How To Turn Off an Apple TV

Anyone who's looked at the Apple TV for even a short time will notice that it's part of a growing trend in Apple's design philosophy: There are no buttons to be found anywhere on it. So, if there's no power button on the case, 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. Read on for instructions on how to turn off every model of the Apple TV.

There are two ways to turn off the Apple TV 4K and 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 button for five or so seconds until the Apple TV goes to sleep.

With Onscreen Commands

1. Launch the Settings app then scroll down the list of options in Settings to Sleep Now.

Turn off the 1st generation Apple TV, as well as Apple TV Take 2, by doing this:

With Remote

1. Hold down the Play/Pause button for five or so seconds until the Apple TV goes to sleep.

With Onscreen Commands

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

In addition to manually turning off the Apple TV, you can also set an option that lets you control when the device automatically goes to sleep after a period of inactivity. This setting is great for saving power. To change this setting on the Apple TV 4k and the 4th Generation Apple TV (the only models still being made):

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.

If your Apple TV is sleeping or off, press any button on the remote control to awaken it. The status light on the front of the Apple TV will blink, then the Apple TV home screen will appear 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 in the app.