Support Articles

Universal Remote

Universal IR remotes work with Channels as well. You can program these remotes multiple ways.

Streaming Devices

Universal remotes let you add support for your streaming device by entering a code. Once programmed, it should control your device.

When using IR remotes, you’ll be able to get the same functions that your streaming device’s remote offers.

Usually, IR remotes only support buttons that come with your streaming device’s remote. You should not expect buttons like Channel Up and Channel Down to work if your device’s remote does not have these buttons.

Note: Learn more about controlling Channels with your remote.

Apple TV

Apple TV has the ability to learn commands directly from your IR remote control. Instead of programming the remote to talk to the Apple TV, this lets you program the Apple TV to use your existing remote control. You can even gain a few button commands using this method.

Here are some instructions for teaching your Apple TV which buttons to use on your remote. Using this method allows you to pick exactly which buttons are used for different commands.

Supported Remote buttons

While your universal remote might have a lot of buttons, Apple TV only supports a specific set of buttons. Here’s a list of button Apple TV supports when teaching it commands.

  • Up, Down, Left, Right
  • Select
  • Menu
  • Play
  • Pause
  • Stop
  • Rewind
  • Fast Forward
  • Previous Chapter
  • Next Chapter
  • Skip Back
  • Skip Forward
  • Channel Up (tvOS 15)
  • Channel Down (tvOS 15)
  • Home (tvOS 15)

Button Mappings

Here’s a list of what the commands will do while watching TV with Channels for Apple TV.

  • Up - Show the timeline
  • Down - Show the Quick Bar
  • Left - Seek back 7 seconds
  • Hold Left - Rewind
  • Right - Seek forward 30 seconds
  • Hold Right - Fast forward
  • Select - Pause and resume playback
  • Play/Pause - Pause and resume playback
  • Press Play twice - Jump back to last channel
  • Stop - Exit back to the menu
  • Menu - Exit back to the menu
  • Hold Rewind - Rewind
  • Hold Fast Forward - Fast forward
  • Previous Chapter - Skip to previous commercial marker while watching a recording
  • Next Chapter - Skip to next commercial marker while watching a recording
  • Previous Chapter - Channel down while watching live TV
  • Next Chapter - Channel up while watching live TV
  • Skip Back - Seek back 7 seconds
  • Skip Forward - Seek forward 30 seconds
  • Channel Up - Flip the channel up
  • Channel Down - Flip the channel down