Upgrade your Sky TV for free today with five simple game-changing hacks

YOUR Sky Q box is packed with useful features – and they can help you get more out of your telly.

But there are some especially secret hacks that you probably didn’t even know existed.

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So let’s take a look at the lesser-known tricks – from ‘undeleting’ shows to displaying your photos – and make telly viewing easier than ever.

Undelete shows

Accidentally deleting a recording you were banking on watching is easily done. 

Thankfully, Sky Q has a handy feature that allows you to recover it from the deepest corners of your set-top box’s hard drive.

So, if you need to undelete a programme, head to the Recordings section of Sky Q and then scroll down to ‘Deleted’ and you’ll find all your recently deleted shows. Simply choose which ones you’d like to restore.

Find your lost remote in seconds

Another nifty hack that many aren’t aware of is the ‘find my remote’ trick, which helps you relocate your zapper if you’re not sure where it’s got to.

Just hold down the Q button on the front of your set-top box and it will make your remote start bleeping so you can hear where it’s hiding.

Skip the ads

That’s right, there’s even a hack that lets you skip past the ads.

When actioned, it means you can get back to watching your favourite show without having to sit through annoying commercials. 

Although it only works on recorded shows and catch-up TV.

To use it, simply press the microphone button on your sky remote when a commercial break begins and say ‘fast forward three minutes’.

This will take you past the ads without having to hold down the fast-forward button and wait for them to skip by.

Although beware that not all ad breaks are exactly three minutes long so you might need to do a tiny bit of forwarding or rewinding after the voice command has done its thing to get to the right point in your show. 

Show off your photos

If you want to share snaps from a recent holiday, gig or event on the big screen for a group of your friends or family to see at once, you can do it via your Sky Q box.

All you have to do is press the button with three dots on your remote, and select ‘My Photos’.

You can then choose where you want to stream your photos from. This can be either a computer by going to sky.com/myphotos or from a mobile device, such as a smartphone or tablet, using the Sky Q app.

Make it monochrome

If you find the bright blue TV Guide colour a little straining on the eyes, why not switch to Sky Q’s ‘dark mode’? 

This feature replaces the current blue look with a sleeker, black background. 

To enable it, all you need to do is press Home on your remote, then go down until you find Settings.

Select Accessibility from the list and select ‘High contrast’ and switch it on.

Your Sky Q should then instantly change to a black background.

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