Can I use voice commands with NOW?
If you're using a NOW Smart Stick or Box, or you're watching the NOW app through an Amazon Fire TV device, you can find your favourite movies and shows in seconds just by talking into your remote.
With a Fire TV device, you can also use voice commands to control playback when watching a show or movie.
How do I use voice commands on my device?
Simply press and hold the voice search button and say the name of a show, movie, actor or director to get started.
Keep in mindVoice search won't display results from your NOW Sports Membership.
You can use voice search to launch apps like Netflix, BBC iPlayer, ITV Hub and YouTube on your Smart Stick too.
Open the NOW app
You can use Alexa to launch the NOW app - just press the mic button on your Fire TV remote and say "Open NOW app"
Searching for NOW shows and movies
To search for your favourite shows or movies on NOW, just press the mic button on your Fire TV remote to start Alexa, and say the name of the show or movie out loud. Shows and movies in the NOW app will be included in your results.
Good to knowIf you've got a Fire TV Cube, you can simply say "Alexa" to start your search, instead of pressing the mic button.
Controlling playback using voice commands
When watching on demand episodes or movies, you can use the voice commands below to control playback:
| Command type | Sample voice command | Description |
| Play |
"Alexa, play" "Alexa, resume" | Plays/resume the episode or movie |
| Pause |
"Alexa, pause" "Alexa, stop" | Pauses the episode or movie |
| Rewind |
"Alexa, rewind 30 seconds" "Alexa, rewind" | Rewinds by the given duration. If no duration is provided, the default is 10 seconds. |
| Fast-forward |
"Alexa, fast-forward 30 seconds" "Alexa, fast-forward" | Fast-forwards by the given duration. If no duration is provided, the default is 10 seconds. |
| Skip to next episode | "Alexa, next" | Plays the next episode in the series |
| Go to previous episode | "Alexa, previous" | Plays the previous episode in the series |
| Restart | "Alexa, restart" | Goes back to the start of the current episode or movie |
Keep in mindYou can only use voice command to control payback for on demand shows and movies. You won't be able to rewind or fast forward live channels using voice commands.
FAQs
You can search for movies and shows, or the name of your favourite actors and directors to see all of their shows and movies available on NOW. Simply say the name of what you’re searching for, or say “find” or “show me” first.
For example, you can say “Game of Thrones”, “show me Game of Thrones” or “find Game of Thrones”.
Voice search also lets you launch any of the apps on your Smart Stick or Box. Just say the name of the app to open it, or say “launch” or “open” first.
For example you can say “open ITV Hub”, “launch ITV Hub” or just "ITV Hub".
Voice search will only show you on demand movies and shows from your NOW Cinema, Entertainment and Hayu Membership.
To see what’s on now and next on the live TV channels, just hit TV Guide on your Smart Stick remote. On a Fire TV device, open the NOW app and then go the 'TV guide' section.
To check what’s on the channels available via catch up apps such as BBC iPlayer and ITV Hub, just open the relevant app and find the in-app guide.
If voice search doesn’t understand what you’re saying, there’s a few things you can try:
- Make sure you’re holding your remote close enough to your face (about 6 inches should do the trick), and that you're speaking into the microphone.
- Speak at a normal volume. If you’re too quiet or too loud, the microphone might not pick up what you’re saying.
- If all else fails, you can still search using the on-screen keyboard. Just go to your home screen, and select Search. From here you can search by movie, show, actor and director too, as well as look for apps.
You can use voice commands with any of our supported Fire TV devices, except for the Fire TV Stick Basic Edition.
Find out moreWhat devices can I use to watch NOW?