Sky Q has been around for a surprising number of years now, with it beginning to feel like it has reached maturity. With a new update just launching, we’ve compiled some ideal Sky Q tips and tricks to help you out.
Sky Q took the best of Sky+ and mashed it together with a bunch of modern internet goodness – offering a pay-TV service that lets you take your content almost anywhere. Along with the new tech came a sleeker interface and integration with services like Netflix, Disney Plus and Spotify.
While all the new features are appealing, there are still some less-than-obvious tricks and secrets to Sky Q that may not be obvious from the outset – here’s the skinny.
Related: Check out our full Sky Q review
1. Make full use of the Sky Go app
If you aren’t taking advantage of the Sky Go app then you really aren’t making the most of your Sky Q subscription.
After some messy confusion with a Sky Q app alongside the Sky Go app, Sky has got rid of the former and gone all-in on the latter – making for a seamless experience.
From the Sky Go app, you can watch live TV, watch recordings from your box and, now, take your recordings with you outside the home.
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2. Keep watching from anywhere in your home
Obviously, the Sky Go app already lets you watch anywhere in your home using a mobile device or laptop but we are talking about from your TV – across your Sky Q box and Sky Q Mini boxes.
If you have a multiroom setup, you can now start watching any recorded show from any Sky Q box-equipped room in your house, stop playing and return to it from any other room. A super handy feature that stops you from having to whizz back through a programme when it’s late and time to ditch the living room for the bedroom.
3. Managing your disk space
Whether you are running out of space or have accidentally deleted a cherished show, the “Manage” page within your Recordings is your friend.
Open up your Recordings by pressing “Sky” and scroll down to “Manage”, from here there are a few useful options.
Firstly, “Disk Space ” makes it easier to bulk delete shows that are clogging up your box’s hard drive. Sky will even order the shows by size, letting you get rid of those beefy marathons right away.
Then there’s the “Deleted” page and this can be useful for two reasons. If you just accidentally deleted something then you can head on over to this page to retrieve it – an absolute lifesaver. Bear in mind, these deleted shows are removed from this page when space is needed so act fast to make sure you don’t lose something precious.
On that note, if you are someone who likes to keep your Sky Q hard drive pretty lean then you can dive into the deleted section and permanently remove some stuff to free up space. However, as we just mentioned, Sky Q will do this for you when the box closes in on being full so it isn’t a necessity to act yourself.
4. Play music through your box
Fancy playing music through your TV and/or an attached sound system? Sky Q offers a few easy ways to listen to audio on your box.
The simplest way is to utilise the Spotify or YouTube integrated apps and get playing whatever you fancy.
A bit more of a hidden method is using AirPlay (iOS) or Bluetooth to play audio from your phone. To do this, start playing content on your mobile device then use AirPlay or Bluetooth to connect to your box – it should then appear and start playing immediately. This method gives you more options regarding what you play, from podcasts to alternative music apps.
5. Record just one episode
Sky decided to make “Series Link” the default with Sky Q, presumably because of the significantly expanded hard drive and ability to more easily dispose of shows one viewed.
However, this means that shows you may not think to warrant a complete Series Link record end up doing just that. You might want to record that one episode of The Graham Norton Show featuring your favourite actor and end up with a seemingly never-ending smorgasbord of talk shows clogging up your box.
Well, you can fix this. Whenever you record a programme, the red R symbol will appear with the green arrows representing Series Link. Simply click Record again and the Series Link will disappear, saving your box from a season’s worth of clutter.