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Apple TV remote worst ever.

I have had this new Apple tv for some time and just have to say that the remote is terrible.

The touch control is bad. Finicky, and frustrating ... I am at the point of smashing this crap.

Any Suggestions?

Posted on Jul 8, 2016 7:59 PM

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Posted on Jul 8, 2016 8:16 PM

Ha ha! Sorry to hear about your frustration!


I can suggest to go into your Apple TV's settings and changing the remote sensitivity to something that suits you more.


How To:

  • Be on the home screen of your Apple TV
  • Go to the Settings application
  • Select Remotes and Devices
  • Then change Touch Surface Tracking to something more suiting for you! It sounds like you should set it to slow according to your post.


I hope I was able to help you enjoy your Apple TV experience a little more!! 🙂

18 replies
Question marked as Best reply

Jul 8, 2016 8:16 PM in response to yomichee

Ha ha! Sorry to hear about your frustration!


I can suggest to go into your Apple TV's settings and changing the remote sensitivity to something that suits you more.


How To:

  • Be on the home screen of your Apple TV
  • Go to the Settings application
  • Select Remotes and Devices
  • Then change Touch Surface Tracking to something more suiting for you! It sounds like you should set it to slow according to your post.


I hope I was able to help you enjoy your Apple TV experience a little more!! 🙂

Jul 3, 2017 4:53 AM in response to alessandrobere

You've nailed the reasons I hate the remote. Make no mistake, the remote is an industrial design exercise in building a device down to a price, everything about Apple nowadays about margins. While most manufacturers build a chunky remote (see Tivo, Roku, even Amazon's Fire TV is bigger) Apple designs theirs to guarantee to slip between couch pillows. It's most definitely not family-friendly - my kids are totally unable to use it. Apple has so totally lost their way with Apple TV it's not even funny ("the future of TV is apps" - really - because app-hopping is so much easier and faster than channel-surfing with cable/OTA).

Jul 3, 2017 9:43 AM in response to Indieshack

Indieshack wrote:


> However, if you don't like it and you have an iPhone, you have the option of using the App.


yes, because a cell phone is everyone's go-to as a TV remote control

Whether or not it is is irrelevant. It's still an option. Sometimes it's an option that people haven't considered. It's okay to consider new ideas.


And yes, my phone is my primary remote form my television and Apple TV. It's the only one I don't mislay five times a day.

Jan 7, 2018 9:09 AM in response to yomichee

I agree that the new remote is frustrating to use. I've switched to using the remote app on my iPad, and have found it MUCH easier to navigate to and select what I want. It has all the features and functionality of the actual remote, but the performance is much more stable-- not finicky. In addition, having the keyboard available is great for searches or for entering other info.

Jan 7, 2018 11:56 AM in response to poppy44

poppy44 wrote:


I agree that the new remote is frustrating to use. I've switched to using the remote app on my iPad, and have found it MUCH easier to navigate to and select what I want. It has all the features and functionality of the actual remote, but the performance is much more stable-- not finicky. In addition, having the keyboard available is great for searches or for entering other info.

Agree completely, my remote is now in a drawer. On my iPad and/or iPhone, I use both the Apple TV Remote app and the Apple TV Remote widget displayed in the iOS Control Center. Both work perfectly.

Jul 9, 2016 3:58 AM in response to Genus_Bar

Sure... the actual design of the remote is poor. I inadvertently trigger fw's or rewinds... even when I am not touching it directly... the skip click for ads works periodically... it is mostly the physical control experience that is really no good. The voice control us good and accurate... overall I rate it a 3 outta 10 the original controller is far better.


Cheers!

Jul 9, 2016 6:57 AM in response to yomichee

If your TV HDMI-CEC is enabled, you may find that the TV remote can control the ATV. I find that the arrow keys, enter, and exit, control the corresponding ATV functions. Play and pause do not work, but Enter handles both of those. Depending on how they start up, I may have to select the Apple TV input to make this work. The TV says it is "connecting" to the device, then the controls work. As a result, I only use the remote to turn ATV on and off, and for Siri, of course.

Jul 10, 2016 4:59 PM in response to yomichee

There are things we like about the new remotes. Voice search is okay for YouTube and such (I say okay because there are times she doesn't seem to get it and I just fire up the app on the iPhone and type in my search), but IMO hamstrung because it can't search my Homeshare library. The thing we hate most is the scroll. It is far too easy to be scrolling down through the title of movies in your library and your thumb moves just a hair to the side and next thing you know you are in Genres or Unwatched and when you return to the full listing, you are back at the top.


The best solution: Use one of the old remotes if you aren't gaming or using voice search. Best $20 I've spent, but if you had an older version you aren't using anymore or a Mac, it's the same silver remote (we just bought an extra so no need to remember to bring the remote with you when you change roomes). No need to pair, it works right out of the box. As needed we swap over to the ATV 4 remote, but use the old silver remote most of the time.

Apple TV remote worst ever.

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