iDownloadBlog:
You may already know that you can use your iPhone with the Remote app to control your Apple TV. But did you know you can also use your Apple Watch?
These are convenient options if your Siri remote isn’t nearby, it needs to be charged, or you are having trouble with it. And since you’re already wearing your Apple Watch, you have the handiest remote of all.
Here’s how to use Apple Watch as a remote for Apple TV.
This seems a little silly but I’m going to try it anyway.
I usually use my iPad or?instead of the remote. Not silly at all.
I use Remote on my Watch a lot more than I do on my phone. Works great.
it actually works well. Upside? If you wear your watch regularly you never have to wonder where the remote is. Downside? Screen’s small so swipes etc as you’d do on the phone feel a bit odd since they’re so short/
Mostly I like that any Apple devices that could be a remote is a remote… aside from my MacBook. Grrrr
Only downside is that it can’t control the volume with the crown like you’d expect.
Nice feature request.
That it *doesn’t* do that is actually quite surprising. Seems pretty obvious.
I sometimes use my watch to pause AppleTV
except that the volume control on the AppleTV remote uses infra-red because that’s what most TVs still need. No IR transmitter on the watch so no volume control.
That’s not true. HDMI CEC controls volumes just fine, and that’s what my Apple TV uses for volume control. I never trained it on the speaker system.
The bigger issue is the Watch app hasn’t been updated along with the iOS one; it predates the new Siri-style controls.
I don’t think it’s the screen size. The Watch’s Remote predates the 4th gen’s swipe acceleration model, it’s that old, and they never updated it. So, I think the swipes are supposed to mirror button presses on the 3rd gen remote.
Ah, makes sense. I have a 3, so didn’t know about the new accelleration model
I was comparing the 3rd gen Apple TV (with the d-pad) vs 4th gen Apple TV (with the Siri remote).
Both Watches still have the “swipe presses once” behavior, although it’s more apparent that it’s not due to real estate on the Series 4 with its larger screen.