browser on your computer or mobile device and you can select it to cast the screen to your TV from your device.

Apple TV doesn't have the
Amazon Instant Video
app channel as part of its offerings, but that doesn't mean you can't enjoy it on Apple TV with this tip. If you've got an iPad, iPod Touch, iPhone or Mac computer with the Airplay feature, you can still watch Amazon Videos on your Apple TV.

1. Ensure you have Airplay set up in the Apple TV settings and that you can access it with your particular iOS device or Mac computer/laptop.
   

*For MAC laptops and computers with the Mavericks OS, you can go to System Preferences > Displays and set the Airplay to On or Off, as well as set it to "show mirroring options in the display bar when available."

1. Go to the App Store on your mobile device to get the Amazon Instant Video app (on a computer you can simply go to the Amazon website on a web browser and log in there).
   
2. Open Amazon Instant Video on your mobile device, or on your web browser, and log in with your account info. You will be presented with your video library as well as options to rent or buy movies and TV shows. If you're an Amazon Prime member, you'll also have the ability to watch free movies streaming online.
   
3. Begin playing a movie or TV show video on your particular device. ("Watch Now" button)
   
4. Look for the Airplay symbol on your device screen (usually in the lower right-hand corner or upper right corner of a web browser). Tap on it and choose "Apple TV." The Amazon video should now be playing on your Apple TV to your TV screen. You can go back to the Airplay icon to choose to shut off Airplay when you’ve finished.
   

Note:
You can also pause/play, select closed captions (when available) and use other on-screen options to enhance the Amazon video viewing experience from your device.

A screensaver provides a nice display on your television screen when Apple TV is on, but not active for a certain period of time. You can use automatically-downloaded screensavers from Apple TV, or choose to use any iCloud photos you might have available. The great thing is you can run a slideshow or just have a single photo on display as your screensaver. The screensaver can go on your screen after a certain interval of time has passed with the Apple TV not being used, ranging from two minutes up to 30 minutes.

Here’s how to set up Apple TV screensaver(s):

1. Go to Settings > General > Screensaver.
   
2. Select “Type” to choose the type of screensaver you’d like to use. You can select from several options here such as Aerial (Apple’s video screens), Apple Photos (screensaver photos from Apple), My Photos (your iCloud photos) or Home Sharing (any photos available through Home Sharing of accounts), to get your preferred screensaver.
   Note: In order to use the “My Photos” or “Home Sharing,” you will need to have those options activated and set up on Apple TV.
   
3. Once you’ve selected the type of screensaver it will show as checked off on the “Type” screen. Press the Menu button once to return to previous screen.
   
4. You can adjust other settings such as when the screensaver will start, and whether or not a screensaver should show up when you have music playing on the Apple TV. After you adjust each setting, you may need to press Menu button on the remote to return to the Screensaver settings screen.
   
5. Once you’ve completed setting up your preferences for screensaver, you can test it by choosing “Preview.” You can press a button on your remote to end the preview.
   
6. Your screensaver will now go on the screen whenever your Apple TV has been inactive for your specified amount of time. (5-30 minutes)
   

Note: Should you ever want to stop using the screensaver function you can go to Settings > General > Screensaver and choose “Start After,” then set it to “Never.”

You may be able to use the Siri Remote that came with Apple TV to turn on your compatible television or receiver. In order for this to work, your television or receiver will need to offer HDMI-CEC support. If it has HDMI-CEC support, the Apple TV should automatically set up your Siri Remote to work with the TV. You really won’t need to perform any additional steps.

To test out if the remote can turn on your TV, you’ll want the Apple TV in Sleep Mode, and your television turned off. With the TV still off, try waking up Apple TV by pressing a button on the Siri remote. You may see your TV power on as the Apple TV wakes up.

Note: Some TVs and receivers may require that you enable HDMI-CEC on the menu or settings. The HDMI-CEC may be referred to differently by your particular TV or receiver company with the word Link or Sync as part of their phrase for it.

Also, if you want to disable this feature at any time, simply go to Settings > Remotes and Devices. You can go down to where it says “Turn On Your TV with Your Remote” and switch the setting to OFF.

You can teach your Apple TV remote to control the volume for your HDTV, if it has a compatible infrared remote. To do this, you’ll go into an area of your Apple TV Settings and follow an on-screen tutorial.

To teach Apple TV remote to control your TV volume:

1. On the Apple TV, go to Settings > Remotes & Devices.
   
2. Swipe down to Volume Control and select it.
   
3. Swipe down to Learn New Device… and select it.
   
4. Have your television remote nearby. You’ll need to follow the on-screen tutorial which involves holding down the Volume Up button until a meter bar on your TV screen shows as full.
   
5. Follow the same process with the Volume Down button until the meter bar on your TV is full.
   
6. Your Apple TV should notify you that it is now able to control the television volume.
   

You can test it out by pressing on the + and – buttons on your Apple TV remote to see if the volume changes on your TV (you may need to test it by watching something on TV, unless your TV has an on-screen display when volume is adjusted).