Make bottom playback controls accessible via swipe up instead of swipe right

Platforms Apple TV
1

Summary / Request

Swipe up from the bottom should bring up the bottom control bar (seekbar, audio, and subtitle settings), while swipe left/right should remain reserved exclusively for seeking/scrubbing through the video.

Description

Currently, during video playback, you have to swipe right to reveal the bottom control bar where the seekbar, audio, and subtitle options are located. This feels completely counter-intuitive.

The top menu slides down with a simple downward swipe, which feels natural. Following that same logic, the bottom menu and seekbar should be accessed by swiping up from the bottom of the screen.

Using swipe right to open a menu conflicts with standard video player mechanics, where horizontal swipes (left/right) are typically used for seeking forward or backward. Keeping horizontal gestures strictly for seeking and assigning a swipe-up gesture to the bottom control panel would make navigation much more intuitive and responsive.

2

Are you using the standard Apple TV remote or a 3rd party remote. You should be able to bring up the menu with a tap (not click) without having to swipe right.

3

Yes, I’m using the standard Apple TV remote.

The single tap does work, but unfortunately it is not reliable. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t, depending on the force of the tap, which makes it feel unintuitive and uncomfortable.

Years of touchscreen experience would suggest that swipe actions are meant for navigation and revealing menus like this, whereas a tap should be reserved for selecting an item once you’re on that menu.

This is especially true given that the legacy menu slides down from the top via a downward swipe. It feels entirely natural to expect the new bottom menu to be accessed via a swipe-up gesture instead.