You can set the Siri Remote on Apple TV to control the volume levels of a separate sound system. It may not work out of the box. But with a bit of poking around in Settings, you can set it up so you can use the handy volume buttons built into the Siri Remote to control soundbars, etc.
This means you won’t have to leave two or three controllers lying around – you can to make it all work from just one. It just takes a little setup.
How to control the volume with the Apple TV remote
A quick and dirty way is to pair your sound system with your Apple TV via Bluetooth (if your hardware supports it), but that’s probably not what you want. It can be difficult to connect other devices such as game consoles to the TV to use the same audio output.
Here’s how to make it all work while still having your soundbar connected to your TV.
Train your Apple TV on your soundbar remote
Screenshot: D. Griffin Jones/Cult of Mac
Open the file on Apple TV Settings app and go to Remote controls and devices. Scroll all the way down and click Volume control. Then scroll down and click Learn a new device…
Grab your TV or sound system remote (whichever you use to control your speakers) and point it at the Apple TV. Press and hold as instructed on the screen Increase the volumethen repeat for Lower the volumeand finally click Mute.
Next, hold the button Siri button on the Apple TV remote. Then you can easily dictate the new name of the third party remote control. (Use something easy to remember, like “Sound Bar Remote” or “Sonos Remote.”)
Your Apple TV remote should now be trained to act as your second remote. Give it a try – try clicking the volume buttons on your Apple TV remote and it should control your sound bar. You can cut one more distance out of your life! Hurrah.
What to do if it doesn’t work
If it suddenly stops working (it can happen), there is a quick fix. Just restart the Apple TV controller. You can do this by holding the button TV and Lower the volume button for five seconds.
This happened to me when I updated my Apple TV to tvOS 26, but restarting the remote fixed the problem immediately.
More tips for Apple TV
Did you know that the Apple TV remote can scroll through video like the click wheel on an iPod? Here’s how it works. And you can also use your iPhone to find your lost Apple TV remote.
On Apple Support, you can read about how you can go the other way – use your regular TV remote control to control your Apple TV.
This article on how to control the volume with the Apple TV remote was originally published on January 25, 2024. We updated it with the latest information on October 11, 2024 and February 3, 2026.
D. Griffin Jones is a writer, podcaster and video producer for Cult of Mac. Griffin has been an avid computer enthusiast since he got his first PC in 2002 – but hasn’t turned back since he got a Mac in 2008. His graphic and web design skills, along with video and podcast editing, have been self-taught for over 20 years. Griffin has a bachelor’s degree in computer science and has written several (unpublished) apps for Mac and iOS. His vintage computer collection consists of more than 40 desktops, laptops, PDAs and devices dating back to the early 1980s. All of these creative and technical skills, along with a deep knowledge of Apple history, he brings to his work for Cult of Mac.