Man thought his Apple TV was 'possessed' before realizing he was making a stupid mistake

When you're home alone, your mind can start playing tricks on you.

Maybe a light flickers, or something isn't where you left it - and you could be forgiven if you started thinking something supernatural was going on.

That's what happened to TikTok user @carterpcs, who got rather spooked when using his new Apple TV.

"I've had this Apple TV for a couple of months but I just haven't been using it, because I thought there was something wrong with the remote," the TikToker explained.

He assumed the remote was broken because the on-screen cursor kept moving around and selecting things, even when he hadn't pressed any buttons.

Was it a ghost? Some supernatural presence messing with him? Nah - nothing quite so exciting.

In the Apple TV remote the TikToker was using, there's a button with four corners you can press and a space in the middle - and his mistake soon dawned on him.

"I didn't realize that this middle part was a trackpad - I thought it just had a mind of its own," he said.

The TikToker had been inadvertently running his thumb over the trackpad, causing the cursor to move on the screen - meaning it had been him all along.

"I feel bad too, because I was emailing my Apple contact like, I think there's something wrong with my Apple TV - it's possessed," he joked.

Even though the TikToker fessed up to his mistake - saying "I'm an idiot" in the clip (hey, his words, not ours) - he can still respect the design choice.

"Now that I think about it, it makes perfect sense," he said of the trackpad.

According to Apple, Siri Remotes and Apple TV Remotes (both second generation or later) are equipped with the clickpad functionality - and it's all about making navigating on your TV that much easier.

To move around the screen, you can 'swipe up, down, left or right on the clickpad', Apple says. 'To scroll through lists, quickly swipe up or down on the clickpad multiple times.'

To scrub through a video: 'Press the Play/Pause button or the centre of the clickpad, then swipe left or right on the clickpad to move backwards or forwards in time.

'You can also circle your finger anticlockwise or clockwise around the clickpad ring.'

So, there you have it. Hopefully the TikToker has got better acquainted with his Apple TV, now he knows there's not some insidious force haunting it.