How to change back the Apple TV's Home button behavior in tvOS 10.1

At some point, Apple's new "TV" app will be compatible with more cable systems and content providers, but until that day, the Apple TV Home button defaulting to the app may not be optimal for most users. AppleInsider explains how to change the Home button back to its previous behavior, taking you to the home screen rather than the "TV" app.

Apple's "TV" app might be great some day. It's pretty decent now for subscribers of DirecTV's and Dish's satellite service, and a few other smaller providers.

But, if you don't have one of the supported cable services, don't purchase iTunes content, and don't subscribe to services like HBO Go, it may not be ideal for you. The most popular streaming service — Netflix — does not support content searching in the "TV" app.

For users who want the old behavior back, here's how to change it:

1) Navigate back to the home screen, and select "Settings"

2) Select "Remotes and Devices"

3) Select "Home Button" - the current default is "TV App"

4) Hit the remote button once, toggling the default back to "Home Screen" — one additional hit returns it to "TV App"

8 Comments

MAU47 9 comments · 8 Years

About 7 years ago

I haven't had the chance to play with it yet but it was my understanding that single sign on and the TV app work together but independently. So if I am signed into the apps on the Apple TV regardless of if I used SSO or not it will still pull in suggestions etc. Is that not the case?

huffcw 52 comments · 18 Years

MAU47 said:

I haven't had the chance to play with it yet but it was my understanding that single sign on and the TV app work together but independently. So if I am signed into the apps on the Apple TV regardless of if I used SSO or not it will still pull in suggestions etc. Is that not the case?

You are correct -- TV app does not require SSO, they are independent. Seems like the writer of this article should have looked into it in more detail before publishing false info.

My biggest confusion with the new TV app is it not supporting HBO Go even though it does support HBO Now. Makes no sense.

You can find out more here: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT207254

Metriacanthosaurus 880 comments · 8 Years

Not sure why anyone would want to revert to the previously redundant functionality. This button was intended for this App from the beginning, it just didn't exist yet.

Just like the remotes for gen 2 & gen 3 AppleTV, holding down the Menu button takes you Home from anywhere. There is no reason to have another single press button just for that.huffcw said:

Agreed, AI has been publishing a lot of "articles" on the subject on the TV App and SSO and having no idea how either work, or that they are actually completely unrelated.

And, also, agreed on TV App confusion. While its obviously not Apple's fault, (if it were up to them, every App would be compatible day 1), it is still their product and its completely half-baked at this time, much like Single Sign-On.

Mike Wuerthele 6903 comments · 8 Years

The article is 100% about changing the behavior of the Siri Remote home button. We're aware SSO is independent -- but that doesn't change the fact (and your assertation) that the TV app is poorly supported at the moment and some users might not want to engage with it at all at this point.

rare comment 206 comments · 14 Years

Metriacanthosaurus said:

Not sure why anyone would want to revert to the previously redundant functionality. This button was intended for this App from the beginning, it just didn't exist yet.

Just like the remotes for gen 2 & gen 3 AppleTV, holding down the Menu button takes you Home from anywhere. There is no reason to have another single press button just for that.huffcw said:
This clarifies a lot. I have used the home button solely to turn off the TV and have never used it to go to the home screen (we hold down Menu as we did for older generations of Apple TV). A dedicated "home" button didn't make any sense but, as a shortcut to the TV App (in the alternate world where the app has more utility), it makes much more sense. Of course, it is still mostly useless until the thin/a la carte bundle comes out (which doesn't seen anywhere near happening). Related to mysteries of Apple TV: has any good reason for the larger memory version ever appeared? Given the on-demand streaming, there had to be some special sort of local content that it supported which is still missing in action.