How To Turn Off an Apple TV

Anyone who's looked at the Apple TV for even a short time will notice something: there are no buttons on it. So, if there's no on/off button on the box, how do you turn the Apple TV off?

The answer to that question is different for every model of the device (though all of the techniques are fairly similar). For all models, you don't so much turn the Apple TV off as put it to sleep until you're ready to use it again. 

There are two ways to turn off the 4th gen. Apple TV: with the remote and using onscreen commands.

With Remote

1. Hold down the Home button on the Siri remote (the Home button has an icon of a TV on it)
2. A screen appears offering two choices: Sleep Now and Cancel
3. Select Sleep Now and click the touchpad to put the Apple TV to sleep.

With Onscreen Commands

1. Launch the Settings app
2. Scroll down to the Sleep Now menu and click the touchpad to select it.

Put the 3rd and 2nd generation Apple TV on standby in the following ways:

With Remote

1. Hold down the Play/Pause for 5 or so seconds and the Apple TV is put to sleep.

With Onscreen Commands

1. Launch the Settings app
2. Scroll down the list of options in Settings to Sleep Now. Select that
3. A progress wheel will appear on the screen as your Apple TV goes to sleep.

Perform these tasks on the 1st generation Apple TV, as well as Apple TV, Take 2, by doing this:

With Remote

1. Hold down the Play/Pause for 5 or so seconds and the Apple TV goes to sleep.

With Onscreen Commands

1. Launch the Settings app
2. In the list of options on the Settings screen, select Standby.

In addition to manually turning off the Apple TV, there's also a setting that lets you control when the device automatically goes to sleep after a period of inactivity. This is great for saving power.

To change this setting:

1. Launch the Settings app
2. Select General
3. Select Sleep After
4. Choose how quickly you want the Apple TV to go to sleep after being inactive: Never, 15 minutes, 30 minutes, 1 hour, 5 hours, or 10 hours.

Your selection is automatically saved.

If your Apple TV is sleeping, it's extremely easy to turn it back on. Simply grab your remote control and press any button. The status light on the front of the Apple TV will blink to life and soon enough the Apple TV home screen appears on your TV.

If you use the Remote app on an iOS device instead of the standard remote, just launch the app and press any of the onscreen buttons.