The TV guide

Find your way around the guide, keep favourites, make channel groups and hide what you never watch.

The guide on Apple TV, with favourite channels down the left. — The guide on Apple TVChannels made up for the screenshot

Getting around

Apple TV: the guide fills the screen. Press left from the first column, or Back, to open the sidebar: Refresh, Search, Recently Watched, Favourites, recordings, your channel groups and then your provider's categories.
iPhone and iPad: a list of categories with a search field (Search channels & programmes). Pull down to refresh.
Mac: categories in the sidebar, a Refresh button, and menus for managing categories and groups.

Search looks through channel names and programme descriptions, including programmes you can still catch up on.

Favourites

Hold the select button on a channel (long-press on iPhone and iPad, right-click on the Mac) and choose Add to Favourites. While watching, the ☆ beside the title does the same. Favourites sync between your devices.

To put them in your own order:

Apple TV: hold select on Favourites in the sidebar → Reorder Channels…, or on one channel → Move Channel…. Swipe to move, click to drop it.
iPhone and iPad: Reorder Favourites at the top of the guide.
Mac: Reorder Favourites…

Whole categories can be favourites too: hold select on one in the sidebar on Apple TV, or swipe it on iPhone and iPad.

Channel groups

A group is your own category: "Sport", "Kids", "News at 6". From a channel's menu choose Add to Group → New Group…. Groups appear above your provider's categories, and can go on Home as a row.

Hiding things

Hide Channel and Hide Category are in the same menus. To bring something back: on Apple TV, open Hidden Categories or Hidden Channels at the bottom of the sidebar; on iPhone and iPad, Edit then Manage Hidden Categories or Manage Hidden Channels; on the Mac, Manage Categories…

Where Live TV opens

On Apple TV and the Mac, Open Live TV Into sets the first thing you see: Recently Watched, Favourite Channels, wherever you were last (Last Viewed), or a category of your choice. To pick a category, hold select on it (right-click on the Mac) and choose Open Live TV Here.

Recently Watched

The last channels you've watched, newest first. Clear it with Clear Recently Watched.