--- title: "Siri, the Top Shelf and widgets in Kanema · Kanema" description: "Ask Siri to play a channel or carry on watching, see what’s on from the Apple TV Top Shelf, and keep your guide in a widget on iPhone, iPad and Mac." url: https://kanema.app/blog/siri-top-shelf-and-widgets updated: 2026-10-17 --- # Siri, the Top Shelf and widgets in Kanema 17 October 2026 You can use Kanema without opening it. Ask Siri to play a channel from your playlist or carry on with what you were watching. On Apple TV, put Kanema in the top row and the Top Shelf shows what you’re watching and what’s on your favourite channels now. On iPhone, iPad and Mac, widgets show your TV guide, your channels and what’s coming up. ![The TV guide widget: Aurora Cinema, Northlight and Meridian Action, each with the programme on now, its times and a bar showing how far in it is, and what comes next.](https://kanema.app/media/apple/widget-guide@small.png) Demo playlist: the films are Blender open movies ([credits](https://kanema.app/licences#films)) and the channels are made up. Kanema comes with nothing to watch. ## Siri Say the app’s name in the request and Siri hands it to Kanema. Some of the things you can ask, using one of the demo channels as the example: - “Play Aurora Cinema in Kanema.” - “What’s on Aurora Cinema in Kanema?” Siri tells you what’s on now and next, with a button to play it. - “Continue watching in Kanema” plays your last film or episode from where you stopped, with the next episodes lined up. - “Add this to Watch later in Kanema” while you’re on a title’s page. - “Find films with” and an actor’s name, “in Kanema”, opens that actor’s page. - “Remind me about” and a programme, “in Kanema”, sets the same reminder as the guide’s bell. This one isn’t on Apple TV, which has no reminders. On iPhone, iPad, Apple TV and Apple Vision Pro, Siri finds any channel, film or series in your playlist by name, and asks for permission the first time. On a Mac, Siri plays your favourite and recent channels. Siri never reaches past the parental lock. ## Spotlight On iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple Vision Pro, your favourite and recent channels, the titles you’re part way through and your Watch later list show up in Spotlight. Choose a channel to play it, or a title to open its page. ## The Apple TV Top Shelf Move Kanema into the top row of the Apple TV Home Screen and the Top Shelf fills the screen when Kanema is highlighted. - Films and episodes you’re part way through are marked Continue watching, with a bar and how much is left. Press Play to carry on at once, or select one to open its page. - A page of what’s on now shows up to four of your favourite channels (your recent ones if you have no favourites), with the programme on each and what’s next. Select it to open the TV guide, or press Play to watch the first channel. - New and top-rated titles from your provider join them, but only those with a picture big enough to fill the screen, so some providers will show fewer. Nothing from a locked category, and nothing marked adult, ever appears there. ## Widgets Five widgets, for the Home Screen on iPhone and iPad, the desktop or Notification Centre on a Mac, and Apple Vision Pro: - TV guide: what’s on now and next on the channels you choose. Hold the widget and choose Edit Widget to pick them, and use the arrows beside its heading to see the next few. - Your channels: your favourite and recent channels with what’s on each. Tap one to play it, or tap its star to add it to Favourites or take it out. - Continue watching: the film or episode you watched last, with how far you got, and the others you’ve started beside it. - Favourite categories: each one as a mosaic of its channels. Tap one to open it in Live TV. - Coming up: the programmes you’ve set reminders for, counting down. On the medium size, the bell beside each removes its reminder. On iPhone and iPad, some of them come in Lock Screen sizes too. ![The Your channels widget: Aurora Cinema showing Charge, Northlight showing Spring and Meridian Action showing Charge, each with how far in it is and the time the next programme starts.](https://kanema.app/media/apple/widget-channels@small.png) ## Control Centre and the Lock Screen On iPhone and iPad, add Kanema’s controls to Control Centre, the Lock Screen or the Action button: Continue watching, TV guide, and Play a channel for a channel you pick. On a Mac, the same three go in Control Centre or the menu bar. A programme you’ve set a reminder for counts down on the Lock Screen in its last six hours, and in the Dynamic Island on iPhone, with a Watch button. ![A reminder countdown opened out in the Dynamic Island: the Kanema mark, 16:12 to go, Tears of Steel on Aurora Cinema and a Watch button.](https://kanema.app/media/apple/island-expanded@small.png) Anything behind the parental lock, or marked adult, shows only as Kanema on the Lock Screen, in Control Centre and in reminders, and stays out of the widgets. ## Questions ### Can Siri play a channel in Kanema? Yes. Say “Play” and the channel’s name, then “in Kanema”. On iPhone, iPad, Apple TV and Apple Vision Pro it finds any channel, film or series in your playlist. On a Mac it plays your favourite and recent channels. ### What does Kanema show on the Apple TV Top Shelf? What you’re part way through, a page of what’s on your favourite channels now, and new and top-rated titles from your provider. Move Kanema into the top row of the Home Screen to see it. ### Which widgets does Kanema have? TV guide, Your channels, Continue watching, Favourite categories and Coming up, on iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple Vision Pro. ## Kanema doesn’t come with channels Kanema plays the playlist you add from your own provider, and nothing else. Only add services you’re entitled to use. Coming soon to the App Store