There are myriad reasons why we consider Apple TV 4K to be the best streaming device you can buy. And one of those reasons is that the excellent integration with iPhones and iPads. With just a couple taps, you can use your mobile device as a remote control, for those times in which you simply can't be bothered to look for the little Siri Remote.
But that doesn't mean the integration is perfect. The Remote app in iOS by default has a virtual trackpad. Drag your fingers over it, and it's like you're using the trackpad on the physical remote. But the physical remote also has proper directional buttons — up, down, left, right. Those are missing on the Remote app, but it's easy to add a proper D-pad to it, should you need one.
Why bother? Here's an example: The Apple Music app on Apple TV uses the trackpad to scrub through a track — as in, fast-forwarding or rewinding. But if you want to skip a track or go back a track? That requires a directional button. So you'll need to add it to the app. We're going to show you how to do that.
Adding a D-pad to the Remote app should take about 30 seconds. But it's one of those settings that you probably would never think to look for unless you already knew it was there.
Step 1: Grab your iPhone or iPad. This will work with either.
Step 2: Open the Settings app. Scroll down to Accessibility and open that up.
Step 3: Scroll down to Apple TV Remote in the Physical and Motor section and select it.
Step 4: Toggle the setting for Directional Buttons.
And that's it. The next time you open the Remote app on your iPhone or iPad, it'll have proper directional buttons — up and down, left and right — instead of a phone-based version of the Siri Remote's trackpad. (Which itself is a weird little hybrid of a trackpad and a D-pad.)
And the nice thing is you can always reverse these instructions to turn it off, if you decide you want to go back to all trackpad all the time.
Affinity’s new all-in-one creative app is finally coming to the iPad, nearly a year after Canva launched the redesigned desktop version for Mac and Windows. Creatives have been asking for the iPad release ever since, especially because files created in the new Affinity app cannot be opened in the older V2 iPad apps.
Affinity already has Photo, Designer, and Publisher apps on iPad, but the new release combines those tools into the same unified app that Canva launched on desktop last year.
Touchscreen laptops have been around for years. You can get them in all sizes and shapes. Just not from Apple. For years, the Cupertino giant has treated the idea of a touchscreen MacBook the way I treat a meeting that could have been an email: with open contempt. However, Wednesday looks like the day the company could finally change its mind.
The latest Apple invite puts the “Pro and Tell” showcase in Los Angeles at 10 a.m. PT (1 p.m. ET) on October 28, 2026. Instead of a regular live-streamed keynote, it is an invitation-only, hands-on event for a handful of press and creators (similar to what the company did for the MacBook Neo earlier this year).
Apple has just launched its latest iPad mini with a notable set of upgrades, including an OLED screen, improved speakers, and a more resilient build. It also gets a new chip, and the whole package costs $200 more than its predecessor. But if you look closely at Apple’s online store, you’ll realize that $699 isn’t enough to get you the most powerful version of the A20 Pro chip inside this tablet. In fact, even if you pay $800 for the 256GB model, you still won’t get the beefiest variant. Only when you jump to the 512GB trim, which costs an absurd $999, do you get the most powerful flavor of the A20 Pro.
The $999 model gets more than extra storage