Confused about Siri and Apple TV 4K

[94114]

Hi.

My set up is Apple TV 4K connected to Homepod Minis (watching on a Samsung TV). All apps are up to date.

When I speak to Siri via the primary mini to control Apple TV, I have exchanges like:

Hey, Siri, go to the home screen/Apple TV home screen: “Just swipe up from the home screen.”
(Trying to get to the screen showing all the different streaming apps like Netflix and Apple TV.)

And most perplexing, when I’m on the screen showing all the streaming apps…
Hey, Siri, go to Apple TV: “There’s nothing playing.”
Hey, Siri, open Apple TV: “Sorry I couldn’t do that.”
But it seems to work when I ask him to go to Settings or Hulu.

For other requests that I can use the remote for, I’m directed to the iPhone, with results like “I found some results and I can send them to your iPhone,” and then: “I couldn’t find your iPhone, but you can ask me again there.”

Also there doesn’t seem to be a way for Siri to select a particular Hulu or Netflix who’s-watching profile.

When I ask him to go to Apple Music, he opens the App, but then when say open to open the library or one of the app’s other menu items, he plays a song of his choosing from the library. (When not in the app, I can say play Joni Mitchell or one of her songs, it works fine.)

Not sure if this is related, but I have Siri set to English (Ireland), but when I go to Siri settings on Apple TV HD, it’s set to English (United States). It’s not impacting me, but what gives? Two different Siris?

Am I missing something? Or is the Apple TV HD not programmed to do what I want when I talk to Siri?

All hell breaks loose when I have my iPhone face up. I'll save that for another day.

Help!
Thanks.

 

[waw74]

the screen with the apps is called the Home Screen.
"open the Home Screen" works

not perplexing, the app is not called appleTV, it's called TV, which is why siri can't find what you're looking for there.
appleTV is the hardware black box, TV is the app, and appleTV+ is the streaming service.

you can make getting to the Home Screen a little easier, go into settings, remotes and devices, there is an entry called "TV button"
If you have it set to "TV app", if you're on the home screen or any app it will take you to the TV app. If you're already in the TV app, it will take you to the Home Screen.
if you have it set to home screen, it will take you to the Home Screen, if you're already on the home screen, it will take you to the top left app.

siri cannot access or select user profiles in other apps.
she can switch user profiles on the appleTV. But that mainly affects a couple settings, and apple music library, doesn't do much for third party apps.

you're trying to use Siri to navigate menus, that's what the remote is for.
you should ask Siri to play a particular song/album/playlist/artist, not show you a particular screen
she can open apps, but navigation is handled by the remote.
basically, if you're having to look at and interact with screen elements, you should use the remote.


some apps do support Siri search, YouTube is one (maybe the only one), you can say "search YouTube for _____" and Siri will open the app, and enter that text in the search bar for you.

For other requests that I can use the remote for

you'll have to be a bit more specific here.

Apple's support doc on what you can ask Siri on the aTV

Use Siri on your Apple TV - Apple Support

Ask Siri on your Apple TV or HomePod to find movies, TV shows, apps, and more.

support.apple.com

 

[EedyBeedyBeeps]

Not sure if this is related, but I have Siri set to English (Ireland), but when I go to Siri settings on Apple TV HD, it’s set to English (United States). It’s not impacting me, but what gives? Two different Siris?

This is a guess, but I'd try using only one Siri language across all your devices.

The last paragraph on the Apple Support link provided by waw74 suggests that there may be issues with having "geographically misaligned" Siris:

• "Make sure that the billing information for your Apple ID is based in the same country or region. For example, even if you set your system language to a supported Siri language, Siri won't be available if your billing information is based in a different country or region."

Aligning all your Siris to your billing address wouldn't solve all (or even many) of your problems, but it might help untangle an issue here or there.

 

[94114]

Thank you waw74 and EedyBeedyBeeps. Your replies clarified a lot of things for me.