Our complete guide on how to get the most out of Sky Q, the brilliant new multi-room Sky service. Learn about Sky Q’s best hidden features, how to use Sky’s mobile apps to interact with your box on the move, watch recorded shows on your phone and loads more besides.
If you’ve taken the plunge and forked out for Sky Q, we salute you. This is the ultimate home entertainment service, offering incredible flexibility for enjoying a massive variety of TV shows, movies, sports, music and pretty much everything else you can imagine.
However, Sky Q is also a bit of a beast, packing so many features and settings that it can be hard to get your head around. So if you want a helping hand to get the most from your Sky Q service, check out our complete tips and tricks guide. We’re constantly refreshing this guide with fresh tips, as Sky frequently updates Sky Q with awesome new features.
Sky Q tips and tricks: Learn to love My Q
If you end up watching the same stuff over and over, then My Q is a great little shortcut to your favourite content. From here you can instantly watch the next episode of any show you’ve been enjoying, saving you from hunting it out in the recordings section.
The new redesigned My Q also offers recommended content based on what you’ve previously watched. That can be a great source of inspiration, if you’ve finished a show and are looking for a new series to get stuck into.
Sky Q tips and tricks: Replace your Sky Q remote control with Sky’s mobile apps
If you’ve lost your Sky Q remote or simply hate that touchpad, don’t scream, pout or fret. You can actually use your trusty mobile phone to control the Sky Q box, with the added bonus that you can jump into your Sky Q service when you’re out and about.
For instance, the Sky+ app for iPhone, iPad and Android devices allows you to control your Sky box in all of the usual ways. Play, pause, fast forward, rewind, change channel and power the box on and off, all from your phone or tablet.
You can also use the app to browse and search more quickly and even set recordings, all while the TV continues to show your favourite programmes, uninterrupted.
Sky Q tips and tricks: How to watch your recorded shows on the go
With the new Sky Q mobile app, you can enjoy your recorded content on your iPhone or Android phone when you’re out and about. Great news if you have a lengthy commute, so you don’t miss out on all the hot office gossip about the latest episode of Better Call Saul. You can even set up new recordings, in case you’re going to be late home and don’t want to miss your favourite show.
Sky Q tips and tricks: How to perform a voice search on Sky Q
Searching for content on Sky Q via the remote control used to be, for want of a better expression, a massive pain in the posterior. Thankfully one of the most recent Sky Q updates added the essential voice search feature, so you can now speak your mind and Sky will comply.
Hold down the side-mounted search button on your remote control and say what you need, then release again to begin the search. You can ask for specific shows, movies and so on, but the new voice search feature’s abilities go far beyond the easy stuff.
Sky Q tips and tricks: How to manage your series recordings
In the Recordings menu, flick down to the Scheduled sub-section. In here you’ll see all of the series recordings that you’ve set up, by pressing the R button while a show is highlighted.
If you want to cancel a series link, you can do so in here. You can also see more information on which episodes are due to be recorded and when.
Sky Q tips and tricks: How to set up parental controls to manage what your kids can watch
Head to the Settings menu, and then scroll down to the Parental section. In here you can set up the parental controls that limit access to younger members of the household.
You have a few different options, depending on the age of your kids and how much control you want. For a start, you can set up a PIN that needs to be entered whenever age-restricted content is played before 8pm, or when someone attempts to buy content on the Sky Store. You can also hide adult content, to avoid embarassing questions like ‘what’s a naughty nun’ when your five-year-old hijacks the Sky remote and discovers the filthy channels.
Sky Q tips and tricks: How to check your remaining disk space and quickly clear room on your Sky Q box
Found your Sky Q box is fast filling up and your have no storage space left for your favourite shows? Not a problem. Just head to the Recordings section in the main Sky Q menu and scroll down to the Disk Space section. In here you’ll see everything you currently have stored on your Sky box, in an easy-to-view list.
Thankfully your recorded content is ranked by the amount of disk space it takes up. So the stuff at the top is taking up the most space, while the shows at the bottom takes up the least. This way it’s easy to mass-delete the biggest offenders to free up a big chunk of storage.
Cleverly, you can also recover any deleted content from this section, providing it was erased recently. Just head to the Deleted sub-section, find what you need and hit ‘Undelete’ – or ‘Delete Forever’ to properly wipe it for good.
Sky Q tips and tricks: How to split-screen with Sky Sports
Footy and F1 fans are in for a treat as Sky Q now supports split-screen sports. That means you can enjoy two football matches side-by-side with Match Choice, or watch highlights and replays alongside live action, and plenty more besides. All of this is only available with a Sky Q subscription.
Sky Q tips and tricks: How to fix problems with your Sky Q mini box
First, if your Sky Q mini box is saying that it can’t find your main Sky Q box, turn on your main box and head to the Settings menu. In here you’ll see four status indicators. The Network Connection indicator should have a tick next to it, otherwise the main box isn’t connected to your WiFi network.
If there’s a cross instead of a tick, try resetting your router and waiting. If a tick still doesn’t appear, head to Network setup and reset the connection. This usually resolves the problem, but note that you’ll need to re-enter your WiFi password.
If your Sky Q mini box is still having problems with streaming content, then try resetting it. There’s a reset button on the back of the box, so hold this down – or simply pull the plug out of the back for a few seconds. The mini box will need to reconnect to the main box once this is done, so simply follow the instructions that flash up and keep your fingers crossed.
