The TED library contains a great number of world-changing ideas that could motivate, but let’s be honest, it’s easy to get stuck in a rut, especially with how our daily activities go. What could be more annoying is seeing only the most popular talks or recommendations that feel repetitive. One thing is certain: the TED app is a powerful tool, but its best features aren’t obvious, and just scrolling on your Home feed means you’re missing out. This is an approach you can take in using the app to find talks that resonate with you and could make you get up and do.

Table of Contents

• Setting Up Your TED App the Right Way
• Break Out of the Algorithm Bubble
• Smartly Search to Find the Gems You Prefer
• Build Your Inspiration Library for When You Need It Most
• Master Podcasts and Sync Across Devices

Setting Up Your TED App the Right Way

Once you have downloaded the app, open the app. You’ll see a Welcome to Ted message. Tap the Let’s go! button to begin.

Once you’re in, a page will appear asking you to select your preferred topics. Don’t rush this step.** **These include science, education, design, business, psychology, and more.

Tap on as many topics as you like. Think of this as building the foundation for your inspiration feed. Tapping on science and design is good, but the app refines and builds a feed of high-quality content, similar to what you’d find on other intellectual websites. It tailors your feed so you do not get random content, even as a new user.

Once you pick your topics, you can sign in with your email or use your Google or Apple account for quicker access.

Worth knowing: While you can use the app without an account, signing in is recommended to get personalized recommendations and sync your library. Now, this ensures that a talk you like on your phone will be waiting for you on your tablet or other devices.

Break Out of the Algorithm Bubble

You can choose to either stay up to date with notifications or ignore the pop-up that appears. The app’s main navigation is simple, with five tabs at the bottom of the screen: Home, Browse, Shorts, My Library, and Podcasts.

Now, your Home tab is great, but it’s the app’s best guess of what you want. It can quickly become an echo chamber. So the first thing you should try to do is to add some personality here.

The **Home **tab has various category suggestions like More Recommendations, Newest Talks, Editor’s Picks, and more.

Scroll down and you’ll see a Try something new section with a big Surprise me! button. Tapping this button will play a random video, selected based on your interest. If you feel like the current video is not what you’re looking for, tap the **Surprise me! button **multiple times to make the app shuffle through random videos until you’re satisfied.

Smartly Search to Find the Gems You Prefer

This is where the real power is, because the Browse tab is the perfect tool for digging deeper. Ideally, most people only use the search bar and look up the topics they’re interested in. However, the real magic is in the filters for Topics, Language, and **Duration **at the top of the screen.

Filtering for Topics is pretty straightforward. Tap the option and scroll through popular topics you might be interested in. What’s particularly useful with this filter is that if you filter by Topics, you’re exposed to topics you may never have considered, including Drones, Microbes, and even Magic.

So, instead of just blindly searching, try combining filters to find talks you’d never see otherwise. Try to filter by Duration. Let’s say you don’t have 18 minutes, filter by 3-6 minutes under the Duration filter. This is the best way to find talks that are more straight to the point and that are often more practical and inspiring than the longer, more famous ones.

Do you want a global perspective? Or let’s say you’d prefer to hear a talk in a preferred language, you could also try to filter by **Language. Use this **filter to find inspiring talks in a language you’re learning, or to discover how other cultures are tackling a specific problem by scanning through 110 languages on the app.

Even without searching for anything, you’ll find a couple of videos below the search buttons and filters. These videos are also all based on your algorithm.

Now imagine you combine how these filters work and customize them based on what you’re specifically searching for? Instant results. At least these results are based on what is actually on the app.

Build Your Inspiration Library for When You Need It Most

Since inspiration isn’t necessarily on demand, the TED app allows you to build a structured library for your viewing experience. All your saved content lives under the My Library tab. While you can’t build your own custom playlists, the app organizes your content into clear, pre-set categories.

Okay, so don’t just use it as a history folder; be strategic with it. There are two ways to do this.

Firstly, the** Saved List is your To-Watch list. **When you’ve tinkered with the filters and find a talk that looks interesting, but you can’t watch it right now, save it. Think of this as your personal curated feed.

The second thing is that **Downloads are your Offline Boost. **Now, this is a practical tip for you. Don’t just download for flights. Go to your Saved List right now and download the top three talks that resonate with you.

The cool part is, unlike some apps that don’t even load without internet connectivity, you can easily slide into the TED app and play your top three downloaded inspirational talks. Now, the next time you’re stuck in line with bad reception, you’ll have a guaranteed shot of inspiration ready to go.

Master Podcasts and Sync Across Devices

The TED app syncs your video library (Keep Watching, Saved List) across devices, as long as you’re signed in, but with a few caveats.

For the Podcasts, it works differently from the video side, and it has a flaw.

You cannot save a podcast to your Saved List or Downloads within the TED app. A podcast only appears under Keep Listening after you’ve started playing it. When you navigate to the **Podcasts **tab, you’ll see the TED Audio Collective, which is a hub showcasing all available podcasts. Selecting one takes you to its dedicated page, and while you can play a podcast, that’s mostly all you can do. So, one advice is that you should treat the Podcasts tab as a discovery hub.

When you find a podcast you like, use the external options on that podcast’s page to open it in Spotify or** Apple** Podcasts. From there, you can follow or subscribe to it properly, just as you would any other show you’re listening to.

The TED app is more than just a video player, and the best way to find talks that inspire you isn’t just to browse, it’s to curate. However, there are moreeducational streaming services if you’re looking for something different but also mind-stimulating. You can also findseveral intriguing websites to pick your brain.