Apple TV+ is one of the most popular streaming services out there, delivering amazing exclusive shows and movies without a giant price tag. Whether you’re watching Apple TV+ from your iPad, or you’re using your streaming box to watch everything on a big screen, there is plenty here to love from Ted Lasso to Slow Horses.
However, just because a service is popular and filled with great shows, doesn’t mean you know how everything works. After all, Apple TV+ is one of the newer streaming services out there, which means there might be some things you don’t know. Yet. That’s why we’ve collected the best tips and tricks for Apple TV+ for you here.
Let’s take a look.
Download shows for offline viewing
Feel like watching a show later, but don’t want it to eat into your data plan or require an internet connection? Next to every Apple TV+ title, you’ll see a three-dot menu. Selecting it will bring up a menu list that includes the option to download the episode (or full seasons on iPhone, but not on the desktop app) to the native storage on your device — just make sure you have enough storage space for these often-weighty shows. This feature is not available on the Apple TV set top box, which is designed to stay in one spot. Check out our full explainer for how to download movies and shows from Apple TV.
Subtitles and language selection
Subtitles are useful for everything from helping viewers enjoy content in other languages to keeping the sound quiet to getting some clarity on conversations. You can activate them at any time by playing a title, pausing it, and choosing the little dialogue menu from the bottom right of the app. Here, choose Subtitles and activate it. You can also select a subtitle language. Here you can also select your language for the audio dialogue track, too.
Turn on dark mode
Apple TV+ does have a dark mode, but it’s a little tricky in how it works. On your Mac or iOS device, the dark mode will be automatically activated if the device’s Dark mode is activated. In iOS, you can activate dark mode by going to Settings, going to Display & Brightness, and enable the Dark mode. The Mac is similar: System Settings, Appearance, and choose Dark. On the Apple TV platform, you can find the same option under Settings, General, and Appearance.
Don’t miss anything with sleep mode
All right, here’s a feature that’s especially for Apple TV users. Sleep modes are great for nighttime viewing when you’d like to drift off watching a show but don’t want it to get too far ahead. You can turn this on by heading to Settings on your Apple TV, General, and the Sleep After section. Here you can set a specific time for the Apple TV to shut off based on when you’d like to go to sleep yourself.
Turn off annoying notifications
With standard settings, Apple TV+ will send you notifications on your device about new content that’s coming to the platform. That can quickly get annoying, especially since it isn’t always personalized to what you want to watch. Fortunately, it’s easy to quickly turn off these alerts. On your Apple device, head to Settings, then go to the Notifications section. Find the TV section and make sure that Allow Notifications is turned off. You can still see suggested content with Up Next and similar TV+ sections.
Adjust playback speed
Do you prefer speeding up or slowing down playback speed for some content? Apple TV will let you do it, but only on the iOS app — not on the desktop app or on the Apple TV set top box.
To do it, on your device, pause whatever title you are watching. If your device is in portrait position, select the three-dot settings menu and select Playback Speed. If it’s in landscape mode, select the little clock icon. You will have options for streaming at half speed, 1.0x 1.25x, 1.5x, or 2x.
Keep updated with the latest Apple TV+ shows and movies
Since Apple TV pulls content from a variety of places, it can be a little hard to track what new content is showing up on the app, especially if it’s not already on your radar. We have a solution for that: Visit our guide to the latest Apple TV+ content. We keep it constantly updated with everything new coming out so you know what to search for without wasting any time.
