Siri's level of penetration when used next to a television is nowhere near comparable to that of Google Assistant or Alexa. Even so, if you have an Apple TV there are a series of commands that might interest you know to perform certain actions or get a little more out of this Apple voice assistant.
Siri, a stranger on the TV
Alexa and Google Assistant are the two voice assistants par excellence when interacting with a Smart TV. Partly because their market share is greater as they are present in devices such as Amazon's Fire TV, the new Google Chromecast with Goolge TV or many Android TV televisions and even with operating systems such as LG's webOS or Samsung's Tizen.
By cons, Siri can only be used if you have an Apple TV. Apple's set top box is the only device designed to be used with a television that gives the option of using said voice assistant. Hence, it is not so popular or that even those who have one of these products fall for the fact that they could take advantage of it.
So, if it seems to you, you have an Apple TV and you are interested in learning a little more about how you could take advantage of its voice commands, here is a list of some of the most interesting and useful ones that you can use.
Siri: the most useful voice commands to use with the TV
On Apple TV to use Siri you have to use the Apple Remote and press the microphone button. It would be nice if Apple renewed the device and added the action to activate it through an invoke command, but for now it is what it is. So the first thing is that, knowing how to activate Siri on Apple TV.
Once you activate the assistant, these are some of the commands that we believe can be most useful in your day to day. It is true that there are actions that, since you have the controller in your hand, do not take much time through various keystrokes, but that is something that you already have to decide.
Commands to control playback
Through the touch panel of the Apple Remote it is easy to control the playback of what you are watching, whether you want to go forward, go back or even stop. But through voice commands you can still specify a little more. Some interesting commands you can give it:
- forward 30 minutes
- Go back 30 minutes
- go back to the beginning
- Turn on subtitles in (language you select)
- What did you say?
These commands don't need much explanation to understand what exactly they do, although the What did he say? Yes, it might be interesting for you to know how it works. When you say that command, your Apple TV will rewind what you're playing for about 20 seconds and temporarily turn on subtitles in your language so you can listen again and read what they're saying. This way, if it is something that is said in a noisy environment, you make sure that you find out.
Logically you can also play, pause and modify those forward or backward times. The commands are indicative so that you get an idea of ​​the things you can ask for.
Commands with suggested content to view
Every day it costs more to sit in front of the television, open the application of the service that we want and quickly decide what we are going to see. Among the lists of recommended content, the most viewed by other users, the new features included, etc., you can easily spend an hour and continue deciding what to watch. If it happens to you frequently, maybe your Apple TV helps you.
- what should i see is a command that makes Siri make a selection of content that it thinks might interest you. A choice you make based on your own viewing history
- what can i watch for free and Siri will show you content that you don't have to pay for or that is available through active subscriptions. It may seem that it makes little sense, but imagine that it recommends something that is later paid within the Apple store or another service that you have not contracted
- If you want to see a particular movie or series, say its name and it will look for you on which platform it is available so you can decide whether or not you want to see it
- Movies by (actor of your choice) this is a classic and will give you recommendations where it appears
This last command can be extended and combined with requests of the type "films of the genre..." or "films of the year 2010" and even "films of 2010 with Tom Cruise". Here it already depends a bit on you and what you can think of to ask.
Get more information from the content you see
As in services like Amazon Prime Video, we have X-ray vision to know the actors who work in the series or movie, director, etc., in the Apple TV with Siri will know movie information if you say something like:
- who is in this movie
- who directed this movie
- What is the rating of the movie?
- When was the movie released?
These are actions that may be interesting at some specific moment. In addition, the rating is interesting since it searches Rotten Tomatoes to see what the users who have seen it think and thus give you a rating.
Control your HomeKit devices
If you use a Apple TV it is likely that if you have home automation devices at home you have resorted to those that offer support for HomeKit and thus use Siri as a voice assistant to control them. Or alternate between this and other assistants such as Alexa, something that is also common, although you have to be careful so that they don't get confused with the names.
Some commands are:
- Turn on the lights
- Change the color of the light...
- Activate the atmosphere...
If you have lights or any other HomeKit-compatible connected devices, you can also control them from Apple TV using Siri. Although it can also be used to find your iPhone, make the iPad or Apple Watch ring.
Activating Siri
Without being big fans of Siri for obvious reasons, and despite its improvement in recent years, if you haven't decided to use other voice assistants, you can see how there are commands that are very useful. And using them on Apple TV, alongside HomePods, may possibly be the best option. Because on the iPhone, iPad or even the Mac it is still not up to what we believe most expect in this type of solution.