Did You Know That You Can Change the Apple TV's Keyboard Layout? Here's How

If you have ever used an Apple TV, you are likely familiar with the device's linear keyboard, which can be tedious to use if you have a lot of text to enter.

Apple TV Linear Keyboard Layout
Fortunately, if you are tired of swiping back and forth while entering a long password, the keyboard's layout can easily be changed. To do so, open the Settings app on the Apple TV, select General → Keyboard Layout, and choose Grid instead of Linear.

The on-screen keyboard will then have a square layout by default.

Apple TV Grid Keyboard Layout
Stephen Robles highlighted this simple but oft-overlooked setting in a recent YouTube video, alongside many other useful Apple TV tips and tricks.


You can also enter text on an Apple TV with Siri or by using a nearby iPhone or iPad that is signed into the same Apple Account as the Apple TV. But, when you want or need to use the Apple TV's on-screen keyboard, this can be a life-changing tip to know about.

Related Roundup: Apple TV
Buyer's Guide: Apple TV (Don't Buy)

Popular Stories

WWDC 2025 Sleek Peek

Apple Shares New 'Sleek Peek' Teaser Ahead of WWDC 2025 Next Week

Monday June 2, 2025 8:22 am PDT by
WWDC 2025 is just one week away, with Apple's opening keynote scheduled to begin on Monday, June 9 at 10 a.m. Pacific Time. Ahead of the annual developer conference, Apple updated its WWDC page today with a new "Sleek peek" tagline, which replaces the original "On the horizon" tagline that it used over the past few weeks. The graphic for WWDC 2025 has also been updated. It is now a...
iCloud General Feature Redux

iPhone Users Who Pay for iCloud Storage Received a New Perk This Year

Sunday June 1, 2025 9:26 am PDT by
If you pay for iCloud storage on your iPhone, Apple introduced an additional perk for you this year, at no additional cost. The perk is the ability to create invitations in the Apple Invites app for the iPhone, which was released in the App Store in February. In the Apple Invites app, iCloud+ subscribers can create invitations for any occasion, such as birthday parties, graduations, baby...
macOS Tahoe Render

macOS Tahoe Name Leaked Ahead of Apple's WWDC Event Next Week

Sunday June 1, 2025 7:08 am PDT by
The alleged name of macOS 26 (yes) has leaked. In his Power On newsletter today, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said that macOS 26 will be named macOS Tahoe, after California's scenic Lake Tahoe. Apple previously named its Mac operating systems after big cats like Cheetah, Tiger, Leopard, and Lion. Starting with OS X Mavericks in 2013, however, Apple switched to California-themed names like...
iPhone 17 Pro Blue Feature Tighter Crop

iPhone 17 Pro Launching Later This Year With These 12 New Features

Tuesday May 27, 2025 9:10 am PDT by
While the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are not expected to launch until September, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of May 2025: Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro models have a titanium frame, and the iPhone X ...
28 years later iphone 1

Filmmakers Used 20 iPhones at Once to Shoot '28 Years Later'

Friday May 30, 2025 7:27 am PDT by
Sony today provided a closer look at the iPhone rigs used to shoot the upcoming post-apocalyptic British horror movie "28 Years Later" (via IGN). With a budget of $75 million, Danny Boyle's 28 Years Later will become the first major blockbuster movie to be shot on iPhone. 28 Years Later is the sequel to "28 Days Later" (2002) and "28 Weeks Later" (2007), which depict the aftermath of a...
iOS 18

What to Expect From iOS 18.6 as One of the Final Updates Before iOS 26

Monday June 2, 2025 12:33 pm PDT by
It has been three weeks as of today since Apple released iOS 18.5, and we are still waiting for the first iOS 18.6 beta to follow. Below, we outline everything we know about iOS 18.6 so far. Timing Apple's software engineers have been internally testing iOS 18.6 since late March, according to the MacRumors visitors logs. The first betas of iOS 13.6 through iOS 16.6 were all released...
iOS 19 visionOS UI Elements

6 visionOS-Inspired Design Elements Coming to iOS 26

Friday May 30, 2025 3:26 pm PDT by
With iOS 26, macOS 26, tvOS 26, and watchOS 26, Apple is planning to debut a new design that's been described as taking inspiration from visionOS, the newest operating system. With WWDC coming up soon, we thought we'd take a closer look at visionOS and some of the design details that Apple might adopt based on current rumors and leaked information. 1. Translucency Inside Apple, the iOS 26...

Top Rated Comments

3goldens Avatar
1 day ago at 07:14 am
Now that’s a very handy tip. I didn’t know that! Thank you!
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ignatius345 Avatar
1 day ago at 07:18 am
One of the great benefits of the Apple TV is that you almost never have to use the on-screen keyboard at all. I either dictate by voice or type on the on-screen keyboard that pops up on my iPhone.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
mattopotamus Avatar
1 day ago at 07:18 am
QR code logins is the greatest thing to come to streaming logins. Also, using voice works shockingly well with usernames/passwords where a QR code is not an option.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
G725 Avatar
1 day ago at 07:45 am
Just from the screenshots I'd guess you simply have to press ⏯️ to change the keyboard.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
falkon-engine Avatar
1 day ago at 07:43 am
I have to try this, but in my opinion there should be the option to use the QWERTY format.
However, one cool thing that I do is when the TV prompts for text, if my iPhone is on the same network as the TV, a prompt comes up on my phone to use its keyboard to type input into the Apple TV. So I just use that. much faster.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
aUniqueName Avatar
1 day ago at 07:46 am
How about a FINGERPRINT READER on the remote? They have them on the wireless keyboards now... Tie it into the Passwords app... It's pretty crappy that AppleTV is the only device that doesn't autofill passwords.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)