Half Those Buttons on Your TV Remote Are Useless — Here's How to Simplify the Whole Thing

The Remote in Your Hand Is Doing Too Much

Pick up your Roku, Fire TV, Apple TV, or Google TV remote right now. Count the buttons. Seriously, count them. Depending on the device, you're probably staring at somewhere between 20 and 40 individual inputs, and if you're being honest with yourself, you regularly use maybe six of them.

That's not a personal failing. That's by design — and not in the good way. Streaming device manufacturers load their remotes with dedicated shortcut buttons for Netflix, Prime Video, Peacock, or whatever streaming deal they signed that quarter. There are microphone buttons, settings gears, home icons, back arrows, fast-forward controls, and mystery symbols that you've never once pressed intentionally. The result is a tiny handheld device that somehow manages to create real decision fatigue every time you reach for it.

The good news: you don't have to live with all of it. Here's how to cut through the noise.

First, Figure Out Which Buttons You Actually Use

Before you start remapping or replacing anything, spend a week paying attention to your actual habits. Most people's real remote usage looks something like this:

• Home — to get back to the main screen
• Back — to undo a wrong turn
• OK / Select — to confirm a choice
• Directional pad — to navigate menus
• Volume up/down — obviously
• Play/Pause — the big one

That's the core six. Everything else — the dedicated app buttons, the voice search shortcut, the settings gear — gets used occasionally at best. Once you recognize your actual pattern, it's easier to decide what's worth keeping in muscle memory and what you can mentally write off as background noise.

Remapping: More Doable Than You'd Think

Some streaming devices actually let you reassign those dedicated streaming shortcut buttons to apps you'd rather open. It's not universal, but it's more common than people realize.

Roku has been quietly expanding its customizable button options. On newer Roku remotes, you can press and hold one of the four shortcut buttons to reassign it to a different channel or app. Head into Settings > Remotes & Devices > Remotes to see what's available on your specific model.

Amazon Fire TV doesn't give you full remapping control natively, but the Fire TV app on your phone can fill in gaps. If you've got an older Fire TV remote with a Netflix button you never use, you can mostly just... ignore it and rely on voice commands instead (more on that in a second).

Google TV / Android TV remotes vary a lot by manufacturer — Sony, TCL, and Hisense all make their own versions. Some support button remapping through third-party apps like Button Mapper (available on the Google Play Store). It requires a little setup, but it's worth it if you want that random YouTube button to open something you actually watch.

Apple TV remotes are minimalist by design, which is part of why people love them. If you're on a Siri Remote, there's not much to remap, but you can adjust what the TV button does in Settings > Remotes and Devices.

Voice Commands: The Shortcut You're Probably Underusing

Here's something worth trying if you haven't leaned into it yet — just talk to your remote. Every major streaming platform has a built-in voice assistant, and they've gotten genuinely good at understanding casual requests.

Instead of navigating through three menus to find a show, try holding the microphone button and saying something like "Open Hulu" or "Play Stranger Things" or "Find action movies on Netflix." On Roku, that's the magnifying glass / mic button. On Fire TV, it's the mic at the top. Apple TV uses Siri. Google TV uses, well, Google.

Voice commands are especially useful for search, which is one of the most annoying experiences on any streaming interface when you're doing it manually with an on-screen keyboard. Saying a show's name out loud beats hunting through alphabet tiles every single time.

If you've got a smart speaker in the room — an Amazon Echo or a Google Nest — you might already be able to control your TV through that without even picking up the remote. Check your device settings to see if integration is enabled.

The Case for a Universal Remote (and When It Makes Sense)

If you've got multiple devices running through your TV — a streaming stick, a soundbar, a game console, a cable box — you might have two or three remotes sitting on your coffee table. That's its own kind of clutter.

A universal remote can consolidate everything into one device. Logitech's Harmony line was the gold standard for years, though Logitech discontinued it in 2021. The used market still has solid options if you want to go that route, and they're worth it for complex setups.

For most people, though, the simpler move is using your TV's built-in HDMI-CEC feature. This lets your TV remote control basic functions on connected devices — volume, play/pause, input switching — without needing a separate remote at all. It goes by different brand names: Samsung calls it Anynet+, LG calls it SimpLink, Sony calls it Bravia Sync. Look for it in your TV's settings under something like "External Device Settings" or "HDMI Settings" and turn it on. It won't replace every function, but it cuts down on how often you're reaching for a second remote.

A Few Habits That Make the Whole Thing Easier

Beyond the technical stuff, there are some low-effort changes that reduce the daily friction of TV remotes.

Label or learn the layout. Sounds basic, but spending five minutes memorizing where your most-used buttons sit means you stop looking at the remote every time you pick it up. Muscle memory is underrated.

Use your phone as a backup. Every major streaming platform has a phone app that doubles as a remote. Roku, Fire TV, Apple TV, and Google TV all have them. They're not ideal for constant use, but they're great when the physical remote dies or goes missing behind a couch cushion.

Mute the buttons you can't remap. If you keep accidentally hitting a shortcut button that launches an app you don't use, a tiny piece of tape over it sounds ridiculous — but it works. Some people use small sticker dots. No shame in the practical solution.

The Bigger Point Here

Streaming remotes are a perfect example of a product category where "more features" became the default goal, even when those features create a worse experience for the person actually using the thing. Manufacturers add buttons because it looks like added value on a spec sheet, not because anyone asked for a dedicated Peacock button.

Taking five minutes to audit your remote, remap what you can, and lean on voice commands for the rest genuinely changes how the whole setup feels. It's a small tweak, but that's kind of the point — the best tech adjustments are the ones that quietly stop annoying you.